Sugar Building - Denver, CO
Posted by: 
Outspoken1
N 39° 45.064 W 105° 00.000
13S E 500000 N 4400128
The Great Western Sugar Company, founded in the early 20th century by Charles Boettcher and partners, was a pioneer in bringing the sugar beet industry to northeastern Colorado.
Waymark Code: WMG7ZN
Location: Colorado, United States
Date Posted: 01/26/2013
Views: 1
The plaque reads:
Sugar Building
1906
The sweet smell of success pervaded the Sugar Building from 1906, when it was constructed by the Great Western Sugar Company. During the 1920's, GW became the largest producer of sugar beets in the country. The original building was four storied high and designed by Gove & Walsh Architects. A two-story addition was made to the building in 1912. Located in the heart of Denver's warehouse district, the Sugar Building is functional in design and notable for its Sullivanesque arrangement of windows between vertical piers as well as for its use of terra cotta decoration based on geometric and foliage forms. Inside, two original Otis elevators with iron cages and gates remain as surviving examples of this vintage. The Wazee Street side extends three bays to where it is joined to the warehouse, a red brick building of the same height. A testament to the substantial influence of the Great Western Sugar Company on the economy of Colorado, the men who founded and led its empire, the Sugar Building stands tall and proud and sweet.
The website reports:
The Sugar Building was constructed in 1906 to house the administrative offices of the newly incorporated Great Western Sugar Company on the site of the former Red Lion Hotel. A four-story warehouse was also constructed facing Wazee. The company was formed through the merger of six small independent sugar beet factories in Loveland, Eaton, Greeley, Windsor, Fort Collins, and Longmont. It grew quickly, adding new plants in Sterling, Fort Morgan, Brush, and Scotts Bluff, Nebraska, within the next four years. This growth prompted the need for expansion of the administrative offices, and a two-story addition was built in 1912. Two additional stores were added to the warehouse in 1916. By 1920, Great Western had purchased a plant in Billings, Montana, and constructed new facilities in Gering, Bayard, and Mitchell, Nebraska, Lovell, Wyoming; and Brighton, Colorado. The conversion of the warehouse into additional office space met the burgeoning needs of the company that same year.
The Sugar Building is functional in design and reminiscent of Louis Sullivan's work in its arrangement of windows between vertical piers and in the use of terra-cotta decoration based on geometric and stylized foliage forms. Inside the main doors you can see the brass open-cage Otis elevator, said to be the oldest working system of its kind west of the Mississippi.
More history of the GW Sugar may be found at (
visit link)