U.S. Post Office and Federal Building
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United States Federal Courthouse in Denver, Colorado, 1916
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Location | 18th and Stout Sts., Denver, Colorado |
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Coordinates | 39°44′55″N 104°59′23″W / 39.74861°N 104.98972°WCoordinates: 39°44′55″N 104°59′23″W / 39.74861°N 104.98972°W |
Area | 2 acres (0.81 ha) |
Built | 1916 |
Architect | Tracy, Swartwout & Litchfield; Hedden Construction Co. |
Architectural style | Classical Revival |
NRHP Reference # | 73000470 |
CSRHP # | 5DV.201 |
Added to NRHP | March 20, 1973 |
The Byron White United States Courthouse is a courthouse in Denver, Colorado, currently the seat of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. It formerly housed courthouses of the United States District Court for the District of Colorado Completed between 1910 and 1916, the building was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1973, as U.S. Post Office and Federal Building. In 1994, it was renamed in honor of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Byron White (1917–2002) a native of Fort Collins, Colorado.
The grand Neo-Classical design of the Byron White U.S. Courthouse brought design elements popular in the eastern United States to Denver. The monumental scale and elegance expressed its official and public character, and served as inspiration for other civic buildings in the city.
By 1900, Denver was a major transportation crossroads and a significant western commercial city. The monumental 1893 U.S. Post Office was already considered outdated, leading the people of Denver to seek a new, larger building for the Post Office and Federal Courts.
Authorization for a new building was approved as early as 1903, but funds were not appropriated until 1908. In 1909, Office of the Supervising Architect of the Treasury Department James Knox Taylor selected New York architects Tracy, Swartwout, and Litchfield to design Denver's new Post Office and Courthouse. Egerton Swartwout designed the building, Evarts Tracy was working on nearby Cathedral of St. John in the Wilderness at that same time. It was one of only thirty-five Federal buildings built during Taylor's tenure (1883–1912) that were designed by independent architects commissioned by the U.S. Treasury Department under the Tarsney Act. Passed in 1893, the Act authorized the Treasury Secretary to use private architects, selected through architectural competitions, to design Federal buildings. The Act reflected the growing demand for greater architectural standards for public buildings and opened the way for additional appropriations to maintain those standards.