Skyscrapers...
Postcards
I was visiting Lee Alex Vintage Modern to see photographer Dan Beahm’s newly mounted works and I spotted these postcards of two of my favorite downtown-Denver buildings.
This first postcard is from 1956 and is a shot of Mile High Center designed by I. M. Pei & Associates. The barrel-roof building in the front is the Transportation Center which is gone now, but much of Mile High Tower is still there.
Daniel Beahm and his wife Erika are Colorado filmmakers whose feature film Leading Ladies is available on Netflix. Lee Alex Vintage Modern just celebrated their one year anniversary in their new location at 24 Broadway.
The second postcard is the First National Bank building on 17th, designed in 1958 by Raymond Harry Ervin. This photo is especially interesting for me to see the roof pattern that you could view looking down from the Sky Deck observation area atop this mostly still intact skyscraper.
August 28th, 2012 / No Comments » / by Tom Lundin
Wells Fargo Parking garage
Detail from the parking garage of the Wells Fargo Center, designed 1984 by Philip
Johnson & John Burgee.
July 3rd, 2012 / No Comments » / by Tom Lundin
Sky Deck
An ad for the Sky Deck of the First National Bank building,
designed 1958 by Raymond Harry Ervin.
It’s a shame that they do not continue to have observation decks
in Denver skyscrapers, but I will let you in on a little secret…
There is one such place, it is the Peaks Lounge in the Hyatt.
February 16th, 2012 / No Comments » / by Tom Lundin
Broadway & 17th
Broadway and 17th in downtown Denver, showing the contrasts of styles from different eras.
The sandstone Brown Palace from 1892, the International-style Mile High Tower from 1956,
and peeking over the top, the post-modern Wells Fargo Center skyscraper from 1984.
November 21st, 2011 / No Comments » / by Tom Lundin
Republic Plaza
The Republic Plaza, designed 1983 by Donald Smith for
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. The late-modern design now
stands out from decorative, contemporary styles.
Before the Republic Plaza, the Republic Building stood on
this site, designed in 1928 by G. Merideth Musick.
November 5th, 2011 / No Comments » / by Tom Lundin
Mile High Center model
Photos © 2011 Alan Golin Gass, FAIA
The original model for Denver’s first skyscraper, the Miesian-style
Mile High Center, completed by I. M. Pei & Associates in 1956.
In this model you can see the tapestry-like interplay of the white enamel
panels with the dark aluminum bands on the Mile High Tower. To the
left of the model is a four-story renovated bank and on the right is the
two-story, barrel-roofed Transportation Building.
September 25th, 2011 / 2 Comments » / by Alan G. Gass
Mead & Mount Construction
Mead & Mount Construction ad from 1959.
Top left: 1959 State Services Building
G. Meridith Musick and Temple Buell, Architects
Earl C. Morris and Roland L. Linder, Architects
Top right: 1958 First National Bank
Raymond Harry Ervin, Architect
Middle: 1936 Albany Hotel
Burnham Hoyt, Architect
Temple H. Buell, Architect
(The 1936 date was when it was reclad. The hotel was first built in 1885.
Sadly, it has been demolished)
Bottom right: 1954 Denver Club Building
Raymond Harry Ervin, Architect
June 2nd, 2011 / No Comments » / by Tom Lundin
Webb & Knapp ad
1959 Webb & Knapp ad from the state centennial insert in the Denver Post.
All I.M. Pei related Denver developments. From the top, Mile High Center,
The Hilton Hotel and Zeckendorf Plaza.
March 23rd, 2011 / No Comments » / by Tom Lundin
Wells Fargo Center
During the ’80s oil boom, Denver was fortunate to get this signature Post-Modern skyscraper built downtown in 1984. The unique, simple shape has become a symbol of Denver, giving the building an almost Pop-Art iconic status.
It was designed originally as One United Bank Center by Philip Johnson, an architect who was at the forefront of the modernist movement from the 1920s up to his passing in 1995 (designing the famous Glass House along the way). His International-Style exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in 1932 effectively named that style of architecture and for many, introduced modern architecture to the United States.
Similar iconic Philip’s designs are the Sony Tower in New York, PPG Place in Pittsburgh and the Crystal Cathedral in southern California.
March 21st, 2011 / 2 Comments » / by Tom Lundin
