The school was constructed by Charles J Dunn following plans made by architect Harry J Manning which incorporated elements of Spanish Renaissance Revival architecture. Highlights of the building include an enclosed courtyard and a four-story bell tower. As well as decorative stucco and terracotta elements throughout the exterior.The building served as a school until the 1970s. When it was closed, it was renamed the Seton House in honor of Mother Elizabeth Ann Seton. The building was later used as a residence for Sisters traveling to Denver. In 1982 it was transformed into a Samaritan House for the Homeless.In 1989, Mother Teresa visited Denver and announced that she would open a mission at the Seton House. The Archdiocese of Denver raised $500,000 to renovate the building. After thousands of hours by volunteers, it was reopened to house those suffering from AIDS. Until 2003, the Sisters of Charity cared for 490 AIDS patients. The mission was honored with the U.S. Health Agency’s Administrators Citation as well as awarded by the Department of Health and Human Services.This building was nearly demolished in 2011 under a redevelopment plan led by Sagebrush Capital Holdings. When members of the community expressed concern about the loss of the historic building, Catholic church leaders sought out community input and only worked with buyers who had plans to preserve the former school. The building was initially leased to a youth city program called Christ in the City. In 2017, the Seton House was purchased by GFI Capital Resources, a company that planned to preserve the structure and convert it to a hotel. Currently the gymnasium of the school has been converted to artist studios facilitating The Grant Studio program. The building awaits renovation.

Current GFI hotel plan that will preserve the school and utilize part of the structure to build a hotel

Front door of Seton House with Mother Mary looking over visitors

Completed in 1921, this Spanish Renaissance Revival structure was home to Cathedral High School and Convent. The school operated until the 1970s, and the building later served as a residence for Sisters traveling to Denver. In the 1980s, it was converted into a samaritan house to help the homeless. In 1989, Mother Teresa visited Denver and announced that this building would be the location of her Sisters of Charity mission for the AIDS epidemic. The building was nearly demolished in 2011. In recent years, plans have been made to utilize the building to serve the needs of the community.

The Seton House (Cathedral High School and Convent)

Starting at Denver's Cathedral Basilica and winding throughout the Central Business District, this tour includes over a dozen historic and architecturally-significant structures.  

Denver Architecture Tour

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J.A. Goodridge and John Thompson founded The Ogden Theatre in 1917. Together, they owned a company called The International Amusement Company, which founded two other theaters in the Denver area. The Ogden Theatre officially opened in the year of 1919. Originally designed by Harry W. J. Edbrooke, the building has a French Beaux-Arts style and it is a two-story building displaying twin octagonal towers with false windows, a geometric frieze, and a Mediterranean-style terra-cotta roof. In its early days the Ogden hosted organ recitals, dances, lectures, and vaudeville acts. It hosted many famous names with one being the legendary Harry Houdini. In 1937, the theatre was converted into a movie theater featuring a variety of films from classical to avant-garde films. It was also apart of the Fox Theater circuit of movie theaters. The U.S. Department of Justice, however, would order Fox to sell its exhibition theatre division leaving the Ogden without a proper owner. Later on, the theatre would be purchased by the National General Corporation. in 1970, the Ogden underwent a complete renovation that included a new marquee, a remodeling of the lobby area, remodeling of the main auditorium including main floor seating, lodge seating in the balcony, acoustics, and the conversion of the screen to be able to play anamorphic and flat feature films. There was also an upgrade to play both optical and 4 magnetic film soundtracks. By 1977, the Ogden was acquired by Mann Theatres when it bought NGC’s theater business. It would also show The Rocky Horror Picture Show every Saturday night in the 1980’s. The ownership of the Ogden changed hands multiple times during the 80’s and then the theatre officially closed down in 1990. The theatre was marked for demolition, but a man named Doug Kauffman purchased the building in 1992. Doug was affiliated with the independent music promoter Nobody in Particular Presents and wanted to redecorate the entire building into a music venue. The Ogden reopened in 1993 hosting a wide variety of live music performances. Shortly after it reopened, it was placed on the National Historical Register. In 2013, the venue hosted the iconic Prince, to play two shows in one night. Right before he played his song “Purple Rain,” he addressed the audience, <blockquote>“'Colorado, listen to me. Strange times in America now, huh? We gotta try to get along. You've heard before, but now more than ever, that's what we need. We also need your voice. You can sing if you want to.”</blockquote>

The Ogden Theatre is a music venue and former movie theater in Denver, Colorado. It is the longest running theatre in the entire state. Located on the lively Colfax Avenue in the neighborhood of Capitol Hill, it has hosted everyone from Harry Houdini to Prince. The twin towers and terracotta roof make it stand out as an architectural staple. 

The Ogden Theatre

Constructed in 1921, this building was originally built for the Coronado Dance Club and designed by architect George Louis Bettcher who is known for his work on the Rossonian Hotel. Bettcher utilized the Mediterranean Revival style while the exterior exhibits a stucco finish in Mentone yellow. The building has a flat tiled roof behind a parapet and French arched doors and fan windows. The interior has a 5000 square foot dance floor, with no intrusive columns or poles. The Denver Turnverein is affiliated with the American Turners, a German-American social and athletic association. Many Germans fled their home country, in the wake of the 1848 revolution, and soon after, the Turner movement swept America in the mid 19th century. The Turners based their principles on ideas from German educator, Friedrich Ludwig Jahn. The group was driven by a nationalist political agenda. However they came together for trips, social events, and most notably a certain style of games and sport. Turners emphasized a rigorous program of exercise similar to track and field and calisthenics and weight lifting in gymnasiums. They developed games and “exercises for the people," and also practiced running, jumping, lifting, climbing walls, fencing, swimming, and wrestling. Their sphere of influence extended to schools. The Turners were the first to introduce physical education programs in American schools. The Denver Turnverein is one of the last existing Turnverein buildings in use today. The building serves as a social dancing house for the Denver Metro Area. Every night of the week it draws in over 100 dancers per night. Ballroom, Tango, Salsa, Country, Lindy, and West Coast Swing all use the floor.

The Denver Turnverein was founded in Denver in 1865 and the organization has used this location since 1922. The oldest member organization of the national American Turners in Colorado, the Denver Turnverein preserves the cultural traditions of the Turner movement that was established by German immigrants and emphasized social activities, physical fitness, and healthy minds. Starring in the mid 19th century, the Turners worked to promote physical education, and their efforts led to a significant emphasis on health and fitness in American schools. Today the Turnverein serves as a dancehall. Ballroom, Tango, Salsa, Country, Lindy, and West Coast Swing groups all use the floor.  

