Merchandise Mart - Denver, CO - Colorado Historical Markers on Waymarking.com

Merchandise Mart

This building is one of the last constructed in Lower Downtown between the Depression and the wave of building and development begun in the 1980s. It was originally built as a multi-tenant merchandise mart.

Architect Montana Fallis came to Denver in 1886 to work for the firm of architect Frank Edbrooke. In 1905 he joined John J. Stein to form the firm of Fallis and Stein. During the four years they were together, they designed a variety of large office and apartment buildings, churches, hotels, and theaters. Among the most notable was the Ideal Office Building, the first concrete "fireproof" building in Colorado. In 1912, Fallis and his new partner, Robert Willison, employed their fondness for glazed terra-cotta in the ornamental detail of the Oxford Annex. Fallis used an Art Deco design in brick with accents of terra-cotta for this building. The interior is noted for its large rounded cement columns. The building has been in continuous use, with its most recent incarnation as forty-seven loft condominiums with underground parking completed in 1994.

The Plaque reads:

Built in 1930-31 as a multi-tenant warehouse, 1863 Wazee Street is representative of the final building period in lower downtown until the boom of the 1980's. Architect Montana Fallis used the modernistic style to establish this building as Denver's first "Merchandise Mart." Fallis distinguished himself in architecture by specializing in the structural engineering problems of large buildings. His work ranged from metallurgical industry designs for smelters and refineries built all over North America to carious Neoclassical and Art Deco buildings built in lower downtown, including the Oxford Hotel Annex. This building's art deco elements reveal a radical departure form the provincial and often conservative architecture of the time. Sensuous lines, sumptuous ornamentation, and European influence can be seen in the brick masonry of this building. Polychromatic brick, jagged point triangles, chevrons and the use of a variety of materials - from brick, stone and terra cotta to metal and opaque glass - were characteristically used in the art Deco style of architecture to enhance and enliven the lines of structure.

Group or Groups Responsible for Placement: Lower Downtown [Denver] District County or City: Denver Date Dedicated: Unknown Check here for Web link(s) for additional information: [Web Link]

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