Dave continues to work his way through several years of the company’s newsletters, and when he comes across something about the Denver store, he sends me a copy. So, here are some of the latest images in the exciting saga of the development of the “new” Steel’s Department Store in Downtown Denver:
First, from the March 11, 1922 newsletter, a series of images of the old store being demolished:
Next, from March 18, 1922, the groundbreaking ceremony, featuring President Steel himself:
From May 20, 1922, a two-page spread of photos of the excavation for the new structure (zoom to view at full size):
Dated June 24, 1922, the new building is starting to rise:
From July 22, 1922, the new structure is almost topped off:
Don’t you wish our 21st Century infill projects would go from proposal to demolition to construction to completion as quickly as the Steel Building did?
Thanks again to Dave Dyer for his willingness to share his research! More to come.
Nice pictures. On this past Friday night, after watching a movie, my wife and I went down to look at the renovation.
The inside was lit up with construction lighting. You could see the new fire-supression system in place on the ceiling and the wide open interior.
Didn't think to snap a photo.
Ken, this is an interesting lesson in construction history. I, too, wonder what it is that causes buildings to be built so slowly these days. Certainly, it's not because today's buildings are higher quality or take time to include beautiful artwork as part of the building itself. How long can it take to run some fiber optic cable and install a few extra bathrooms?
The story goes that the Empire State Building was built in 11 months, and the steel was still warm from the mills in Pittsburgh.
It doesn't make sense that, with the tools available today (think CAD systems, tower cranes, etc), that builders have taken such a huge step backwards.
Don't you think that maybe construction worker safety and working conditions might have improved at the cost of slower construction? I think that's a decent tradeoff.
The Empty State Building was built
in 13 months. Ask the Union guys why they can't build faster than they do. Oh, wait don't do that.
It's always someone else's fault.
I think half of it are bureaucratic requirements and the other half are safety regulations.
Saint, Yes you have a point there. It takes a lot more than 13 months to go thru the Planning and Building Permit process. It also takes longer to draw the plans; a lot of time just to do the code studies and etc. for the Building Dept.
1:40- come on, can't just use the blame union excuse. Most of the country doesn't build union anyways. I'd say bigger factors are changes in regulations and construction process (studies, planning, permitting, submittals, etc) plus changes in construction materials and fabrication (technology). Plus I'd say interior construction projects (fit outs) move much quicker today than ever before.
Sorry anon 2:38, I guess I've just seen a lot of "That's not my Job",
and limited hours etc. by the onions that slow down jobs. You are right about the levels of gov't that were much easier and faster to deal with in the past. Or they didn't even exist. Permitting is definitly harder than it was 10 years ago.
nice post, thanks for sharing!