The Denver Turnverein

This was the third home for the oldest Jewish Congregation in Denver. The building was erected to serve the steadily growing community, and offers an exquisite example of Moorish and Turkish Revival with distinguishing features such as its two ornate towers. The temple was built in 1898 utilizing a design by architect John J Humphreys. The building remains the only Moorish and Turkish Revival style synagogue in Colorado. The temple features a raised entrance and two Turkish style towers with pointed minarets. The top of the Temple features a metal cornice and a rose window in the parapet. This was once home to Denver's oldest Jewish congregation. The congregation was founded with 22 members in 1874, two years before Colorado became a state. Their first synagogue was located at 19th &amp; Curtis. Due to increasing membership, the congregation was moved to Temple Emanuel on 24th &amp; Curtis in 1882. In 1897, the Temple suffered a large fire. The cost to rebuild was too high so they moved to a new location at 16th &amp; Pearl St. By 1953 the congregation outgrew this temple and moved to 51 Grape St in Glendale. Members during the 1800s included political, social, and economic leaders in Denver. Most notable was Simon Guggenheim a U.S. Senator, Denver’s first fire chief Philip Trounstine, and John Elsner who founded the first hospital. This congregation has a reputation for practicing acceptance over the years, owing to their extensive membership. Since 1957 the Temple has housed the First Southern Baptist Church, Loving Way Pentacostal Church, Pathways Church, and now Denver Community Church.

Temple Emanuel at Pearl St, was built in 1898 and designed by John J. Humphreys, who applied the Moorish and Turkish revival style to the structure. The building features a raised entrance and Turkish style towers with pointed minarets. This was the third home for the oldest Jewish congregation in Denver. In 1953 the congregation needed a larger space that was closer to the homed of their members, and selected a space in Glendale. Since that time, the building has been home to several congregations and is now home to the Denver Community Church. 

Denver Community Church / Formally Temple Emanuel (Pearl St)

The cathedral is the&nbsp;mother church for about 500,000 members in&nbsp;144 parishes and missions in the region. Its spires reach 210 feet and the vaulted ceiling inside the cathedral itself reaches an apex of&nbsp;68 feet. The four main bells are rung before and after the 10:30 a.m. Mass on Sunday and on special occasions. The stained glass windows on the west spire depict the symbols of the four major prophets: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel; the east spire windows show the symbols of the four evangelists: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. The Cathedral was designed by Leon Coquard, Aaron Gove, and Thomas Walsh and was inspired by French Gothic architecture. It has a Gunnison granite foundation, Indiana limestone exterior walls and interior structural marble from Marble, Colorado. Special features such as altars, pedestals, and the pulpit, among other things, are made of Carrara marble from Italy. There is a Gothic vaulted ceiling.There are two bell spires; the east spire has 15 bells. The front doors made of brass. The church also contains busts of Popes of the 19th century. The Cathedral features 75 stained glass windows crafted at the Royal Bavarian Art Institute in Munich, Germany by 50 artisans overseen by F.X. Zettler. The original cost of the windows was $34,000. Today they are valued at more than $500,000.

The church was built between 1902 and 1912. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in November of 1974. It is referred to in a book called, “The Pinnacled Glory of the West by Father Hugh L. McMenamin.

This is the cathedral of the Archdiocese of Denver. Construction of the cathedral started in 1902 and was completed nine years later. It is one of only a few cathedrals in the United States to host the Pope. On August 13th and August 14th of 1993, Pope John Paul II presided over mass at the cathedral during festivities affiliated with the city's selection as the host of World Youth Day.

Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception

The building, designed by architect Elijah E. Myers, is similar to the United States Capitol and as such is in Federal Revival Style. Myers is also credited for designing the Capitol buildings in Michigan, Texas and Utah. Construction began in 1886. It was completed in 1894 at a cost of $2,500,000. The 270-foot dome was finished in 1898. It was initially covered in copper, which didn’t age well and began to turn Black. After 10 years, it was decided that gold should be used in order to reflect the gold rush that helped create the state. The dome was regilded in 1949, 1980 and 1991.The dome was gilded again recently after a piece of the cast iron enclosure fell and inspection crews determined that it was in such disrepair that people were in danger. Funding for repairs came from a number of sources including Colorado State Historical Fund, the General Assembly and a public donation campaign. The latest gilding was completed in 2013. The gold bullion used for the project was donated from a local mine and was valued at the time at an estimated $125,000. It was milled into golf leaf in Florence, Italy. Other repairs on the dome included portions of the cast iron dome enclosure as well as restoring the windows and interior balcony area.The building, which was built with Colorado white granite, continues to undergo restorations in the House and Senate chambers. Notably, the chandeliers in both chambers are being restored. The inside of the building features Colorado Rose Onyx, a rare rose marble from a quarry near Beulah, Colorado. White Yule Marble, also from quarries in Colorado, was used for the floors.Other highlights of the building include many stained glass windows, quilts, paintings, sculptures, artifacts, plaques, memorials and portraits of the United States Presidents. The west steps feature the official measurement marking Denver as the Mile High City. Three separate measurements with increasingly modern tools made for three different markers. The 15th, 18th and 13th steps are all noted as being one mile above sea level. The 15th step includes the engraved words “One Mile Above Sea Level.” A brass cap was set in 1969 by Colorado State University engineering students on the 18th step. Professional land surveyors, using more modern equipment, added the third marker on the 13th step in 2003. The Capitol is part of Denver’s Civic Center Historic District, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974, and became part of a National Historic Landmark District in 2012.

The Colorado State Capitol is home to the Colorado General Assembly. The offices of the state’s governor, lieutenant governor and treasurer are also located in the building. Visitors can stand 5,280 feet, or officially one mile high, above sea level on the building's west steps. The building’s dome offers a panoramic view of the Rocky Mountains. It’s even against state law to block the view. Free Capitol tours are available and allow the public to see the Allen True water murals, Women’s Gold Tapestry, and Colorado General Assembly Chambers with Rose Onyx wainscoting.

Colorado State Capitol

Central Presbyterian Church traces its origins to the
earliest days of Denver’s settlement during the Pike’s Peak Gold Rush. The
mission that would grow into Central Presbyterian was founded by Rev. A. T.
Rankin of Buffalo, New York, in the summer of 1860. The rough character of the
early mining settlement is reflected in the story of how, when Rankin and
church trustee General William Larimer went to place an ad in the Rocky
Mountain News announcing their frst Sunday service, they found another resident
attempting to kill the editor and his assistant and were forced to intervene. 

Later examples of Central Presbyterian’s involvement in the
life of the city include a Railroad Union Mission to rail workers and a Chinese
School, which served the city’s Chinese community from 1877 to 1819. The church
was also a driving force behind the founding of the Presbyterian Hospital, now
Presbyterian-St. Luke’s.&nbsp; Currently among
many other missions, the church maintains a program for the working homeless,
New Genesis, which includes a 110-bed shelter in the church’s basement, and
runs a drop-in center for LGBT youth, Rainbow Alley.

The current structure is the third to house Central
Presbyterian. &nbsp;By the beginning of the
1890s, the church had outgrown its previous building at 18th and
Champa, a structure known as the “church of the seven-spot diamonds”, thanks to
its distinctively patterned roof. The central business district was becoming
more crowded and commercial, and when the time came to move, Central
Presbyterian became one of a number of churches to find a home on Capitol Hill,
then a fashionable residential district.

The new church was designed by Denver architect Frank E.
Edbrooke in the style known as Richardsonian Romanesque, after its pioneer,
H.H. Richardson. A revival of the early medieval Romanesque style,
Richardsonian Romanesque emphasized simple, massive forms supported by the
rounded arches characteristic of the style. Edbrooke’s design for Central
Presbyterian church forms a nearly perfect square. The application for the
National Register of Historic Places described the church’s walls as “sheer and
relatively unadorned…with a thin, stretched quality”, especially in the soaring
bell tower. The thin metal spiral staircase visible through the elongated
lantern openings only increases the sense of height. The church was entered in the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. 

