Denver City and County Building

• Location: Denver, Colorado, USA

• Architect: The Allied Architects Association (Robert K. Fuller, George Gray, Roland L. Linder)

• Style: Neoclassical

• Completed in: 1932

The Denver City and County Building is located at the west end of Civic Center Park downtown Denver, an opposite direction facing directly again the Colorado State Capitol. In the State of Colorado, Denver has a consolidated city and county government and therefore the building houses not only the mayor's office and city council but also many county and district courts and offices.

"Facing Colorado State Capitol"

Denver’s city government began informally in 1860 at Apollo Hall, a saloon on Larimer Street, with early meetings held in a small shack and various other temporary “city halls.” In 1883, Denver constructed its first official City Hall, which also housed the fire and police departments as well as the city jail. It became infamous as the site of the 1893 “City Hall War,” a conflict where the governor unsuccessfully tried to oust corrupt officials.

In 1902, Denver became a consolidated city-county, and the Denver and County Building was constructed in 1932, by a group of 39 architects, "The Allied Architects Association" led by Robert K. Fuller, George Gray and Roland L. Linder.

The building has distinctive neoclassical characteristics with six of three-storey high Corinthian columns at the top of the grand staircase.

"Corinthian columns and Grand staircase"

The most striking feature is the unusually curved wings with Ionic columns reaching out to the capitol in front, or some critics say "reaching out to the taxpayers"

"Curved four-storey wings"

The wing on the north side extends to a detached building, the McNichols Building, which was originally constructed as the Denver Public Library. The original plan was to build another detached building on the south side as a museum however, the southside building was never constructed and it remains as a grass area.

"McNichols Building, originally Denver Public Library"

The centre bell tower of the building has a clock and is crowed by a gold eagle, which were donated by the family of the former mayor Speer who significantly contributed to the construction of this building.

"Central Tower"

The height of the City and County Building was kept low enough so that the view of Rocky Mountains from the Colorado State Capitol would not be blocked.

"Denver City and County Building looking from Colorado State Capitol"

Reference:

Colorado Encyclopedia. (n.d.). Denver City and County Building. Colorado Encyclopedia. Retrieved from https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/denver-city-and-county-building#:~:text=The%20design%20came%20from%20a,it%20employed%20almost%20400%20men.

Society of Architectural Historians. (n.d.). Denver City and County Building. SAH Archipedia. Retrieved from https://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/CO-01-DV010

Wikipedia contributors. (n.d.). Denver City and County Building. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denver_City_and_County_Building

Wikipedia contributors. (n.d.). List of municipalities in Colorado: Consolidated city and county. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_municipalities_in_Colorado#Consolidated_city_and_county