Denver, LoDo district

Downtown of Denver... Isn't it a nice place to take a walk? In fact the answer is not that simple... I don't see any reasons to avoid downtown. But I know many people who don't like one way roads here, hate traffic and don't understand parallel parking (if you are lucky enough to find a spot). But this is a reward too - old town where you can find some pieces of history!
This time we went to walk in LoDo and wanted to see a couple of old buildings. So we started with the Wazee Exchange building. Nothing fancy, pure function. Typical 19 century facade, plain brick walls, some old (i mean it!) ads still visible on the walls. Offices and warehouses - very typical usage for such a building at the time.

 

Our next stop was at Crocker Cracker Factory - steam crackers factory built by F.W. Crocker in 1881. The American Biscuit Manufacturing Company used the steam cracker bakery beginning in 1890 and was succeeded by the National Biscuit Company (Nabisco) which operated the bakery until approximately 1940. The building is a good representative example of the utilitarian architectural style applied to industrial buildings in Denver's warehouse district in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Next to the cracker factory building is another one - smaller one. This one has a nice fine portal entry - the walls and ceiling are decorated with typical for the time tint job, and the plaster portal shows a really nice job too. 

There are condos in this building today. Good change, I guess :)

Littleton Creamery building, lately Beatrice Creamery. There are three buildings built in 1903, 1912 and 1916. 

The original Littleton Creamery, built in 1913, is five stories with a full basement. It is constructed of thick brick exterior and interior bearing walls with a sandstone foundation. The structure is heavy timber framing.

The original 1903 building served the cold storage, administration, manufacture and distribution of dairy products. Butter was originally produced in the basement, offices were located on the first level and cold storage occurred on Levels 2-5. Because the building was used for cold storage, windows were placed only in non-cold storage areas. No windows existed on Levels 3 and 4, and the windows on Levels 2 and 5 were boarded up and insulated for cold storage use. 

The 1912 addition (5 stories) functioned almost entirely for cold storage with only the basement and first floor being used for other functions (basement: boiler and operating systems; first floor: loading docks). The three floors added in 1917 were also used for cold storage.

The original 1903 corner structure is characterized by Renaissance Revival elements, particularly large stone voussoirs topping rectangular windows along 18th Street and the loading doors on Wynkoop Street. A smooth stone string course divides the first and second stories, and is topped by arched windows marking the seven bays of the 18th Street facade and six bays of the original Wynkoop Street facade. Alternating bands of light and dark brick sweep across the solid mass of the third and fourth stories on the original 1903 building. Fifth story rectangular windows sit atop another smooth stone string course and are linked by intricate polychrome brickwork in a diamond pattern. Solid recessed panels in the two additional sections of the structure reach to the cornice line and are surrounded by a plain brick molding with concrete corner blocks in a modified Greek key motif at the top. Panels-of the three bay section are each decorated with a pendant design in the textured brick coursing, while the four bays of the northernmost section have been pierced by industrial-style windows at the fourth and fifth levels.

And only a block away from Littleton Creamery you can find Oxford hotel - the first of historic Denver Hotels to open its doors, The Oxford Hotel has remained open since 1891. Like the city of Denver, our hotel has evolved to the needs of its guests. With a colorful history, The Oxford Hotel has a unique past worth to learn about!

And here are a few facts about Oxford hotel:

- The hotel had its own power plant, providing steam heating, electric, and gas lighting

- Each floor had state-of the art water closets and sanitary appliances

- There was a men’s only dining room

- The hotel had its own barbershop, library, pharmacy, Western Union office, stables, dining rooms, and saloon

- The men’s bathroom contains two original urinals that are 4 feet tall

- The women’s restroom was originally the barbershop

- The elevators are known as “Vertical Railways”.

The most famous room of the hotel was still closed, so we will visit the Cruise Room (the bar in the shape of a wine bottle and decorated in Art Deco style) next time. 

How people survived without their smartphone for centuries? It feels like today these small devices are more important than anything else and people rely on them all the time...

We browsed a bit longer around the area, stopped for a cup of strong coffee and... finally left it's narrow streets with a strong feeling we would like to come back here next weekend :)

Pictures were taken on September 28, 2018.