The National Register application also cites a description of the church as “spare,
simple, and coloristically unified.” As a building material, Edbrooke employed
warmly colored sandstone quarried at Red Rock Canyon near Colorado Springs.
Edbrooke was also the architect responsible for another striking sandstone
building in the immediate vicinity: the Brown Palace Hotel, under construction
at the same time a few blocks away, using sandstone from Eagle County.

While the new church was under construction, the
congregation met in the Brodway Theater, located inside a third
Edbrooke-designed structure, the Metropole Hotel&nbsp; at&nbsp; 18th
and Broadway (demolished in 1984). The congregation urged Edbrooke to improve
the sight lines and acoustics of the new church by adaping features of theatre
seating, including curved seat rows, boxes, and side balconies. &nbsp;These qualities lend the church to use as a
performance space; the community-based Denver Philharmonic Orchestra has
recently made Central Presbyterian its new home, and is building a stage within
the existing chancel which will be named for pioneering female conductor
Antonia Brico, who worked with the orchestra for many years. The church maintains
a regular schedule of services and is also a popular wedding venue.

An exterior of red Colorado sandstone and elegant Richardsonian Romanesque design make the Central Presbyterian Church at 1660 Sherman Street one of the more eye-catching structures on Capitol Hill. The church’s tower, with its high, narrow lantern openings rising several stories above the street, recalls a time when church spires still competed with office towers as dominant features of the downtown skyline. Constructed in 1891-1892 and designed by prolific local architect Frank E. Edbrooke, the church’s exterior is an excellent example of the Romanesque Revival style pioneered by New York architect H.H. Richardson. The church’s spacious interior incorporates design elements, such as curved pews,  inspired by the theater in which the congregation met while the church was under construction.

Central Presbyterian Church

This building was erected in 1906 and at the time, it was the largest of the Shriners' buildings in the country. The building was commissioned for $188,000 and built to serve the rituals and meetings of the Shriners. After a large fire in 1924, the building was sold to the Scottish Rite Masonry.The structure is utilized as a place for meetings today and continues to exhibit Moorish Revival architecture with striking onion domes, sleek pointed finials, and a corner minaret. It has Moorish arched windows and door surrounds. The interior is decorated with Persian and Egyptian motifs and a crescent ceiling. The building once had a Turkish smoking room and a Japanese tatami room. There is an auditorium, and two ballrooms and an interior balcony surrounding the ballroom. This building once caught the eye of Donald Trump. In 2006, after a rejected bid to redevelop Union Station, he set his sights on the El Jebel Shrine Temple with a plan to renovate the temple and add a 60-story tower on the adjacent plots around it. He wanted this building to be the tallest in Denver but failed to secure the needed financing. The building is now known as the Sherman Street Events Center.

Constructed in 1907, this Denver mosque is one of the best examples of Moorish-inspired architecture in Colorado. The building was designed by the Baerresen Brothers, who are known for the Tivoli Opera House and the old Saint Josephs Hospital. The mosque was built for the Shriners' fraternal organization, known formally as the Ancient Order of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. The building incorporates Middle Eastern architectural styles and due to the high level of craftsmanship, it is one of the only buildings in Denver that has interior and exterior easements. Donald Trump once tried to purchase this building with plans to build a skyscraper next to it.

Mosque of the El Jebel Shrine

Trinity United Methodist Church had its beginnings in the
first wave of Methodist Episcopal missionary activity in the new settlements created
by the Pike’s Peak Gold Rush of 1858—1861. Founded in 1859 as the Auraria and
Denver City Methodist Episcopal Mission, the church was incorporated in 1863 as
the First Methodist Episcopal Church.&nbsp;
Its congregants included many of the most prominent citizens of Denver,
including Governor John Evans, who contributed to the building fund for the
church’s first permanent home, at Lawrence and 14th Streets, a block
away from what is now Larimer Square.

The rapid growth of the new city saw the original church’s
neighborhood become crowded and commercial. Many former congregants preferred
to attend churches in their new suburban neighborhoods. In the 1880s, the
decision was made to move the church to a new location at 18th and
Broadway. The new property stood at the eastern edge of the central business
district, near the tree-lined streets and substantial homes of Capitol Hill. Within
a few years, the church was joined by the Central Presbyterian Church, two blocks
away at 17th and Sherman.&nbsp; By
the early years of the twentieth century, the greater Capitol Hill neighborhood
would also be home to two cathedrals (one Roman Catholic, one Episcopal) and a
number of synagogues.

Construction began on the new Trinity United Methodist
Church in 1887. The building, designed by prominent Denver architect Robert S.
Roeschlaub, is a prime example of what was then known as Modern or Reformed
Gothic.&nbsp; Growing out the earlier Gothic
Revival, Modern Gothic drew on the principles of the emerging Arts and Crafts
movement.&nbsp; The Arts and Crafts movement
embraced a handmade, pre-industrial aesthetic, something which is reflected in
the rusticated (that is, rough-cut and unpolished) blocks of Trinity United
Methodist’s exterior.

As the church was named for the Holy Trinity, Roeschlaub
made divisions into three parts a key element of his design. Three gothic
arches span the entry, the steeple is divided into three parts, and even the
pews inside show a motif of three interlocking rings. The pinkish-gray rhyolite
used for the exterior was quarried in Castle Rock, south of Denver; at the top
of the church’s gables, different shades of rhyolite were used to form a
checkerboard pattern. Pale sandstone trim and polished red granite columnns at
the main entrance provide a contrast. In keeping with the ideas of the Arts and
Craft Movement, the subtly asymmetrical massing of the exterior suggests an ancient
building that grew over time. The carving and lettering on the façade, and the
wrought iron trimmings, reflect Arts and Crafts taste rather than strictly
copying medieval prototypes.

The church’s own website describes its design as “an
auditorium cloaked in a Gothic shell”. The church’s interior is dominated by an
enormous Roosevelt organ, installed during construction. As Denver did not have
electricty at the time, the power needed to run the technologically advanced organ
was generated by a water-powered dynamo in the church’s basement. &nbsp;The carved ashwood casing, designed by George
Ashdown Audsley, a Birtish architect who specialized in organ architecture,
allowed the modern organ to blend with the rest of the structure. The church’s
interior also features stained-glass windows, largely the work of Healy and
Millet, a Chicago firm specializing in the Arts and Crafts style. The church
remains an active congregation, holding regular services and conducting
community outreach.

&nbsp;

Standing on the northeastern corner of Broadway and 18th Avenue, at the eastern edge of Denver’s central business district, Trinity United Methodist Church is one of Denver’s most historic and distinctive religious structures. Now surrounded by parking lots and skyscrapers, this elegant Gothic Revival structure houses a congregation that traces its origins to the earliest days of settlement in Colorado. The church was founded in May 1859 as the Auraria and Denver City Methodist Episcopal Mission in the Pikes Peak Region of the Kansas Territory. The church at 18th and Broadway, which replaced an earlier structure at 14th and Lawrence Streets, was constructed between 1887 and 1888. Designed by Denver architect Robert S. Roeschlaub and clad in rusticated Castle Rock rhyolite, the church forms a beautiful example of what its Victorian builders called “Modern Gothic”.

