Petroleum time capsule opened
By Kieran Nicholson
Fifty-year-old Sam Klemke had waited just about his entire life for a time capsule embedded in downtown Denver's Petroleum Building to be opened.
His wait ended Friday and Klemke, who grew up in Northglenn, traveled from Oregon for the event near the corner of Broadway and 16th Street.
Documents, a couple of newspaper front pages, a 1922 dollar coin, and what the building's new owners believe to be a vial of petroleum, and a piece of unprocessed silver were inside.
Charlie Goodin, president of the Denver Petroleum Club, found the items fascinating.
"It's very interesting," Goodin said. "Oil and gas was very important to Denver's economy at the time."
Klemke, however, said it did not exactly fulfill boyhood dreams.
"I was expecting more fun stuff," he said. "It was more items by a bunch of rich old guys. (from (
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Petroleum Club owners eager to build on history
By Howard Pankratz ,Denver Post Staff Writer
When it opened in 1957, the Petroleum Club Building at 16th Street and Broadway was Denver's tallest building and housed the biggest oilman's club in the world with 1,100 members.
It was a mid-century modernist high-rise with austere lines designed by Denver architect Charles Strong.
The club, located on the 12th and 13th floors, was described in a Denver Post story as a "thing of expensive magnificence, elegance and luxuriousness."
On the 14th floor was the penthouse that would become the home of two of Denver's most noted citizens of the period - banker Kenneth King and then-oilman Marvin Davis.
The oil and gas industry was booming in the Rocky Mountain region, and Denver was the regional oil capital.
"There was still a lot of conventional drilling going on with huge, huge discoveries in Wyoming and Colorado," said Charlie Goodin, whose father, Bill Goodin, helped found the club.
"It was just a very busy time, just a lot of excitement, and the industry really took off," he said.
Now, the current owners of the building are going to celebrate its 50th anniversary, paying homage to its history, elegance and place in Denver history.
On Friday, Sept. 28, owners Lou DellaCava and Tim Borst will open the time capsule placed in the building on Sept. 30, 1957.
There will also likely be a block party with dignitaries, tenants and neighbors invited.
Lou DellaCava isn't holding his breath that the capsule holds anything of significance.
"I have no idea what is in the time capsule," DellaCava said. "Usually what's inside is a 'blast from the past' - newspapers and coins."
A Denver Post story the day of dedication - Sept. 30, 1957 - gives a clue: samples of oil, gold, silver, uranium and a current (1957) roster of the Petroleum Club and the front page of The Post.
Borst chuckled and said maybe there will be another nugget - "the hope is there is stock of a nondescript oil company that is now Amoco."
At one time, 33 oil companies had offices in the building.
The men are renovating the building and hope that the remodeling will do justice to the history and architecture of the structure.
"I want to venerate the building," DellaCava said. "It is now surrounded by buildings twice its height. We want to say, 'We were here first and are as prominent as you guys.' "
Charlie Goodin is thrilled about the occasion.
Goodin, in-house counsel for Petrogulf Corp., revived The Denver Petroleum Club about 18 months ago. It now has about 50 members and meets at the Denver Athletic Club. The old memorabilia from the original club at 110 16th St. is kept in a room dedicated to the new club and the oil industry.
Goodin fondly recalls how his father took him and the family down to the Petroleum Club Building and the club.
"It was very family-oriented," Goodin said. "Families went there all the time. There were a lot of receptions. I remember going to a Family Fishing Day up at Elk Falls about an hour west of Denver."
More than $500,000 was spent on furnishing the two floors of the clubs - a princely sum at the time.
And the bar was one of the biggest in Denver - 60 feet long, appointed in luxurious dark wood tables and chairs, with a stained-glass back bar, and areas on the wall that held the plaques of the oil companies that were members.
This was also the era of the Cold War, and it boasted an "A-bomb resistant core of two stairways leading to a heavily reinforced basement."
Kenneth King, president of the Oil Building Corp., said at the time that no occupant of the 14-story building would be more than 15 to 20 feet walking distance from one of the escapeways in case of attack.
Borst can attest to how well the building is built - something encountered by the contractor doing the remodeling.
"It is thicker and stronger than anything our contractor has seen," Borst said.
Posted: 09/10/2007; Updated: 09/27/2007 (from (
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