City and County Building, Civic Center, Denver Colorado
This outstanding building is located, in Denver's nationally renowned Civic Center, between West Coifax Avenue on the north and Fourteenth Avenue on the south. Cherokee Street runs on the west and Bannock Street on the east. It faces east on the main axes of the Denver Civic Center looking toward the State Capitol of Colorado which, in turn, faces west.
The City and County of Denver signed the Architectural Contract with the Allied Architects Association of Denver on December 3, 1924. The preliminary building drawings and their relationship to the Civic Center received Denver Council and the Mayor's approval on June 30, 1925. The estimated cost had been set at $5,000,000.00. Bids were first received on October 29, 1926 for a total of some $4,303,955,00, but these bids were finally rejected because of Bid Bond problems. (Note--The site for the building, a whole city block, had been purchased in 1911 for $1,800,000.00 and the buildings on the site later razed.) A second Bid Opening after certain revisions in the Building Documents brought only two bidders. These too were rejected for a lack of sufficient number of Bidders. Much "water was passing under the bridge", so to speak, in 1927 and 1928. Finally on December 31, 1928 bids were again received and on March 12, 1929, the Contracts were awarded and signed in the amount of $4,730,547.00. The official Ground Breaking Ceremony took place on March 26, 1929 with Mayor Benjamin F. Stapleton turning the first shovel of dirt. A "Great Day" was had by all. The actual excavation started on April 6, 1929.
The Corner Stone was laid on the northeast corner, first floor, of the building on February 21, 1931, "Laid by the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge AF&AM of Colorado", and the official dedication: took place late in 1932 or early in 1933, date unknown.
The exterior appearance of the building today is the same as originally designed. The interior office spaces have been remodeled in excellent manner to increase the number of court rooms needed today. Major circulation corridors, hallways, stairways, elevators are intact as originally designed.