Trinity United Methodist Church

In 1880, the Brinker
Collegiate Institute, a private institution, was designed and built by
architect F.E. Edbrooke. The Institute was founded by Joseph and Elizabeth
Brinker as one of the first co-educational colleges that offered anywhere from
primary education to collegiate level academics. The local newspapers praised
the new building as “an architectural as well as educational ornament to the
City.”<a target="_blank" rel="nofollow">[1]</a> The first floor of the
building held the President’s office, along with classrooms, the dining room,
and a kitchen. The second floor housed parlors, music rooms, the kindergarten
department, and a chapel that was able to seat up to 300 people. On the third
and fourth floors were the dormitories for students. 

In 1886, the school closed after Joseph Brinker’s
death. The building reopened in 1889 as the Richelieu Hotel. However, operators
C.W. Hunsicker and Robert Stockton were well known as gamblers and quickly
turned the establishment away from its original purpose. The building was later
lost in a card game to gamblers F.D. Chase and Vaso Chucovich, who renamed it the
“Navarre” after Henry of Navarre, King of France, who was well known for his
fun-loving lifestyle. The upper floors were rented to “ladies of the night” and
an underground tunnel was created between the Navarre and the respectable <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://theclio.com/web/entry?id=23245">Brown
Palace Hotel</a> across the street. Esteemed members of the community could appear
to go into the Brown Palace, while secretly spending their time in the Navarre.
The tunnel has since imploded, but its entrance is visible in the current
building. 

Mayor Robert Speer attempted to reform the Navarre in
1904, but illicit activity continued to occur until the 1920’s. In the 1940’s Johnny
Ott reopened the building as a dining establishment and restored it to its
original Victorian roots; he refurbished the bars and booths and restored
paintings. Peanuts Hucko, a jazz clarinetist, reopened the restaurant again in
the 1960’s and transformed it into a premiere jazz club in Denver.

In 1997 the Anschutz Corporation took control of the
building and refurbished it once again. They transformed it into the American
Museum of Western Art – Anschutz Collection and added offices for two foundations, both
of which continue to occupy the space today.<div>





<div>

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</div>

</div>

Originally built in 1880 as the co-educational Brinker Collegiate Institute, the Navarre building has been home to many establishments since its construction. Throughout the late 19th century and most of the 20th century, the building accommodated a hotel, renowned for its illicit activity, and multiple restaurants. There was once a tunnel that connected the Navarre to the esteemed Brown Palace Hotel across the street: well-to-do members of the community would stop by the Brown and secretly make their way over to the Navarre building to indulge in the activities it offered. Today, the Navarre functions as the American Museum of Western Art – Anschutz Collection, in which visitors can view many great works of art.

The Navarre Building

The Brown Palace Hotel and Spa has prided itself on being a luxury hotel in downtown Denver since 1892. It has hosted presidents, rock stars, and royalty. One of the most famous guests of this museum includes the Unsinkable Molly Brown right after she got off the Titanic. Presidential guests include Theodore Roosevelt, William Taft, Warren Harding, Harry S Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and Bill Clinton. The iconic hotel offers fine dining, meeting and business facilities, spa retreats, and luxury rooms. The hotel was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in April of 1970. It underwent a 10.5 million dollar renovation which was completed in the fall of 2015. The renovation added meeting space and updated the look of 200 rooms to make a contemporary blend with Victorian charm.Architect Frank E. Edbrooke designed the hotel which, at 10 stories high, was one of Denver’s first skyscrapers. The structure is steel and iron, clad in terra cotta on a foundation of granite. The exterior is red granite and Arizona sandstone. The triangular building offers a unique atrium lobby that rises eight floors. James Whitehouse of Denver sculpted the animal medallions that encircle the building.The building, which took three years to complete, cost approximately $2 million. It also claims to be America’s second fireproof building. When it was built, it was considered the grandest hotel between Chicago and the Pacific Ocean. It has hosted an array of important and tragic events from presidential campaign stops to murder. The Brown Palace Hotel remains a high-end property now operated by Marriott.

When the Brown Palace Hotel opened in 1892, it was one of the first atrium-style hotels. The Brown Palace is the second-oldest extant hotel in Denver and some confuse the hotel with the Flatiron building due to the similar design. The hotel bar was the site of a 1911 murder where Frank Henwood shot and killed Sylvester Louis "Tony" von Phul and an innocent bystander.  During the 1950s, this hotel and many other establishments in Denver refused to serve African Americans in violation of the state's civil rights law. White and Black residents of the city such as Grace Jordan challenged the hotel's informal color line by taking a seat in the hotel's restaurant. Although they were not served initially, the possibility of a lawsuit or bad press convinced the hotel's managers to end their practice of drawing the color line. 

 Brown Palace Hotel

Construction began on downtown Denver’s Paramount Theatre in
1929, and the theatre opened to the public in 1930. It was the era when silent
films were giving way to “talkies” and the Roaring Twenties to the Great
Depression. At the time, many movie theatres were owned and operated by the
studios in Hollywood, and the Paramount was built as part of the Paramount
Pictures-owned Publix chain. (Studio
ownership of theatre chains was later successfully challlenged under anti-trust
laws in the 1940s). 

In 1925, the Publix chain (formerly Famous Players/Lasky) merged with the Balaban and
Katz theatre chain in Chicago. Denver’s Paramount and other Paramount “wonder theatres”
across the country were modelled on Balaban and Katz’s flagship theatre in
Chicago. The “wonder theatre”, with its lavish appointments and live music, enveloped movie patrons in an atmosphere more
evocative of Hollywood high life than of their workaday lives.

Denver’s Paramount is credited to the celebrated Denver
architect Temple Hoyne Buell along wth the Chicago firm of Rapp and Rapp,
builders of the original Balaban and Katz “wonder theatre”. An example of the
bold “zigzag” version of Art Deco, the theatre’s terra cotta exterior was
crafted by the Denver Terra Cotta Company; on the façade, sleek geometric forms
are contrasted with intricately detailed panels incorporting feathers, ferns,
and other organic motifs, the work of Denver Terra Cotta sculptor Joseph Ambrusch.

Inisde, the theatre features lavishly detailed
interiors combining numerous motifs that would carry glamorous associations for
patrons of the era.&nbsp; Marble and gilt are softly
and indirectly illuminated by cut-glass chandeliers and stylized “Egyptian”
lights. The visual highlight of the interior may well be the murals painted on
silk by artist Vincent Mondo and installed on the walls of the main auditorium.
The murals depict figures from the Commedia dell’Arte, a form of theatre
created in Renaissance Italy featuring stock masked characters such as
Harlequin, Pierrot, and Pierrette. Mondo’s murals, featuring figures from
the Commedia in pretty pastoral settings, linked movie-going to the grand
theatrical traditions of Europe. They became the model for similar murals by
Mondo in other Paramount theatres, including one in Ashland, Kentucky. 

The grand opening of Denver’s Paramount Theatre on August
29, 1930 reportedly drew 20,000 people.&nbsp;
The opening featured showings of “Let’s Go Native”, a musical comedy
starring Jeannette MacDonald. The choice of a musical for the opening showed
just how quickly the motion picture business was changing, as the theatre had
originally been designed with silent films in mind.&nbsp; The theatre’s Wurlitzer twin-console organ was
designed to provide sound effects as well as music to accompany the images on
the screen. Along with its “sister” in Radio City Music Hall in New York, it is
one of the largest installed in an American theatre.

