Photo Phriday - 2015 07 31

The Ghost Building in downtown Denver!  In my blog about Denver's Chilled Water Plant I mentioned that a historic building was disassembled to make room for the Chilled Water Plant in 1979, and that said historic building was reassembled 6 years later at 18th & Stout.  This is that building.

Photo Phriday - 2015 06 19

A Doc Martens sign on the side of the former FasioNation store. They recently left Capitol Hill after 30-some years and moved to South Broadway due to rapidly increasing rent; a common story in Denver these days. Glad they found a new location!

Welby Manor: An Old Building Just North of Denver

One evening, driving around the northern Denver metro area, I drove past a really cool old house.  I always enjoy seeing interesting old buildings; remnants of days past.  My excitement turned to sadness when I saw a notice posted on the door.  It was dark and the house was set back pretty far from the road, so I couldn't read the notice.  I assumed it was a demolition permit or something similar.  I picked up my phone* and started searching for nearby addresses to see what was going on.  Why would someone tear down such a cool building?!  I know it's often cheaper and easier to scrape a lot and build some new, trendy, giant mixed-media thing, but... I prefer the character of old buildings.  They tell a story of the people who lived in the community.

As it turns out, the family that owns the building and surrounding land have been in that area since the late 1800s.  They aren't demolishing the building, they are renovating it and turning it into a focal point of the Welby community!  They are even hoping to turn it into a local museum.  Great news!

I went back a few weeks later and took some photos:

You can read more about Welby Manor here.  I'm glad that this building is being preserved, and I can't wait to see how the renovation progresses!

*I wasn't driving; I was a passenger. Drive safe!

Lumpy Brick Facades

Denver seems to love an architectural "style"* that I had never noticed prior to moving here.  Lumpy-looking brick facades!  Particularly on 1960s and 1970s apartment buildings.  Ready for some examples?

Examples
1270 Marion St, built 1965

252 Pennsylvania St, built 1971

1265 Downing St, built 1970

1783 Hudson St, built in 1928 (Bonus: a single-family home!)

Clinkers
So what is the deal with all of these lumpy-looking buildings?  After much searching, and thanks to ReadReidRead's blog post, I now know.  They're called clinker bricks, also known as "eccentric brickwork".  Deformed bricks used to be discarded, but then in the early 1900s someone had the brilliant idea to use them in actual building facades.  I'm all for using waste and byproducts, but let's just say the execution on this style isn't my favorite.  Used sparingly, clinker bricks can draw your eyes to different parts of a building.  But when a majority of the facade is made with clinker bricks?  It kind of looks like an inebriated person built your home.

It appears as though this trend didn't make its way to Denver until the 1960s, and fell out of favor by the end of the 1970s.  While there are a few homes built with clinker bricks from earlier (see the single-family example above), the apartment buildings made with clinkers are all from the 1960s and 1970s.

Thanks to automated manufacturing, there are fewer clinkers being made today by accident.  Unfortunately, it appears as though some companies actually make clinker bricks on purpose.

Sources and More Examples

• https://readreidread.wordpress.com/2013/10/04/what-are-clinker-bricks/ 
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clinker_brick
• http://www.oldhouseonline.com/guide-to-clinker-bricks/
• http://www.historicalbricks.com/products/antique-building-materials/clinker-brick
• http://www.oldhousejournal.com/exteriors_savvy_clinker_bricks/magazine/1495
• https://www.flickr.com/photos/pnmaryf/5193648485/
• http://www.berkeleyside.com/2010/07/14/where-in-berkeley-24/
• http://planetreuse.com/collections/price-asc-building-material/products/74#.VQm5dOH-mpQ

 *I put style in quotes, because I am not sold on their execution of such.

Photo Phriday - 2015 02 06

A dreary winter day in Denver's Uptown neighborhood, with a Downtown skyscraper (Wells Fargo Center, AKA "the Cash Register Building") in the background.

Interesting tidbit: when I looked up the Cash Register Building to find out its official name, Wikipedia told me that the building was originally intended for Texas and that "a heated roof is necessary to prevent snow from accumulating and sliding dangerously off the curved crown".

Photo Phriday - 2014 11 21

1990 or 2014?  There's one dead giveaway in the photo.  Does anyone see it?

Photo Phriday - 2014 10 31

Apologies for not posting last Friday; I've been away from my computer(s) much more than usual.  I hope this one makes up for it?!


I really like the variety of light sources in this photo!  A garage in the Sunnyside neighborhood in Denver.  It's on W 39th Ave, despite CO-39 actually being in northeastern Colorado.  Perhaps a Coloradan knows the story behind this garage door mural?

