721 19th St
Denver, CO, USA

National Register of Historic Places - U.S. Customhouse

Statement of Significant:

The historical significance of the Federal Building U.S. Custom House is associated with its role as an integral component of the Federal complex in downtown Denver and its use of Colorado Yule marble on its street exterior facades. The U.S. Post Office (NR 3-20-73) was also built of Colorado Yule marble and is located across Stout Street from the south west corner of the building. The marble was quarried from the same quarry at Marble, Colorado which supplied the marble for the Lincoln Memorial and the Centotaph at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Washington, D.C. Thus, the Federal Building U.S. Custom House became uniquely important, especially in view of the fact that this marble is no longer being quarried. The quarry is the site of the largest deposit of clear white marble in the world and extraction ceased 1. when the machinery was removed for World War II uses.

Use of Colorado Yule marble in the lobby and interior trim together with undisturbed corridor treatment is the extent to which significance can be ascribed to the interior due to extensive inner office renovation.

Directly across Stout Street on the west façade is the Federal Building U.S. Courthouse built in 1965. Together with the Post Office and the subject building, this triad provides regional headquarters for government agencies having jurisdiction over many of the western states.

Built in 1931 at a total cost of $1,260,000 including site costs by the N. P. Severin Company of Chicago, the building was a source of controversy due to political pressure insistent on the use of Colorado Yule marble for its street facades. The contract called for the use of limestone, but Colorado's Senator Lawrence C. Phipps and Representative W. R. Eaton insisted on a 90-day option to consider using Colorado Yule marble instead. These congressmen were acting on pressure yielded by the Denver Chamber of Commerce made up of J.0. Carper, H. S. Sands, Frank Taylor, David Harlem, Herbert Crocker, Robert E. Fuller, and Temple H. Buell, all of whom urged the benefits to Colorado payrolls. Indiana's Representative, Will Wood, argued unsuccessfully for the limestone since his state would have benefited, despite the $200,000 increased cost for the marble.