sketchup, coreldraw

Drawing of White Spot on Alameda, in Denver.

This is now Davies’ Chuck Wagon II.

SketchUp, CorelDraw

This is an old White Spot location, circa early-1960s, now Davies’ Chuck Wagon II. (Pictures of Davies’ Chuck Wagon I can be found here.)

The White Spots were designed by Armet & Davis, the firm famous for their Los Angeles coffee shop architecture, a style referred to as Googie. (Though the Googie’s restaurant itself was designed by John Lautner)

This design is different than the other Denver White Spots, I guess I would call this a butterly roof with an additional fold.

I like the way they had the White Spot signposts penetrate the rooflines.

The interior has been refurbished over the years, but you can still appreciate the vaulted ceilings and flowing counters. I have also posted pictures of another former White Spot on my new site, the Denver Eye.

There was a time, not that long ago, when Capitol Hill in Denver had many ’50s/’60s apartment buildings with similar original color schemes such as this. Sadly, they have been all painted beige and neutralized.

This building, over in the same former University of Colorado hospital area as the previous two posts, still has it’s original coloring. I am going to take a wild shot in the dark and date this building from around 1965.

This building also features a wonderful inviting concrete sheel entranceway.

I have to wonder if this shell is the work of Denver engineer Milo Ketchum.

Just came back from watching this amazing documentary at the Denver Art Musuem as part of the Design Onscreen series of films.

Another building from the former University of Colorado medical campus to meet the wrecking ball soon, the Colorado Department of Health Center building, designed by Eugene Sternberg, I believe in the late-’50s.

This building is a classic example of International-style, as opposed to the Usonian-style of the previous post. In some ways it reminds me of the Texaco Building on Grant.

Eugene Sternberg is well known for his contribution to Arapahoe Acres, and his many social mind designs for hospitals and schools, such as the Arapahoe Community College building.

Wonderful light fixture design

Boomerang benchs

It’s been clear for quite awhile that this building is going to be tore down, they have been letting it fall into disrepair.

It’s too bad they could bring themselves to repurpose these medical campus buildings.

Children’s Psychiatric Day Care Center in Denver built 1962.

Designed by Denver’s foremost Usonian-style architects, Victor Hornbein and Ed White.

This day care center bears a striking resemblance to Hornbein and White’s Usonian design for the Denver Botanical Gardens.

Usonian is a style associated with Frank Lloyd Wright. Here you can see that the scaling is similar to a Wright design, perfect for children!

The two buildings in this post are among the many buildings on the former University of Colorado medical campus that are slated for destruction.

The Denver Landmark Preservation Commission approved landmarking status, but, sadly, the Denver City Council did not.

This is a shame. Usonian structures are often torn down before their historical importance is understood.

The Usonian concept was an ambitious effort to construct utopian structures in the United States. It was a way of building the future now.

Usonian was the contrasting U.S. style to the more European International-style.

International-style is usually undecorated, while Usonian buildings do not have this limitation.

And while Usonian is a predominantly U.S. style, you still see more International-style buildings in the United States, making the preservation of Usonian structures that much more important.

This is the neighboring Usonian structure, the John F. Kennedy Childhood Development Center, also designed by Victor Hornbein and Ed White, in 1968.

Since the structures are no longer used, they give off a ghostly vibe that constrasts with the vibrant architecture.

Great day at Bandimere Speedway this year for the 2009 Hot Rod Happening.

They bring out old dragsters and inlines as well!

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First of three long pages of a great morning at Bandimere Speedway in Morrison, CO, fortunately 10 minutes from where I live.

I am going to let the pictures do the talking! This page is ’50s-’70s. The next two posts will be much older hot rods!

And I recently did the Facebook thing