Hey, there’s something wrong with this sign!
Can you spot the mistake?

No, it’s not the missing lettering. That letter board has been intentionally
left that way for 35 years and has become a Colfax Avenue icon!

No, if you are a Denver resident, you should have noticed that I shifted the famous letter board from the east side of the sign to the west side to make a better picture.

Bastien’s Steak House is an award winning restaurant, run by the Bastien family since 1937.

At the original building, (formerly the Moon Drive-In Restaurant) you would park and order food and beer delivered right to your car!

In 1959, the Bastien family built a new structure on the same spot, rotunda style with this incredible 24 sided roof.

Bastien’s has two entrances, a door to the restaurant on the west side and a 2nd door to their unique rounded bar on the east side.

It is one of Denver’s friendlier bars and serves up a beautiful martini!

Fine dining takes place in the main round room.

The signature item on Bastien’s menu is their famous Sugar Steak.
But on this visit, I ordered the king cut Filet Mignon with Jalepeno Bacon
with twice baked potato!

I like to be seated in this cozy sunken room in the center of the restaurant.

Bastien’s also has an upper floor (with a piano!) for parties. You need to set it up in advance and there is a minumum of fifteen people required.

The Bastien’s sign is one of the best Googie-style signs left in the Denver area!

St. Joseph’s Episcopal Church, built 1964 to service the Green Mountain area of Lakewood, CO, just being developed at the time.

Beautiful use of stone and shingle and octagonal features. It is also sighted to give spectacular views.

Sorry I do not know the name of the architect, if there is a chance that you know, then please leave a comment!

The unique roof of this church, St. Stephens Lutheran Church of Northglenn, CO, makes use of the mathematical shape, the hyperbolic parabaloid.

This outstanding gravity-defying structure was designed by Boulder architect Charles Haertling in 1964.

There is a webpage dedicated to Haertling’s incredible body of work.

On the Haertling site, there is a description of this church that is truly fascinating in its articulate expression of this church’s complexities.

I have previously posted photos of another Charles Haertling church, the Our Savior Parish Center.

Though not an example of modernist architecture, I thought I
would make this temporary page to show local residents
the view from the top of the local landmark, the D&F Tower
on the 16th Street Mall, in downtown Denver.

When it was built in 1910, it was the tallest building in the west.
The upper floor is only open to the public once a year for the
event Denver Doors Open, which was held two weeks ago.

This first view is looking north-west along the 16th Street Mall,
designed in 1982 by world famous architect I.M. Pei.

This shot is south-west and shows Brook Towers prominently on the left.

During the early 1970s, Brook Towers housed a nightclub called Ebbet’s Field, which hosted many touring music artists including Muddy Waters, Willie Nelson, the New York Dolls, Lightnin Hopkins, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Captain Beefheart, Howlin Wolf, the Flying Burrito Brothers, Kraftwork, the Outlaws, the Ramones and many more! The door to the place would often be run by Tom Waits and Chuck E. Weiss!

Looking south-east down the 16th Street Mall, on the left you can see patrons dining outside the Rock Bottom Brewery and on the lower right you can see the Federal Reserve Bank built by William Muchow in 1968.

And finally facing north-east, you can see Precision Fountain in Skyline Park, currently fenced off due to restoration.

Built in 1973 by Lawrence Halprin, Skyline Park was an underappreciated part of downtown Denver, let’s hope the restoration of this fountain maintains the integrity of the original sculpture!

The Daniels and Fisher Tower itself is a beautiful Venetian design.

These two pictures are from the lobby and show the ceiling and marble wall designs.

And, as an added bonus, from the lobby of the D&F Tower, you can head downstairs to a truly swank 1950s-style Burlesque nightclub in the lower level . . . Lannie’s!

It is run by famous Denver torch singer Lannie Garrett, also well-known for her dead-on imitation of Patsy Cline.

Go to the Lannie’s website and later pay the club a visit, Underground at the Clocktower.

I haven’t been drawing for a couple of weeks. I hope to get back to that this weekend, but as the winter weather lifts, I like to get out and take pictures before all the landscaping buds!

