Status Updates From Daniels and Fisher: Denver'...

“Zeckendorf did something else for Denver that boosted its status among large cities: he gave it first-class modern architecture. . . his hiring of I.M. Pei to design his Denver projects was brilliant. China-born Pei, a master of geometrical form, gave the project A level of design intelligence and classic elegance that became increasingly rare in subsequent downtown Denver developments.”

“Zeckendorf gave a great gift to Denver in the form of Courthouse Square. Its construction inspired new hopes that Denver’s downtown would not suffer the decline already apparent in many American cities.”

“Shaking this sleepy, self-satisfied town into reaching toward its potential as a city took many more years and many more millions than we first expected. . . I was blocked in all my moves. . . until I broke from the established pattern of play by taking a gamble that solved two problems and set Denver businessmen agog. I bought the Daniels and Fisher store.” —William Zeckendorf, Jr.

“The tallest building between Chicago and San Francisco when built, it reigned over Denver’s skyline for more than four decades after its 1911 debut. No mere folly, the tower not only served as a symbol of the fine department store to which it was once attached but also marked Denver’s maturation from frontier outpost into a big city.”

“The design is classical: a stone base, a buffet-colored brick shaft and a pyramidal crown capped by a cupola. Near the top, clock faces point in four directions; just below the clock, columns and arches handsomely frame inset balconies.”

“Roughly resembling Venice’s Campanile do San Marco, the slender Daniels and Fisher Tower occupies a plot of ground only 40 feet square and rises 330 feet (375 feet with flagpole) from the corner of the Sixteenth Street Mall and Arapahoe Street.”