WHAT: RMGA MEMBERS MEETING – Renaissance Denver Downtown
WHEN: Monday, March 9, 2020 -- 5:30 pm – Marriott Beverage Ritual; 6:00 pm – Networking; 6:30 pm – Short Meeting; 6:45 pm – Program – Colorado National Bank Building
WHERE: Renaissance Denver Downtown City Center Hotel, 918 17th Street, Denver, CO 80202.
PROGRAM: Michael Gayle, Renaissance by Marriott Lead Navigator, will be talking about the Colorado National Bank Building and its role in 17th Street being known as 'The Wall Street of the West'.
Renaissance Denver Downtown
RMGA Membership Meeting Review
Membership Meeting – Renaissance Denver Downtown
March 9, 2020
The membership meeting opened with President Sherry Moon updating us all on the planned FAM to the eastern portion of Clear Creek County on March 25th. Coordinator Mike Pearl noted that he has 12 signed up so far and has space for two more. The cost is $30/person. The Education committee has also planned a FAM for the western portion of Clear Creek County on May 14th. Same cost.
Sherry also noted that April’s annual Cherry Creek Shopping Center program involving all the local venues and the coming tourism events at each venue will be held on Monday, April 13th at a new restaurant in CCSC, the Flower Child – at 3110 East 1st Avenue, Unit 101. The big difference is that this will be a BREAKFAST meeting – 9:00-10:30am. Those present seemed to be excited about this event.
Two new members were also introduced and the business meeting was completed.
Ethan Magusin introduced Michael Gayle, Renaissance by Marriott Lead Navigator. The Renaissance Denver Downtown Hotel is a Marriott property and was opened In May 2014, in the former Colorado National Bank building, which was erected a century earlier on the corner of Champa and 17th Street in downtown Denver. One of the most secure and grand of its time, it was deemed the "bank that looked like a bank." Now, the hotel features 221 guestrooms and 9 suites, nearly 6,000 sq. ft. of meeting space, a signature bar and restaurant and has had 100% occupancy each night for the past two years. They often get the overflow from the Ritz Carlton, Magnolia and the Westin hotels. Stonebridge took over the operations of the hotel in 2011. Stonebridge is based in Englewood, Colorado and owns/operates 57 properties. They just bought the old Emily Griffith Opportunity School and plan to repurpose this building as a boutique hotel. US Bank bought out the Colorado National Bank in 1997 at a cost of $4 million and then spent $44 million to refurbish the building.
We met on the main floor in what is called “True’s Corner” and the hotel provided us with adult beverages and homemade chocolate chip cookies.
If you're standing anywhere in the lobby and looking up, you'll notice the hotel is also home to a series of 16 original oil-on-canvas murals that are attached to the walls, they cannot be taken down or moved to a different location.
Allen Tupper-True Murals - Located in the main lobby.
This series of murals, titled "Indian Memories," was created by famed western muralist Allen Tupper-True, also known for his murals in the Wyoming, Missouri and Colorado state capitols, and for designing the "bucking horse" symbol featured on Wyoming license plates. The five triptychs are each named and demonstrate a different aspect of Native American life. They are "Youth," "Buffalo Hunt," "War," "Women," and "Art Work." The larger stand-alone mural, located above the porte-cochere entrance, is one of True's largest, and is titled "Happy Hunting Ground." The murals, which cost $18,000 at the time, were much commented on in the press, and opened to great fanfare in 1925. True worked on these murals for more than two years. The pale background of each of the murals represents a dream that the main figure is having about the past and their past life. Prominent along the walls is an egg and dart décor which depicts life and death. The hotel has reprinted a brochure that was originally distributed in 1923 that describes these murals and Michael gave each of us a copy:
· "Happy Hunting Ground" - Located directly above the main entrance near the valet driveway.
As described by True, "is an attempt to suggest some of the wonderment, awe and tremendous expectation with which the Indian looked forward to the great adventure of the end of life's trail, platform, as his spirit gazes eagerly at what lies ahead.
· "Women" - Located directly above Reception.
This piece features an old woman sitting by the edge of a waterfall, in which she sees images from her youth. She imagines herself young again, splashing with the other happy, laughing maidens in the water.
· "War" - Located directly above the Discoverer Library.
This piece showcases an elderly chief beating a drum, while a winter snow swirls past him. His memory of wartime is filled with figures on horseback, riding through a village.
· "Youth" - Located directly above the Club Lounge.