» First off, let’s take a quick peak at what is hanging right now in Wright’s Guggenhiem

» A slice of Americana, early color Kodachrome photos

» Cool and creepy at the same time, the Abandoned City of Tiawan. More here

» The world’s Most Beautiful Buildings. Seems to be a short list

» The world’s Most Interesting Bridges. And along the same lines, Eighteen Stunning Bridges from around the world

» Is this a movie theater or a spaceship? Pacific Palace in Hong Kong

» 3D urban design proposals for Skyscraper Farming

» Modernist Home Garden designs

» An island paradise floating on top of Recycled Plastic Bottles

» Ice Palaces, Hotels and Castles. Winter is over so you better look fast

» And finally, Metaefficient, a great website with many fascinating “Green” building designs. Be sure to scroll down and see the India Tower

This International Style office building, 1570 Grant Street
is tucked away just down the street from the Capitol Building in Denver.

It was built in 1956, and is one of the many front range office buildings built by William Muchow.

It is a great example of International Style in Denver, which reminds me of the City Annex Building just down Colfax, across the street from the park.

This other great example of International Style was built by Casper Hegner, Thomas Moore, Dudley Smith and G. Merideth Musick in 1949.

It was originally a school classroom building, but is now part of the Wellington Webb Building, which has this very recognizable sculpture in front.

1930 Zig Zag Art Deco masterpiece by Denver architect Temple Buell.
The material here is is the waterproof ceramic, Terra Cotta.

Temple Buell was a master architect, he invented the shopping mall
with his ideas for the Cherry Creek Shopping Center in 1946!

Temple Buell was also quite charitable, you will notice many Denver halls,
centers and theaters named after this great man.

I enjoyed the event last weekend, Doors Open Denver. A two-day yearly event, Denver opens it’s doors to many of it’s most important buildings, with volunteers giving tours and providing many valuable historical details.

My interior Paramount Theatre shots are a little dark as I did not want to disturb audience members with a flash as they were enjoying the show on the Paramount’s two Wurlitzer Organs!

The interior is filled with exotic ornamentation and beautiful ’30s-era tapestries.

A fantastic vaulted sunburst ceiling

Cut glass chandeliers

Remarkable tapestries (photographed in low light)

I have previously posted photos of another similar Temple Buell art deco masterpiece, the Horace Mann Junior High School, where he used brick instead of Terra Cotta

One of the main reasons I wanted to make this visit to the Paramount was to witness the twin-console Wurlitzer Organs! I love the sound of the Wurlitzer and own many LPs by artists such as George Wright!

The Wurlitzer organs were originally installed to accompany silent films, but when the theatre was first opened in 1930, the silent film was quickly replaced with The Talkie.

The Paramount Theatre currently houses two priceless Wurlitzer Organs which both raise out of the theater floor! I asked the masterful organist, Deloy Goeglin (playing in the earlier photo) how much these were worth and he said there is no way they can be priced as the only other similar organ is in New York’s Radio City Music Hall.

Denver organ events are run by the Rocky Mountain Chapter of the American Theatre Organ Society. Their next event at the Paramount is on August 10th and is free to members.

One nice thing about Doors Open Denver is that they often really let you get close up and personal. The Paramount encouraged you to walk around behind stage, get up on the stage, check out the dressing rooms . . . a wonderful experience.

Hiding in plain sight on a hillside in Boulder, Colorado . . .

The Moment House, designed by Charles Haertling, 1966.

Another one of the rare historical examples of International Style in Boulder, an office building from the 1960s designed by Roger Easton.

Much of the new construction going on in Boulder these days seems to wish that they could recreate this style of architecture.

One element they seem to be missing in the current designs is a sense of scale. All the new construction seems so oversized.

Also, much of what they are doing these days is cosmetic. There is a barber shop in Boulder currently adding a tower similar to this one below, only without windows or any reason to exist that I can see.

Nation Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, 1966 by renowned architect I.M. Pei.

Pei referred to this commission as a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity”.

Beautifully located on a mesa near the Flatirons of Boulder.

Pei wanted to create a structure that would harmonize with the mountain backdrop, yet not be dominated by the surroundings.

Master architect Pei has designed many important structures all over the world including the famous National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C.

Pei also designed the Louvre Pyramid (of recent Da Vinci Code fame) and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, both glass pyramids

Three important I.M. Pei Denver commissions were the Mile High Tower, The Zeckendorf Plaza and the 16th Street Mall.

Both Mile High Tower (1956) and Zeckendorf Plaza (1960) have only partially survived, which is truly surprising considering Pei’s importance in the world of architecture.