Sugar Building - Denver, CO
Posted by: 
Outspoken1
N 39° 45.064 W 105° 00.000
13S E 500000 N 4400128
A series of plaques as part of a walking tour of lower downtown (original) Denver
Waymark Code: WM8JEG
Location: Colorado, United States
Date Posted: 04/09/2010
Views: 4
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.
Group or Groups Responsible for Placement:
Lower Downtown [Denver] District
County or City: Denver
Date Dedicated: Unknown
Check here for Web link(s) for additional information: [Web Link]
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Visit Instructions:
In your log, please say if you learned something new or if you were able to take any extra time to explore the area once you stopped at the historic marker waymark. If possible, please post a photo of you at the marker OR your GPS at the marker location OR some other creative way to prove you visited. If you know of any additional links not already mentioned about this bit of Colorado history, go ahead and include that in your log!