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Wednesday,
September 1, 2010
Acme
and Volker Buildings
Looking Southwest at the Acme Building
on the left,
Volker Building on the right 1986
This image is taken from
a roof top mid 1400 block of Wazee Street. The Speer
Viaduct that straddled both buildings has been
demolished. Cherry Creek river is directly at the
bottom of these buildings.
The Acme building was built in 1909 and originally named
after the Brecht Candy Company. In the 1950's, the
building became known as the Acme Upholstery Company.
The Volker building was built in 1907 and was home of a
manufacturing company that made Venetian blinds.
These two warehouses
illustrate the strong presence of early Denver and the
location close to rail lines.
As manufacturing moved out of the area, the buildings'
use declined. The buildings, strong as ever, and the
Speer Viaduct now at ground level, the warehouses would
come back to life. The essential ingredient of downtown
housing density was beginning as the rebirth of lower
downtown emerged with the beginning of our journey that
continues today.
Looking Northeast from inside the Volker Building
towards Lower Downtown 1986
The Volker building was
being redeveloped as well for the conversion from empty
warehouse space into new homes for downtown residents.
Entire and expansive empty floors would be ideal to
dream of the people that would soon call them home.
It was so exciting to photograph these buildings, I
could literally feel the pulse of lower downtown start
to beat stronger. Visionary developers, architects and
trade persons; we all played an exciting role in bringing
these beauties back to life. It was great fun.
September 18, 2010, twenty of my images of this immediate area will be
featured in the Grand Salon, located at 1435 Wazee St. # 104,
Denver, Colorado. The opening reception will be
from 6:00 - 9:00
P.M. The exhibit is open to the public from August
23 - October 1, 2010 from 9:00 - 4:00.
Please refer to my
Exhibition Page for more information.
Thank you.
For additional images and
commentary, please
refer to the Lower Downtown section.
Paris Hotel
Front of Paris Hotel located at 2193
Arapahoe Street 1985
Pretty classy place
huh, the Paris Hotel... in Denver. When it was
built in 1891, it was a fine building. It
wasn't until 1935 that it converted to the Paris hotel.
This image was taken in the summer, the renovation
would begin in the fall and continue through a
brutal winter and emerge in the spring as a
wonderful building once again.
From 22nd Street, looking Southwest at the Paris
Hotel 1985
The Club 21 Bar and Grill sign can be seen on the
bottom far right, La Coupole Restaurant would be
opened at the same location.
This project was slightly beyond the normal
boundaries of buildings starting to get renovated,
very fortunate it was not torn down.
The block was virtually abandoned, except for a dude
across the street that had a small stained glass
company.
Removal of "Club 21" sign, looking South on Arapahoe
Street 1985
From 22nd Street,
looking Southwest at the Paris Hotel
1985
The upper floors would be made into residential
units and the buildings red brick and new paint
sparkled when completed.
The La Coupole restaurant and it's beautiful outside
patio and mural had transformed this building into a
little gem, the Paris Hotel sign at the top of the
building was proud.
From the 3rd floor corner room in the Paris Hotel,
looking Southeast towards downtown 1985
Well, this is what I
called a "womb shot", let's call it a "double womb
shot". Maybe we could have ordered one below
at the Club 21 when it was rock'in...?
This was a classic image, the two windows opening
onto the city, with the sun cascading onto the floor for a very nice image.
The inside of the building was a disaster, huge
holes in the floors as big as a car. I had to be
extremely cautious as I walked through the building,
rotted floors, dust and grime...
Today someone lives in this room, curtains, colored
lights and all the good things in life.
Welcome back to the Paris Hotel.
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