Photo Phriday - 2014 10 10

A bit later than usual, but here is the photo!


Taken on the 16th Street Mall in Denver.  I was going to take a photo of the sidewalk under the scaffolding, but this guy and his dog ended up being a nice addition!

Buildings That Aren't What They Seem

Brooklyn Subway Vent

Back in 2011 I read BLDGBLOG's article about a house in Brooklyn that is a disguised subway vent.  It was a residential brownstone that was converted into a subway vent and emergency exit in the early 1900s.

As luck would have it, I was scheduled to be on the east coast a few months later and built a visit into my itinerary.  We found the house, and it was as odd as I'd imagined.  Hidden in plain view.  How much of the neighborhood is really aware of what lurks behind those doors?


As I walked up to the front door a lady walking down the street said to me, "they make it look so real, don't they".  She knows!


Denver Chilled Water Center

I wasn't planning to blog about the Brooklyn brownstone/vent because BLDGBLOG and others have already done so, and I have no additional information to provide.  But then I read about a building in downtown Denver.  Disguised as an office building, it is really a facility that serves cold water to nearby buildings.

An excerpt from District Energy - Denver’s Historic System: Still Full Steam Ahead:

"A dedicated Chilled Water Center was built in the heart of downtown Denver, ‘disguised’ to look like an eight-story office building. The first cooling customer was served in August 1998. The Chilled Water Center incorporates two ice tanks with storage capacity of 75,000 ton-hrs of cooling. Ice is made at night and melted during the day to provide cold-water service to the buildings, while reducing the electrical requirements on the downtown grid during the peak daytime hours."

In addition to the Chilled Water Center, Xcel Energy also owns/operates Denver's steam system, which is the "oldest continuously operated commercial district-heating system in the world" and has approximately 130 customers.  For comparison, ConEd's steam system in New York City serves approximately 2000 customers.  Denver's Chilled Water Center serves approximately 40 customers.

Unlike the brownstone/vent in Brooklyn, the Chilled Water Center was built for its current purpose.  Prior to the Chilled Water Center, the Ghost Building occupied the space at 15th & Glenarm.  In 1979, it was dismantled so the Chilled Water Center could be built, and re-built in 1985 at 18th & Stout.

Sources

Brooklyn Brownstone Subway Vent: http://bldgblog.blogspot.com/2011/12/brooklyn-vent.html

ConEd's Steam System: http://gothamist.com/2005/11/28/superhot_steam.php

Xcel's Chilled Water Center in Denver:

• District Energy - Denver’s Historic System: Still Full Steam Ahead 
• http://www.xcelenergy.com/staticfiles/xe/Regulatory/Regulatory%20PDFs/CO-Rate-Case-2012/3/Exhibit-No-JW-1.pdf
• Xcel Energy XTRA - District Heating and Cooling 
• http://www.xcelenergy.com/staticfiles/xe/Corporate/Corporate%20PDFs/Xtra_May2012.pdf

Denver's Ghost Building: 

• DPL - Ghost Building 
• http://creatingcommunities.denverlibrary.org/content/ghost-building
• Denver Post - Ghost Building Made Its Way To 18th Street 
• http://www.denverpost.com/pennyparker/ci_17446853
• Railroad Glory Days - Denver's Ghost Buildings
• http://railroadglorydays.com/GhostBldgs/

Photo Phriday - 2014 09 26

This one is for the local crowd:


Denver!  Taken on a recent rainy evening at 16th & Blake.  It doesn't rain a lot here, but it sure brings out the colors in the city!

PS: I am working on an actual real blog entry about a recent road trip.  STAY TUNED!

Weather: PA vs CO

I grew up in Pennsylvania. Yay!

Then I moved to Colorado. Yay!

Since I moved west, everyone back east has been asking me about the weather out here.  Ok, mostly those who have never visited Colorado.  You see, apparently everyone on the east coast believes that Denver is high on a mountain top.  Not so!   Here's a spoiler for those who haven't visited yet: Denver's nickname is the Queen City of the Plains.  Plains?  Yes, plains.  It's flat here.  Flat in a way that my rolling-hills-of-the-mid-Atlantic-Appalachians self couldn't imagine until I first visited.  Vast and FLAT:

Looking east, past the 'burbs southeast of Denver.
At least it's not Iowa.

But if you look west:

Mountains!

Central Park off of MLK Jr Blvd

Anyway, living in the middle of a continent and above 5000', the weather patterns are certainly different than living 2 hours away from the Atlantic Ocean. So let's compare the data!