In later decades, the Paramount was threatened with
demolition, but was saved by a group known as Friends of the Paramount. It was
added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. Converted to a venue
for live musical performances, it remains one of the most popular and most
elegant performance spaces in Denver.

The beautiful Art Deco style Paramount Theatre, located on Glenarm Place adjoining the Sixteenth Street Mall, is a survivor of the golden age of motion picture “wonder theaters”, when simply going to the movies meant stepping into a world of glamour. Now converted to a live performance venue, the Paramount Theatre nevertheless retains its vintage style.  The richly detailed “zigzag”-style terracotta exterior survives, and the gilded decorations and fanciful murals that adorn the interior have been restored. The theatre also contains a rare Wurlitzer pipe organ, which provided early film audiences not only with music but with sound effects such as train whistles and galloping horses.


Paramount Theatre

The nine-story Equitable Building, completed in 1892,
reflects the growing city’s determination to take its place on the national
stage. Built for the Equitable Assurance Company at a cost of $1.5 million, the
Equitable Building was designed by the Boston firm of Andrews, Jacques and
Rantoul in the Renaissance Revival style. Many details, including the massive
street-level base of rusticated Pikes Peak granite punctuated by Roman arches,
and the naked “amorini” standing far above the street under ornately carved
balconies, recall the urban palazzi
of Renaissance Italy. 

The building’s interior is equally ambitious, lavishly
appointed in various imported marbles, with brass and iron stair railings,
stained glass windows (including some by Tiffany), and mosaic ceilings bearing
Byzantine motifs.&nbsp; Said by its builders
to be completely fireproof, the Equitable Building was an example of modern luxury
in a historical style. The Equitable Assurance Company’s role as patrons is
commemorated by the use of “E”s as a repeated element in the building’s
decoration, and in the design itself: seen from above, it is shaped like two
capital “E”s placed back to back, with the deep bays between the “bars”
providing plentiful light and ventilation.

Unfortunately, the building opened only a year before the
silver panic of 1893, which devastated Denver’s company. The building still
enjoyed high-profile occupants as the governor of Colorado, who kept offices in
the building until relocating to the new state capitol building in 1896, but it
was years before lease rates returned to their initial levels.&nbsp; Eventually, the building became home to many
of downtown Denver’s law practices, as it still is today. In the words of Colorado
historian Tom Noel, subsequent skyscrapers have left it “overshadowed, but not
outclassed”.

Among the lawyers who worked from the Equitable Building was
Mary Florence Lathrop, the first woman to practice law in Colorado. Law was
actually Lathrop’s second career; as a young journalist she had traveled the
country covering the events of the day. After her coverage of attacks against
Chinese laborers in San Francisco earned her the praise of the Chinese government,
her editors even sent her to China. 

But the life of a traveling correspondent took its toll on
Lathrop, and she fell ill with tuberculosis.&nbsp;
At that time, the sunshine and dry air of Colorado were widely
advertised as bringing relief to sufferers, and Lathrop became one of the many “lungers”
to settle in Colorado for health reasons. Recovering her health, Lathrop
decided that the law would provide a more settled life than journalism, and
soon graduated first in her class from the University of Denver’s law school,
passing the state bar exam with flying colors in 1896.

In 1897, Lathrop began her practice, despite the scorn
directed at her by male colleagues who felt the law was a man’s preserve. &nbsp;Aomng many firsts, Lathrop was the first woman
in Clorado to establish a law office, the first to be admitted to practice in the
U.S. District Court in Coloraado, and the first woman to argue before the
Colorado Supreme Court. Specializing in probate law, Lathrop developed a
substantial practice and became a prominent figure in Denver’s legal circles.
Her arguments in the case of Jackson v. Hallett helped establish Colorado laws
regarding charitable bequests. 

In 1918, she became one of the first two women admitted to
the American Bar Association, alongside Mary Belle Grossman of Ohio.Lathrop
continued to practice until her death in 1951, at the age of 85. According to
one biographer, she furnished her offices in the Equitable Building with
rocking chairs, and wore a lacey apron as she carried out the work of her
pioneering practice.

The Equitable Building, located at the southeast corner of Seventeenth and Stout Street in the central business district, was one of the structures that helped earn Seventeenth Street the nickname “Wall Street of the West”.  A luxurious example of Italian Renaissance Revival architecture adapted to the needs and technology of the 1890s, this nine-story office building was the tallest building in Denver from 1892 to 1911, when the Daniels & Fisher tower overtook it.  The building has been home to many law offices over the years, including that of Mary Lathrop,  who practiced law in Colorado from 1897 until her death in 1951. In 1918, Mary Lathrop became one of the first two women admitted to the American Bar Association.

Equitable Building 

The Boston
Building was constructed during the so-called “silver crash”, otherwise known
as the Denver Depression, which took place between 1892 and 1893. In the midst
of the economic crisis, the Boston Building Company sought to construct an
elegant space to be used as offices for the city;s richest companies. A site
was purchased on the corner of Seventeenth and Champa streets, on a plot of
land previously occupied by Wolfe Hall (constructed in 1867, this was the
largest female seminary in the American West).&nbsp;
The old school building was demolished in 1889, and construction of the
offices was completed the following year.&nbsp;
The building was quickly filled with a number of successful and affluent
real estate offices, insurance and investment companies, and other businesses,
including the Postal Telegraph and Cable Company, the Colorado Midland Railroad
Company, the Colorado Coal and Iron Company, the Denver Land and Water Storage
Company; and the Security Abstract and Rating Company.

The eight
story high building is built in a cube-block form with rusticated Grenlee red
sandstone from Manitou Springs, Colorado. The exterior featured an ornate
cornice, embellished with carved heads. Entrance to the building was from 17th
Street via three carved arches topped by a red sandstone balcony. The interior
spaces feature high, pressed-tin ceilings, exposed brick walls with vaulted
doors and round arcaded windows, some with stained glass panes. One
contemporary historian, Jerome Smiley, described it as being the earliest
“strictly modern office building” made in the city.

From 1920
ownership of the building came&nbsp;under the Dome Investment Company, of which Claude
K. Boettcher was a key partner. In 1968 his stock brokerage firm, the Boettcher
Company, purchased the building and made use of it as their office space.
However, the sandstone building experienced much weathering over the years, and
required renovation in the late 1990s. The original cornice and entrance
balcony were removed during these renovations, and the original rusticated
sandstone was made smooth. Nonetheless, many of its original features remain in
an excellent state of preservation. Today the building stands out amongst the
surrounding twenty first century skyscrapers. Following the late twentieth
century renovations the building was used for residential and mixed retail
purposes.&nbsp;

Constructed in 1890 by the renowned Bostonian firm, Andrews, Jaques and Rantou (who also designed the nearby Equitable Building), the Boston Building is an elegant building that exhibits a fusion of Renaissance Revival and Richardsonian Romanesque architectural styles. The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and is part of the Downtown Denver Historic District.

Boston Building

As the largest city in the vast Rocky Mountain region,
Denver has long had a key role as a center of government as well as business. &nbsp;The Byron White Courthouse, completed in 1916,
was built by the Treasury Department to house numerous government agencies
which had outgrown the original Denver Post Office and Courthouse at 16th
and Arapahoe Streets. 

