Scattered around the Denver area are these wonderful examples of ambituous octagonal hyperbolic curve engineering. All were originally Automart Grocery Stores from the 1950s.

Hyperbolic roof designs usually use 3 inch thick poured concrete held in place by the magic engineering of the double-curvature of catenaries and archs. This method allowed engineers to use 3 inch thick concrete over much larger roof expanses for the high-end hyperbolic paraboloid designs of the Zeckendorf Plaza in Denver and the Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs.

This former Automart located on S. Broadway and Orchard in Littleton seems to be the one that is most intact. It has the most existing glass and least amount of repainting. You can see faint remnants of black and white checker patterns on the curved edges of the roof.

Other locations are Carneceria Guadalajara at 1st and Sheridan on the Denver/Lakewood border, another on South Federal and Ada Place in Denver, one on 38th and Yates in Wheatridge, and there is an empty one on W. Mississippi and Kendall out in Lakewood. (Update: I just remembered the one in Cherry Creek at 1st and Cook!)

If you know of another, I would love to hear where it is!

These were inviting roadside structures designed to draw in drivers with this welcoming rotunda style. The fact that there are at least five that are still standing shows how much this unique shape is appreciated.

There is a middle school in Lakewood with a hyperbolic paraboloid roof that is just about to come down in June once school is out. I will try to take pictures of this sad occasion.