Allentown, PA

	Units	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Average High	°F	36	40	50	62	72	80	85	83	75	64	53	41	62
Average Low	°F	21	23	30	40	49	59	64	62	54	42	34	25	42
Precipitation	"	3	3	3	4	4	4	5	4	5	4	3	4	45
Snowfall	"	11	11	5	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	6	34
Average Relative Humidity	%	69	67	64	62	66	67	68	71	73	71	71	71	68
Mean Daily Sunshine	Hours	5	6	7	7	8	9	9	8	7	7	5	4	7

Denver, CO

	Units	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Average High	°F	44	46	54	61	71	82	89	86	78	65	52	43	64
Average Low	°F	19	21	27	35	44	53	59	58	49	37	26	18	37
Precipitation	"	0	0	1	2	2	2	2	2	1	1	1	1	15
Snowfall	"	7	6	10	6	1	0	0	0	1	4	9	10	53
Average Relative Humidity	%	56	56	54	51	54	52	51	52	51	51	59	59	54
Mean Daily Sunshine	Hours	7	8	8	9	9	11	11	10	9	8	7	6	9

Comparison

	City	Units	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Average High	Allentown, PA	°F	36	40	50	62	72	80	85	83	75	64	53	41	62
	Denver, CO		44	46	54	61	71	82	89	86	78	65	52	43	64
Average Low	Allentown, PA	°F	21	23	30	40	49	59	64	62	54	42	34	25	42
	Denver, CO		19	21	27	35	44	53	59	58	49	37	26	18	37
Precipitation	Allentown, PA	"	3	3	3	4	4	4	5	4	5	4	3	4	45
	Denver, CO		0	0	1	2	2	2	2	2	1	1	1	1	15
Snowfall	Allentown, PA	"	11	11	5	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	6	34
	Denver, CO		7	6	10	6	1	0	0	0	1	4	9	10	53
Average Relative Humidity	Allentown, PA	%	69	67	64	62	66	67	68	71	73	71	71	71	68
	Denver, CO		56	56	54	51	54	52	51	52	51	51	59	59	54
Mean Daily Sunshine*	Allentown, PA	Hours	5	6	7	7	8	9	9	8	7	7	5	4	7
	Denver, CO		7	8	8	9	9	11	11	10	9	8	7	6	9

As you can see, the basic differences are:

• Average High: Allentown's average high is a few degrees cooler than Denver's average high.
• Average Low: Allentown's average low is a few degrees warmer than Denver's average low.
• Snowfall: Denver receives an average of 53" of snow per year, while Allentown only receives 34", but...
• Precipitation: Allentown receives 45" of precipitation per year, while Denver only receives 15".  
• Humidity: It's pretty dry in Denver... 54% average relative humidity for the year, with the winter being the most humid.  Allentown is at 68% average for the year.
• Sunshine: Denver is the clear winner here, with 9 sunshine hours per day (mean).

Humidity and sunshine hours are the biggest differences.  Allentown has overcast weather for much of the winter season, and is pretty humid all year.  Denver's winters are much more sunny (though both cities are at nearly the same latitude), and is generally not very humid at all.  Denver's general lack of humidity contributes to that 53" of snow melting into less than 15" of water.  Spring and summer rainstorms in PA can last a week, whereas July in Denver brings the daily 30-minute thunderstorms, followed by clear skies and sunshine.

Notes

Allentown's temperature/precipitation/snowfall measurements were taken at Lehigh Valley International Airport (1981-2010).  This is pretty much in the center of the Lehigh Valley metro area.

Denver's temperature/precipitation/snowfall measurements were taken at Stapleton International Airport (1981-1995) and Denver International Airport (1995-2010). While Stapleton is quite a bit closer to the city than the new Denver International Airport (19 miles closer!), both sets of measurements were taken relatively far from the actual urban area, which is generally a few degrees warmer than the surrounding areas, and gets a different amount of precipitation. NOAA does have data from Denver Water (near downtown), but it starts in 1997 as opposed to 1981, which is when both Denver's and Allentown's airport data begin. For a consistent comparison, I chose to use the Denver Airport data.

For your enjoyment, here is a map of Denver's new and old airports:

View Denver Airport Locations in a larger map

Data Sources

• Temperature/Precipitation/Snowfall: NOAA
• Denver
• Allentown
• Average Relative Humidity: NOAA
• US Cities
• Mean Daily Sunshine Hours: Hong Kong Observatory
• Denver
• Philadelphia (closest available measurement to Allentown)