New York architectural firm Tracy, Swartout, and Litchfield
created a grand Neoclassical building that would have looked equally at home in
Washington, D.C., with its sixteen Ionic columnns across the entrance and
matching Ionic pilasters (attached half-columnns) on the other three sides. The
building is tied to Colorado by the use of white Yule Marble quarried near
Aspen, and by the imposing figures of two Rocky Mountain bighorn rams made by
Denver sculptor Gladys Caldwell Fisher in 1936.

The courthouse originally housed the U.S. Post Office on its
first floor, while federal courts occupied the second. The third and fourth
floors housed a collection of federal agencies ranging from the Secret Service
to Forestry to Naturalization. &nbsp;The
Weather Bureau also had a rooftop platform for the equipment comprising its
official weather station. 

The decades after World War II saw a rapid growth in
population in the west, and an increased federal presence in the region.&nbsp; The new Byron G. Rogers Federal Building and
Courthouse (named for a local congressman) was constructed in response.&nbsp; The stripped-down Modernist style of the new
complex forms a contrast to the marble-clad grandeur of the older courthouse,
but is considered a significant example of mid-century architecture. &nbsp;(See the General&nbsp; Services Administration’s page of links
related to Federal Modernism at&nbsp; <a href="http://www.gsa.gov/portal/content/101489" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.gsa.gov/portal/content/101489</a>
for more information.)The Byron G. Rogers Building is most famous as the
location of the criminal trial of Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh, whose lawyers
successfully argued for a change of venue away from Oklahoma City.

The older courthouse is now home to the 10th
Circuit Court of Appeals, which moved into the building after an extensive
restoration from 1992-1994. The restoration, which has won awards from
preservationists, included the removal of additions and alterations made by the
postal service over the years. &nbsp;The
building was renamed in honor of Supreme Court Justice Byron White, a Colorado
native who led the University of Colorado Buffaloes to an undefeated regular
season in 1937. 

In 2002, a third courthouse, the ten-story Alfred A. Arraj
Courthouse, was added to the Federal District at 901 19th Street.
The district is also home to the U.S. Customs House, a Renaissance revival
structure clad in Yule marble to match the Byron White Courthouse. The Customs
House, completed in 1931 and expanded in 1937, stands at 721 19th
Street, on the site of the original East High School.

An imposing Neoclassical structure clad in white Colorado Yule marble, the Byron White U. S. Courthouse occupies a full city block at 18th and Stout Streets. Originally housing the U.S. Postal Service as well as federal courts and agencies, the courthouse now anchors the Denver Federal District. The building was restored in between 1992-1994 and renamed after Colorado-born US Supreme Court Justice (and University of Colorado football legend) Byron White. In 1996-1997, the Byron G. Rogers Federal Building and Courthouse across the street became the scene of Timothy McVeigh’s trial for the Oklahoma City bombing. The white marble U.S. Customs House at 721 19th Street and the new Alfred A. Arraj U.S. Courthouse at 901 19th Street complete the district.

Byron White U.S. Courthouse and Denver Federal District

The Denver Horse Railroad Company
was founded in January 1876. After it was purchased in 1871 by L. C. Ellsworth
of Chicago, the company managed to extend many miles of railroad track around
the city. This structure was built by the Denver City Railway Company in
1883. The building’s first use was as a car barn and horse stable during the
years when public transport was sometimes literally run on single horsepower. They
originally operated six open- and closed-cars with twenty horses along a route
that stretched all the way to Lawrence and Seventh Streets in West Denver. This
later expanded to more than forty five cars and approximately two hundred
horses. Passengers could easily travel to and from the city’s various downtown
districts via this line, which provided convenient access to the Union Station
across the street. The cars were stored in the first floor of the building. The
two floors above were used as stables, and the attic for the storage of hay and
grain. 

The four-story high rectangular building is made of brick
and heavy timber. It has a prominent façade facing Seventeenth Street, where
six large barn doors originally led into the stables within. Round-arched
windows were used on the western and eastern sides of the building.

The building’s façade was redesigned in 1892 by H.W. and V.E. Baerresen, two prominent Danish architects
operating in Denver (they also designed the El Jebel Shrine Temple at 1770
Sherman St.), after it was purchased from the Railroad Company by a Mr. Sheridan. At this point public transport
was beginning to switch to cable and electricity, so the horses were sold and
the building was renovated into mixed retail and business spaces. From 1902 to 1972building was operated by the Hendrie and Bolthoff Manufacturing and Supply Company
between, an extremely successful firm that developed new and more effective
mining machinery for the state, nation, and overseas – they were the largest
company of its kind in the world, at one point (Bretz, 2005). There are
some remnants of the original building that survived the reconstructions in
1892 and 1909, most notably the stone-faced piers and cast-iron pilasters that
separate the bays on the southwestern side.

Also known as the Sheridan Heritage Building, the Denver City Railway Company Building of Lower Downtown was constructed in 1883. Located directly opposite Union Station, the building served as the headquarters and terminus of the city’s first public mass transit system, operated by the Railway Company from 1883 to 1892.

Denver City Railway Company Building

This Denver landmark was built in 1911 and designed by
architect F.G. Sterner. It was designed in the Italian Renaissance style and
constructed with brick, stone, and terra cotta. It rose 393 feet into the Denver
skyline, making it the tallest structure west of the Mississippi for many years.
In its early days, it was home to the Daniels and Fisher Department Store. 

In the 1950s the original department store vacated the premises
and it began to fall into disrepair. It sat empty for two decades. In the 1970s
the building was destroyed, but a group of dedicated people managed to save and preserve
the 21-floor clock tower.&nbsp; Through the
70s and 80s it was used for commercial purposes and office space. 

It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in
December of 1969. With clock faces on all four sides, it lights up the Denver
skyline each night. It is a Seth-Thomas clock. A large bell occupies the top
floors of the building above the observation deck. It now hosts weddings, parties,
and corporate and other special events on a regular basis. Guided, 45 minute tours are available, as well, every Saturday through Clocktowerevents.com.&nbsp;

The Daniels and Fisher (D&F) Tower is a distinctive Denver, Colorado landmark. Built as part of the Daniels &amp; Fisher department store in 1910, it was the tallest between the Mississippi and California at the time of construction, at a height of 325 feet.

Daniels and Fisher Tower

The lodge had offices on the top two floors of the building and rented the rest of the building. The most notable tenant in the early 20th century was the Dutch Mill Cafe, a cabaret-style dining establishment that operated until 1935.&nbsp;The Odd Fellows sold the building in 1938. The building is now home to a law firm and several restaurants and retailers.&nbsp;

Architect Emmett Anthony designed this Late Victorian-Commercial Style building, which was completed in 1899 by the city's first lodge of the Odd Fellows, an international fraternal organization that had millions of members in the United States at the turn of the century. The members of the lodge dubbed this building "Union Lodge" to emphasize that their founding members had all been loyal to the Union during the Civil War. 