As described by True, depicts several boys gathered around a crane that one of the boys has killed in a hunt. From a canoe, another boy is unloading birds, and others are emerging from the water to join in the celebration of the hunt's first success. In the middle-foreground rests a Sioux sun symbol. Michael noted that the blond boy in this mural was True’s son.
· "Buffalo Hunt" - Located directly above the entrance to range (the restaurant – range spelled lower case). .
This piece depicts a Native American hunter, surrounded by smoke from a fire, dreaming about the spirit of the hunt. The dream is filled with thundering buffalo, choking dust, stampeding horses and brave warriors.
· "Art Work" - Located adjacent to Reception.
This piece shows an elderly woman resting after completing beadwork, dreaming of days past, when her handicraft and skill dazzled her people. She's surrounded by some of her work, and a group in the distance admires more of it.
Though True studied the culture, art and clothing of the American Indians, detailed research has not yet been undertaken that would allow attribution of the mural scenes to any individual tribe or geographic setting.
A little known fact about Allen Tupper True is that he was allergic to many types of paint and had to experiment to find paints that did not make him sick.
The History Wall - Located under the Club Lounge near the stairs to the lower level.
The wall you see before you contains memorabilia from the Colorado National Bank's storied past, given to the hotel by former employees of the bank and their families. Take a minute to browse the artifacts to learn more about the rich history of this building and its murals.
The Original Building - Located outside the entrance near the History Wall.
The Colorado National Bank was founded by the Kountze Brothers in the early 1860s so they could buy gold from miners and sell it to East Coast financial institutions. The Kountze Brothers had their original building at 15th and Larimer and did not burn during the 1863 fire. They had money to lend to others to rebuild. They moved to 17th and Blake and then in 1913-14 built this building. This building designed by famed Denver architects William and Arthur Fisher, was constructed in 1915 at a cost of $500,000. You'll notice the original four-stories of the building's neoclassic, Greek Revival architecture include towering white columns and walls, created with marble from the Colorado Yule Marble Company, located in Marble, Colorado. This exact marble was also used to clad the exterior of the Lincoln Memorial and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Washington, D.C. It is also used on the Hotel Teatro, Byron White Building and the main Carnegie Library at the corner of Colfax and Bannock. You'll also notice the large, monogrammed bronze doors on the building's exterior. These are the original doors that opened to the three-story interior atrium, which still features marble flooring and many ornate bronze accents also original to the building.
The Wall Street of the Rockies - Located outside of the original entrance on the corner of 17th and Champa Street.
At the beginning of the 20th Century, 17th Street, which you see behind you, was coined "The Wall Street of the Rockies," alluding to Denver's dominance as the business capital of the Rocky Mountain west. Also, Denver is equidistant between Frankfurt and Tokyo – both major financial markets. Lined with Denver's grandest buildings, including hotels, office building and banks, these institutions were owned by the city's business leaders. Specifically, the corner on which the property sits was known as the "Four Corners," marking the heart of the Denver Business district, as the Boston Building (1890), the Colorado National Bank (1915), the Railway Exchange Building (1937) and the Ideal Cement Building (1907) all sat at this intersection. Today, 17th Street remains true to its history, housing 40 percent of Denver's office space, including some of its largest law firms and banks. There are plaques that provide more information about the Four Corners, Wall Street of the Rockies, and other historic points of interest embedded in the sidewalk beneath you and across the street.
Modern Additions - Located outside on the Valet driveway at the porte-cochere entrance.
In the 1960s, two stories were added to the Colorado National Bank building by architects John Rogers and Jerome Nagel. This addition was detailed in a modern architectural style that drew its inspiration from the Neo-Classical Revival style of the original building. At this time, Colorado Yule marble matching the original material was brought from Missouri, where it was stored in the event that repairs might be necessary to the Lincoln Memorial or the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Washington D.C. During the buildings conversion to a hotel, two additional stories were added in a more contemporary style. The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and this addition adheres to National Park Service guidelines that allow the building to retain a sense of its architectural evolution over time.
Bank Security - Located on the Lower Level near the large vault door outside of the Kountze Boardroom.
When the Colorado National Bank originated, it was designed to hold gold discovered during the western gold rush, not paper currency as we are accustomed to today. At times, the bank held millions of dollars' worth of gold; currently most banks keep less than $7,000 in cash on-hand each day. Because the bank held so many fortunes, it was constructed with five of the most secure vaults in existence at the time, secured with doors 33-inches thick and weighing more than 60,000 pounds. You'll see that three of these vaults still exist in the building. The one you are standing in front of also features a second, smaller "night drop" door. Because of the security these vaults provided, the Colorado National Bank was never successfully robbed.
