Best Endangered Historic Building 2005 | Hangar 61 | Best of Denver® | Best Restaurants, Bars, Clubs, Music and Stores in Denver | Westword
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Best Endangered Historic Building

Hangar 61

Hangar 61, one of the last remnants of Stapleton Airport, is a masterful, mid-century modernist structure with a dramatic form that resembles a cluster of pie slices but is actually a composition of fragmentary hyperbolic arches held in place by massive concrete anchors. Built to house Ideal Basic Cement Company's corporate plane, it's so stylish that it looks like James Bond could have used it. It was designed by Fisher and Fisher and Davis, a Denver firm that traced its origins to William Ellsworth Fisher, an architect responsible for several LoDo landmarks. The organization ultimately evolved into the Davis Partnership, which is currently collaborating with Daniel Libeskind on the Denver Art Museum's Hamilton Building. Despite its noble lineage, Hangar 61 is threatened with demolition: Its fate will be determined by the Denver City Council this spring.

Best New Building in the City

Denver School of Science and Technology

Early this year, Governor Bill Owens and Mayor John Hickenlooper presided over the grand opening of a new charter school. Built on land donated by Stapleton developer Forest City, the Denver School of Science and Technology is aimed at high school students with a gift for math, science and high tech. But whether they notice or not, the students will also be exposed to art: the sophisticated neo-modern building designed by Denver architect Brian Klipp, a rambling, exaggeratedly horizontal form carried out in silvery gray metal, painted stucco and scorched bricks. There are any number of stylistic flourishes on view -- corner windows, ribbon windows and eyebrow sun screens -- but the most spectacular is the entry pergola created from canted wooden beams and steel cable riggings. This cool school gets an A+ for style.

Best New Building in the City

Denver School of Science and Technology

Early this year, Governor Bill Owens and Mayor John Hickenlooper presided over the grand opening of a new charter school. Built on land donated by Stapleton developer Forest City, the Denver School of Science and Technology is aimed at high school students with a gift for math, science and high tech. But whether they notice or not, the students will also be exposed to art: the sophisticated neo-modern building designed by Denver architect Brian Klipp, a rambling, exaggeratedly horizontal form carried out in silvery gray metal, painted stucco and scorched bricks. There are any number of stylistic flourishes on view -- corner windows, ribbon windows and eyebrow sun screens -- but the most spectacular is the entry pergola created from canted wooden beams and steel cable riggings. This cool school gets an A+ for style.

Best New Building in the 'Burbs

Martin Luther King Jr. Library

Old downtown Aurora has gotten pretty rundown over the years -- and that's precisely why the city's officials have put so much time and money into revitalizing it. The centerpiece of their efforts is the new Martin Luther King Jr. Library, a downright glamorous-looking neo-modern building by Michael Brendle that opened last year. The facility, which also houses city offices, is constructed of gray brick accented by big sheets of ethereal blue-tinted glass, with rectangular volumes stepping in and out of the main pavilion. The structure is striking and has become an instant landmark -- but Aurora will need more than that to get this grungy area back on track.

Best New Building in the 'Burbs

Martin Luther King Jr. Library

Old downtown Aurora has gotten pretty rundown over the years -- and that's precisely why the city's officials have put so much time and money into revitalizing it. The centerpiece of their efforts is the new Martin Luther King Jr. Library, a downright glamorous-looking neo-modern building by Michael Brendle that opened last year. The facility, which also houses city offices, is constructed of gray brick accented by big sheets of ethereal blue-tinted glass, with rectangular volumes stepping in and out of the main pavilion. The structure is striking and has become an instant landmark -- but Aurora will need more than that to get this grungy area back on track.

Best Building Makeover

Tivoli-Union Brewery

The old Tivoli brewery that now serves as the Auraria Higher Education student center received a couple of interior updates after it quit shipping suds in 1969. But it wasn't until last year that the seven-story, circa 1890 building got a facelift that stripped away years and many layers of paint, making it a worthy landmark at the edge of downtown.

Best Building Makeover

Tivoli-Union Brewery

The old Tivoli brewery that now serves as the Auraria Higher Education student center received a couple of interior updates after it quit shipping suds in 1969. But it wasn't until last year that the seven-story, circa 1890 building got a facelift that stripped away years and many layers of paint, making it a worthy landmark at the edge of downtown.

Best Newspaper Preservation Act

Colorado Historic Newspaper Digital Project

The JOA may have preserved Denver's two competing dailies, but Brenda Bailey-Hainer and her Colorado Historical Newspaper Digital Project may save many, many more with their statewide historic newspaper database, searchable by both subject and publication.

Best Newspaper Preservation Act

Colorado Historic Newspaper Digital Project

The JOA may have preserved Denver's two competing dailies, but Brenda Bailey-Hainer and her Colorado Historical Newspaper Digital Project may save many, many more with their statewide historic newspaper database, searchable by both subject and publication.

Best Makeover

Denver Post redesign

At this time last year, practically everything about the Denver Post was unattractive in the extreme. The photographs were blurry and indistinct; the type style was smudgy and clotted; the layout was haphazard. Then a team led by Damon Cain, the paper's managing editor for presentation and design, tore up the previous template and started from scratch. The new concept debuted last May, and it was a revelation -- an elegant broadsheet that's extremely readable and easy on the eyes. These days, the ugly duckling of Denver newspapers is a lot closer to being a swan.

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