Odd Fellows Hall

In the early years of the twentieth century, Denver promoted
itself as the “City of Lights”, thanks to its newly illuminated downtown
skyline, anchored by the “best lighted building in the world”, at 910 15th
Street. &nbsp;Built in 1910 to house the newly
consolidated Denver Gas &amp; Electric Company, the Gas &amp; Electric Building
provided visual evidence of the new prominence of electrical technology in
American life and of Denver’s status as a modern city.&nbsp; As one of the rapidly growing “instant cities”
of the American West, Denver provided an ideal market for utility companies seeking
to promote electric- and gas-powered appliances as a necessary element of the
modern home. An early photograph of the building shows a sign claiming "The Christmas gift will please if it's an electric iron, chafing dish, 
toaster, coffee percolator or artistic electric stand lamp - looking for a useful Christmas gift? - see our household electrical appliances" ( <a title="Link: http://digital.denverlibrary.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15330coll22/id/1501" href="http://digital.denverlibrary.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15330coll22/id/1501" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://digital.denverlibrary.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15330coll22/id/1501</a>). For more information on this era, see Cities of Light and Heat: Domesticating Gas &amp; Electricity in Urban
America by historian Mark H. Rose, which follows the growth of utilities in
Denver and Kansas City. 

Officially the work of local architectural firm Frank E.
Edbrooke &amp; Company, the building’s design has been attributed to Frank
Edbrooke’s nephew, Harry J. Edbrooke, who would go on to create many notable
structures in Denver after establishing his own firm in 1913. The building
exemplifies the new American “skyscraper” style created by the Chicago
architect Louis J. Sullivan in the late 1800s, when steel-frame construction
and the invention of the elevator made truly tall buildings feasible. The Gas &amp; Electric Building echoes
Sullivan’s pioneering designs, especially in its three-part design and its use
of ornament. The lower stories form a solid base below an eight-story shaft
crowned by an overhanging cornice.&nbsp; The
arched tenth-floor windows seem to flow upward into the curving cornice,
providing a contrast to the simple squared-off forms of the middle stories.

What really makes the building stand out, however, are the
13,000 light bulb sockets embedded in the bright white terra cotta of the façade.
The lights trace the outlines of the building while creating geometric patterns
of their own.&nbsp; In the building’s early
days, it was referred to as “the best illuminated building in the world”, and
around 75,000 people – roughly a third of the city’s population at the time –
attended the initial switching-on of the lights. The ornamental lights remained
in use until World War II gave rise to mandatory Blackouts. The building was renamed the
Insurance Exchange Building and the lights fell into disuse after the Public Service Company of Colorado (Denver
Gas &amp; Electric’s successor) moved to a different location in 1962. The building was
restored and the lights re-lit in 1990. It is listed on the National Register
of Historic Places.

Erected in 1910, the 10-story Denver Gas & Electric Building (also known as the Public Service Company Building) once served as a single vast advertisement for the wonders of electricity, thanks to the 13,000 lightbulbs embedded in its white terra cotta façade.  The bulbs went dark for a time after World War II but were rewired in the 1990s, and the building once again lights up Denver’s central business district each night.  Designed by local firm of Frank E. Edbrooke & Company, the building is an example of the early skyscraper style pioneered by Louis J. Sullivan of Chicago.  The geometric patterns created by the bulbs, along with dramatic details such as the arched tenth-floor windows, ensure that the building is a striking sight by daylight as well.

Denver Gas & Electric Building (Public Service Company Building)

This impressive structure was built as the headquarters of
the Mountain States Telephone and Telegraph Company (Mountain Bell), and has
housed each of Mountain States’ successor companies. It is currently home to
CenturyLink. While the interior is not open to the public, the outer lobbies on
14th Street and Curtis Street, both featuring murals by Alan True
celebrating the history of communications in the American West, are freely
accessible.&nbsp; In addition, the online
Telecommunications History Group hosts a virtual museum and tour at <a href="http://www.telcomhistory.org" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.telcomhistory.org</a>. 

The building was created as one of the Bell System’s “palaces”,
regional headquarters that would serve as urban monuments, celebrating a new
age of interconnectedness, in addition to housing employees and equipment.&nbsp; Completed in 1929, the Mountain Bell building
would be among the last of these “palaces”.&nbsp;
At the time of its completion, it was the tallest building in Denver,
and therefore in the entire Rocky Mountain region from Montana to New Mexico.
It dominated Denver’s skyline and would do so until the 1950s, when skyscrapers
built in the more utilitarian International Style appeared in Denver. 

The exterior is the work of Denver architect William N.
Bowman. Architects of this era frequently used the soaring verticals of the
Gothic style to emphasize the height of the new “skyscrapers”; the design of
the Mountain Bell building draws on the late Gothic style known as the
Perpendicular. The building’s materials were locally sourced, ranging from
steel produced in Pueblo, to brick and terra cotta manufactured in Denver and
Golden, to granite and travertine from the nearby Rocky Mountains. Beneath its
Gothic skin, the building housed cutting-edge technology. Equipment housed
within the specially designed fireproof core provided Denver residents with automated
dialing service for the first time, while fully automatic elevators carried
visitors to the executive suites and conference rooms on the upper floors.

Denver residents paid their phone bills in person in the outer
Curtis Street lobby, where murals by painter Alan Tupper True, including “The
Smoke Signal” and “The Pony Express”, celebrate the evolution of communications
in the West.&nbsp; Another mural cycle by
True, in the outer 14th Street lobby, paints a heroic image of the
construction of telephone lines through the mountains and through the
artificial canyons of the new cities. More murals &nbsp;decorate the inner lobbies, which are not
freely accessible. &nbsp;Murals by True can
also be seen in the state capitol building, the Civic Center, the Brown Palace
Hotel, and the Renaissance Denver Downtown Hotel (formerly the Colorado National
Bank).

The Mountain States Telephone and Telegraph Building stands at 931 14th St, across the street from the Denver Center for the Performing Arts in Denver’s central business district. The ten-story Art Deco building was the tallest in Denver until the 1950s. It opened in 1929, shortly before the catastrophic stock market crash that ushered in the Great Depression. The building’s style was described as Modern American Perpendicular Gothic, a modernist reinterpretation of English Gothic forms.  Its exterior lobbies feature mural cycles by Denver artist Alan True, whose work appears in the state capitol building and elsewhere in Denver.

Mountain States  Telephone and Telegraph Building

America's largest non-profit theatre organization and the
largest performing arts complex under one roof, the Denver Performing Arts
Complex is owned by the City and County of Denver's Arts and Venues division
and managed by the Denver Center for the Performing Arts (DCPA). The complex
has four resident companies: the Colorado Ballet, Colorado Symphony Orchestra,
Opera Colorado, and the Denver Center for the Performing Arts repertory company
[1; 2]. The ten-theatre complex consists of 12 acres on four blocks, all
connected by The Galleria, an 80-foot-high glass roof. Its three largest
theatres are the Ellie Caulkins Opera House, Boettcher Concert Hall, and the
Temple Hoyne Buell Theatre, but the complex is also home to a cabaret at Garner
Galleria Theatre, the Conservatory Theatre, the Helen Bonfils Theatre Complex
(comprising the Stage, Space, Ricketson, and Jones Theatres), and the Seawell
Grand Ballroom [2].&nbsp;

History of the
Complex



In the 1950s, Helen G. Bonfils, co-owner of the Denver Post newspaper, was one of the
city's leading philanthropists, as well as an occasional actress. She built the
Bonfils Theatre on Colfax Avenue as a community theatre, performing there with
her friends, then partnered with Wall Street lawyer and Broadway producer
Donald R. Seawell to bring a professional acting company to Denver in the 1960s.
Seawell brought Tyrone Guthrie of Minneapolis to Denver for the creation and
direction of the company, but a series of disasters prevented progress. Guthrie
died suddenly, Helen Bonfils' health declined to the point that she was
permanently hospitalized, and Bonfils and Seawell struggled in a legal battle
for the ownership of the Post. The
legal battle was won, but Bonfils died, leaving Seawell in charge of the paper
in 1972 [1].