Women of the Colorado National Bank - Located on the Lower Level near The Discovery Vault.
The bank's size was increased in the 1920s, as was its focus on appealing to female customers. With the addition came a "room” in which ladies may rest and write their checks," (and it is rumored they even had their own vault, like this one). There was also a teller dedicated specifically to women clientele, both capitalizing on the recent passage of women's suffrage and the gender's newly gained independence. It was at this time that the bank began proactively marketing more to women as well, even at one time extending an invitation to women that stated, "The Colorado National bank has an unusually large number of women customers - about seven thousand now - and would like to have more." The company's culture continued to celebrate women, eventually adding the first female to the management program in the 1960s, Bridget Fisher.
The 1926 Addition - Located on the Lower Level across from the Fisher Boardroom in a glass case on the wall.
In the 1920s, the bank's rapid growth, and the collapse of many other banks in the Rockies, led to a massive increase in customers for the Colorado National Bank. Therefore, in 1926 the building was expanded horizontally, doubling its size, by architects Merrill and Burnham Hoys. It was also at this time that the lobby's famous murals were unveiled, created by western artist Allen Tupper True. On the exterior of the building, marble was used from the same quarry to match the existing structure perfectly. What you see before you is foundation walls where the two building meet on the interior. The cement structure on the right, in which you can see spikes protruding from the twisted rebar encased within, is the original building. Brick, on the left side, was used to construct the addition. Many of the craftsmen from the building's original construction were brought back to assist with its expansion.
The bronze decorative piece you see is designed from the original bronze x-gate doors that were located on the first floor to enclose private banking areas.
Modern Artwork - Located inside near the doors of the original entrance.
To complement the building' juxtaposition of historic and modern, Denver-based NINE dot ARTS was commissioned to curate a collection of original artwork for the hotel. The signature pieces you see before you and throughout the hotel's public space were designed to complement the Allen Tupper True murals. Each is from an emerging Colorado-based artist or local gallery. Of note, this painting, and the other decor found throughout the hotel that incorporate the same color, pays homage to the variety of red and pink hues found in the sandstone throughout the state, and most famously, at Red Rocks Amphitheatre.
You may also notice as you walk through the hotel corridors, each floor presents a different theme from the building's history through artwork. Additionally, the guestrooms feature photography from Denver-based photographer Paul Brokering, highlighting a few of the buildings distinct architectural elements.
Michael also noted that the hotel is looking to Crush Walls artists to decorate interior walls. Stonebridge is also remodeling the range and adding new carpeting – the restaurant is owned by the hotel and is not a side business. Michael, as concierge, books tour through Aspire, Colorado Sightseer, Gray Line, Scootours, B-cycle and etuks tours. They have also booked food tours with Ethan.
Gold Mining in Colorado - Located on the main lobby level near the Library at the Trust Vault. It was a gold discovery in 1858 in the vicinity of present-day Denver that sparked the Pike's Peak Gold Rush. At that time, prospectors focused on the placers east of the mountains in the sands of Cherry Creek, Clear Creek and the South Platte River. However, the deposits on the plains were small, and when the first rich discoveries were made in early 1859 in the mountains farther west, the miners abandoned the places around Denver. Today, while many of the gold deposits around the state are gone, there are a few that still remain: The Cripple Creek & Victor Gold Mine in the town of Victor is the leading producer. Other active gold mines in the state are underground Golden Wonder mine near Lake City, and the Cash and Rex Mines in the Gold Hill mining district in Boulder County. Can you envision this room at one time filled with gold procured by those original miners, who came west with a dream of striking it rich?
The Teller Bar - Located on the main lobby level at the Teller Bar.
The aptly named Teller Bar sits where many of the original teller booths once did. This area was home to nearly a century of financial transactions, first in gold and bank notes from the Colorado National Bank, before centralized banking was prominent, and now found in the form of Federal Reserve Notes, also referred to as U.S. banknotes - the dollar bills we use today. The reception pods at the front desk invoke the look of the teller booth's original design by use of the bronze tops and the marble facades.
Contact information:
Michael Gayle, Lead Navigator
Michael.gayle@Marriott.com
303.867.8100 – main phone number
Written by Nancy Brueggeman