Zeckendorf Plaza
Zeckendorf Plaza, also referred to as Court House Square as this was once the location of the Arapahoe County Courthouse.
Built for William Zeckendorf’s Webb & Knapp firm by I.M. Pei, Henry Cobb, Araldo Cossutta and the firm of Rogers and Butler. The Plaza, parabaloid and May D&F Department Store were finished in 1958, the Hilton Hotel was completed in 1960.
This was I.M. Pei’s second major commission in Denver, the first being the classic Mile High Tower.
May Company and Daniels & Fisher were merged in 1957 in anticipation of the plaza. Both were Colorado based companies. As you can see above, May Co. was started in 1877 in Leadville, Daniels started the store that became Daniel’s & Fisher in Denver in 1864.
One of the most outstanding features was the decision to build the country’s widest concrete shell Hyperbolic Parabaloid structure on the site. The roof was actually four hyperbolic parabaloids put together. Engineered by Anton Tedesko.
Intended to be Denver’s version of Rockefeller Center, the plaza featured a skating rink, reflecting pool, mini-golf, trees, and a flag display.
Across the street from the plaza was the block-long Hilton Hotel, here shown under construction in 1959. Zeckendorf Plaza was the first major development to combine a hotel, department store and a public plaza in the U.S.
The Hilton Hotel design has similarities to Le Corbusier’s Unite d’Habitation in Marseilles.
One of the saddest moments in Denver’s architectural history was the loss of the plaza, the parabaloid, and the accompanying changes to the department store and hotel in 1995 when Adam’s Mark Hotel took over the location. I.M. Pei’s masterful Denver landmark parabaloid was replaced with an uninspired box. (Adam’s Mark Hotel has since sold the location).
The Hilton Hotel, now The Sheraton Hotel, retains most of it’s exterior charm despite the alterations. It was made from pre-cast concrete that included soil escavated from the court house site, giving the structure it’s unique coloring.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 27th, 2009 at 9:02 am and is filed under Downtown, Hotel, International Style, Skyscrapers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