Seawell created the Bonfils Foundation using stock from the
newspaper and, in the same day, changed the charter of the Bonfils Theatre into
the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, gotten agreement from the City of
Denver for his plans, and hired Kevin Roche as the architect for the project
[1]. Construction on the performing arts complex began two years later, in
1974, with the Berlin Philharmonie inspired Boettcher Concert Hall (opened in
1978) as its centerpiece. The historic Auditorium Theatre (now the Quigg Newton
Denver Municipal Auditorium and Ellie Caulkins Opera House) and the
multi-theatre Helen Bonfils Theatre Complex were also within Seawell's original
complex [2]. Only a year later, two cabaret spaces were added, touring Broadway
shows came to the complex, and Denver's repertory company under Edward Payson
Call had begun performing in the Bonfils Complex. During the 1980s, the three-year
Master of Fine Arts Acting school, the National Theatre Conservatory, was
established, new plays were developed by the Theatre Company, and the company
was nominated for its first Tony Award. In 1991, the former Auditorium sports
arena was remodeled into the Temple Hoyne Buell Theatre to better accommodate touring
Broadway productions [1]. Also in the 1990s, the DCPA began offering community
acting courses, established the Colorado Performing Arts Hall of Fame, and
opened its special event venue, the Seawell Grand Ballroom [1; 2]. In the
following decade, the complex began hosting Disney Theatricals, established the
Colorado New Play Summit, and received an Innovation Lab for the Performing
Arts Grant. Donald Seawell retired in 2007, and passed away in 2015 [1]. 


Today, in addition to performances, the complex offers
school programs, acting classes for all ages, workshops, study guides, distance
learning, cast interactions, and competitions in playwriting and musical
theatre, and hosts field trips, career days, Kids Night on Broadway and Family
Day events, the Family Forum, backstage tours, and the Women with Hattitude
Luncheon [1].

America's largest non-profit theatre organization and the largest performing arts complex under one roof, the Denver Performing Arts Complex is owned by the City and County of Denver's Arts and Venues division and managed by the Denver Center for the Performing Arts (DCPA). The complex has four resident companies: the Colorado Ballet, Colorado Symphony Orchestra, Opera Colorado, and the Denver Center for the Performing Arts repertory company [1; 2]. The ten-theatre complex consists of 12 acres on four blocks, all connected by The Galleria, an 80-foot-high glass roof. Its three largest theatres are the Ellie Caulkins Opera House, Boettcher Concert Hall, and the Temple Hoyne Buell Theatre, but the complex is also home to a cabaret at Garner Galleria Theatre, the Conservatory Theatre, the Helen Bonfils Theatre Complex (comprising the Stage, Space, Ricketson, and Jones Theatres), and the Seawell Grand Ballroom [2].

Denver Performing Arts Complex

Although commonly used throughout the world, the first fixed venue to be built using the&nbsp;theater-in-the-round design in the United States was constructed in 1940. Boettcher Concert Hall was unique from these theaters in that it was designed with symphonic events rather than theatrical performances in mind. Acoustician Christopher Jaffe helped design the interior of the concert hall,&nbsp;working with Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer Associates to design a place the audience as close as possible to the stage. The design includes specially designed walls, seats, and circular discs in the ceiling that deflect and distribute sound evenly throughout the venue.&nbsp; Despite the reputation of the Colorado Symphony Orchestra as one of the best in the country, the vast size of Boetcher Hall often results in many unfilled seats and the symphony has struggled financially. In 2014, the symphony considered seeking a different venue in order to reduce its rent. The&nbsp;city agreed to repairs and maintenance, as well as a temporary reduction in rent. Prior to that agreement, the city considered replacing the concert hall with an outdoor amphitheater. Members and supporters of the&nbsp;Colorado Symphony, as well as residents and city leaders worked out a compromise that allowed the preservation of the theater in its current configuration. The Colorado Symphony is&nbsp;only&nbsp;orchestra with a full-time staff of musicians within a&nbsp;thousand mile radius of Denver.

Home to the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, Boettcher became the first symphony hall in the round built in the United States when it opened in 1978. The "in the round" design places the audience on each side of central stage instead of the traditional design where the audience sits facing one side of the stage. This design allows eighty percent of the theater's 2400 seats to be located within sixty-five feat of the stage. Each of these seats were custom-designed to deflect sound similar to the theater's walls. Like the seats, the walls are are canted at a slight angle to help disperse sound and eliminate flutter echoes. The hall is named in honor of Claude K. Boettcher, a leading supporter of the arts in Colorado. 

Boettcher Concert Hall

The Kettle Arcade is the first building in Denver to be built using the neighboring walls as its own and was part of a movement to renovate the wooden buildings in Larimer Square. The Kettle Arcade has a mural detailing Colorado History and was also the site of the first settlement of people of European descent in Denver. In 1865 there was a great fire in the square and since many of the original structures were made of wood, the city responded with a mandate requiring commercial buildings to utilize stone. The Kettle Arcade was built in 1873. The building was constructed by George E. Kettle. Kettle was a cattleman, butcher, and real estate investor. Using the existing walls of the buildings on either side. He then built a front and rear wall and completed the structure using local sandstone. What makes this place special is that it was the first building in Denver to be built in this manner. In 1988 a mural was commissioned for the ceiling. It features some important figures in Colorado History. <ul><li>Chief Hosa aka Chief Little Raven – He was chief of the Arapahoe tribe that lived close to Denver City. They had seasonal teepees they lived in. He originally welcomed the “whites” to share his camp.</li><li>Soapy Smith – He is an infamous Con Man. He ran successful saloons across Colorado. He was also the leader of a gang that had heavy influence on politicians. </li><li>William Larimer – He was the founder of the Denver City Territory. The site of the first settlement of Denver is named after him. </li><li>Robert Speer – Elected as Mayor of Denver in 1904. He spearheaded the Denver City Beautiful campaign. This was an effort to upgrade the city. </li><li>Annie Oakley – She was second to none when it came to sharp shooting. She is the original feminist. She supported a woman’s ability to do anything they wanted. Some believe Annie Oakley passed through Denver. Although the artist may have been mistaken for Calamity Jane. </li></ul>

Constructed in 1873 through the efforts of George Kettle, this indoor space connected two existing buildings and used the neighboring structures as side-wall support. Kettle constructed only front and rear walls for the arcade itself. In the 1980s, the building was decorated with a mural featuring key figures from Denver’s early history, including William Larimer, Chief Little Raven, sharpshooter Annie Oakley, con man Soapy Smith and Denver Mayor Robert Speer.

Denver Architecture Tour

The Seton House (Cathedral High School and Convent)

Introduction

Images

Backstory and Context

Sources