When the Children’s Hospital left Denver’s Uptown District for the Anschutz – Fitzsimons campus in Aurora a few years ago, both of the remaining Uptown medical institutions, St. Joseph Hospital and Presbyterian St. Luke’s Medical Center, planned to add their own children’s facilities to help fill the void. St. Joseph completed their facility at 18th and Franklin last year, and now the Rocky Mountain Hospital for Children is open on the Presbyterian St. Luke’s campus at 19th and High. The facility contains 53 beds and includes a total of 160,000 square feet. Here are a couple of photos I took this past weekend:
Additionally, a medical office building is under construction next door between 20th and 21st on High Street:
I’m happy to see that both institutions are making major investments in their Uptown campuses. There’s even another medical office building planned for nearby, which I will cover in my next post.
Finally, while it has nothing to do with the new RMHC, just a few blocks away at 19th and Franklin is one of my favorite buildings in Uptown—the historic Mullen Building on the St. Joseph campus. Isn’t she an art deco beaut?
The Mullen Building was designed by prominent Denver architect Temple Hoyne Buell. According to the St. Joseph Hospital website, the building was dedicated on October 12, 1933 as the Catherine Mullen Nurses Home, and it served as the hospital’s nursing school and dormitory until 1970.
Old and new, Denver’s Uptown District continues to improve.
I love Temple Hoyne Buell’s buildings. I understand he also designed the Paramount Theater and the elementary and middle schools in North Denver off 38th Avenue. I cannot remember the names of the schools, but they are both near Gaetano’s Italian Restaurant (on opposite sides of 38th). I am glad to see so much infill around the old Children’s Hospital site. I would love to see a new building boom downtown.
I grew up across the street from Merrill Middle School (South Monroe & Florida Ave.), and it’s a Buell too. But it’s from his later, more Modernist period–no traces of Art Deco. The old Cherry Creek shopping center (part of which is still standing, with Bloodbath & Beyond, Macy’s Furniture and the Container Store) is another Buell design dating from this period.
Agreed about a building boom, though only if it involves some smart architecture. I appreciate some of the modern efforts going on (I’m actually a big fan of Fentress), though getting back to some more traditional art deco and gothic styles would definitely enhance the downtown area. The last thing we need is another Republic Plaza or World Trade. Alternatively, so more creative modern architecture that isn’t simply post-modern lines and angles would be welcome. I do like the Mullen building and even Bldg 500 out at Anschutz has a simple, powerful art deco design.
Corey, you’re thinking of Bryan Webster Elementary and Horace Mann Middle School. Both absolutely beautiful. My dad has a degree in masonry engineering and remembers a national textbook on artistic uses of brick and both the Mullen Building and Bryan Webster Elementary were shown as fine examples.
Here is a pic of Horace Mann here: http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd187/denveraztec/HoraceMannz4.jpg
And Bryant Webster Elementary:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bryant_Webster_Elementary_School.JPG
Just spectacular buildings!
Bryant Webster was by the firm George Meredith Musick in conjunction with his brother James Roger Musick. It’s interesting but Musick is one of Denver’s more versatile and somewhat forgotten architects (often being attributed to Buell). In addition to Webster, he did the First Baptist Church at 14th and Grant, Welshire Country Club and Beach Court Elementary. One of his best known “modernist” buildings is the old DU Classroom Building that is now integrated into the Webb Building. This was in conjunction with Smith, Hegner and Moore.
http://www.coloradohistory-oahp.org/guides/architects/musick.pdf
FYI- The Saint Joseph Hospital location you reference above is actually run by The Children’s Hospital through our partnership with Saint Joe’s. We opened a separate pediatric location across the street from their adult emergency entrance in 2007 so we could continue to provide pediatric care in downtown Denver. You can tell our location at 1830 Franklin St. by our Ballon Boy logo on all the windows:)
We continue to expand this location and offer various clinics, services and 24 hour emergency care for kids. Feel free to learn more at http://www.thechildrenshospital.org/downtowndenver
Thanks!
Thank you for the clarification!
I love Uptown and would like to live there sometime, if I can ever get out of Broomfield. It’s got old and new buildings, good restaurants, and just a little bit of grit left over from when Colfax was the red-light district. Sadly, it no longer has Bump and Grind, but I guess we’ll survive.