Acme Building-Volker Building - Denver, CO
Posted by: Outspoken1
N 39° 44.963 W 105° 00.177
13S E 499747 N 4399941
A series of plaques as part of a walking tour of lower downtown (original) Denver
Waymark Code: WM39T6
Location: Colorado, United States
Date Posted: 03/02/2008
Views: 47
These two buildings are located across Cherry Creek. There is one plaque that is part of the Lower Downtown Walking Tour and another plaque from a previous restoration. The first plaque reads as follows:
Acme, Volker Building
1909/1907
Once utilitarian tributes to the entrepreneurial zeal of pioneers, these warehouses in the 1980's and 90's became home to a different sort of pioneering spirit--the residents of an unabashedly urban area. The growth and development of lofts, with their large open living spaces, exposed brick and huge windows, transformed the warehouse district in Lower Downtown. The Acme Building was built in 1909 as a five-story brick warehouse by Gustavius Von Brecht, who purchased the Austin Candy Company in 1914. He renamed it the Brecht Candy Company, and the change proved quite appetizing. By 1923, the company's output was 3 million pounds of candy per year, all made with pure Colorado sugar. The plant was a marvel of modern machinery methods and scientific management and employed over 225 people. By 1952, when it was sold to a Nashville food broker, Brecht Candy was the largest candy maker in the region. Acme Upholstery Company took over the lease and added its name to the tower. The Volker Building was built in 1907 by William Volker and Company, a manufacturer of venetian blinds. Its second story entrance was the original main entry to the now demolished 14th Street viaduct; what is now the freight entrance served by a rail spur from Union Station. The building was later used by Weicker Moving & Storage and the Wagner Furniture Company.
The smaller plaque on the ACME Loft Building (N39° 44.947, W105° 00.165) reads:
1992
The ACME Loft Building on Cherry Creek originated in 1909 as the Brecht Candy Company's imposing home. Known for decades as the best equipped candy factory in the country, more than three million pounds of tasty morsels poured through these doors annually. In 1968, the ACME Upholstery Company introduced yards of fabric, mattress ticking, and eventually foam cushioning to a growing Metro Denver. ACME is now the name that lives on the building established by Gustavas A. VonBrecht more than eighty years ago. Thirty urban pioneers now live in this landmark of Lower Downtown, redeveloped by Urban Neighborhoods, Inc. in 1992.