I can’t believe it’s been five years since I starting writing and taking photos for DenverInfill. It seems like yesterday we were watching the Ralph Carr Judicial Complex start to rise. To celebrate, I have three posts for 1401 Lawrence coming this week. Why three? DenverInfill was given a great opportunity over the weekend to go on an inside tour of 1401 Lawrence. Because there are so many photos to share, we have to break it up into three separate posts. Today, we will be focusing on the exterior.

1401 Lawrence is nearly topped out at 22-stories with the last floor of the mechanical penthouse underway. Throughout this post, you will see that last floor going in.

Let’s start off with some aerials! The glass facade is a brilliant change to all of the earth toned buildings around this area of Downtown Denver. When complete, the reflective glass will make the building almost invisible on a clear day.

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Here is one more aerial from the Central Platte Valley. 1401 Lawrence adds some decent height to the Denver skyline.

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Now for some ground level photos. It was partly cloudy this weekend making the glass stand out.

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Viewed from Speer Boulevard and The Auraria Campus, 1401 Lawrence stands out in both height and reflectivity. I think we can all admit that this is a refreshing change.

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Personally, I love the juxtaposition between the historic buildings of Larimer Square and the modern glass curtain wall that towers behind them.

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The north facade is comprised of aluminium and glass, breaking up the symmetry of the solid glass. It looks sharp and has a neat feature which we will cover in our inside tour.

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The solid glass facade actually juts out from the main structure; a first for any building in Downtown Denver.

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Finally, let’s move in closer and check out the street level. The metal screening is starting to go up on the parking garage, masking the exposed concrete structure we see on most garages. We also get a neat pattern out of it!

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Coming up next: the inside tour. Stay tuned!