The Mountain States Telephone Building (also known as Telephone Building) is a historic building located at 931 14th Street in

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

. It was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

on January 26, 2005. It served as the headquarters of the Mountain States Telephone & Telegraph Company, later known as

Mountain Bell Qwest Corporation is a former Regional Bell Operating Company owned by Lumen Technologies. It was formerly named U S WEST Communications, Inc. from 1991 to 2000, and also formerly named Mountain States Telephone and Telegraph Company from 1911 t ...

. Constructed in a variant of the

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

style named "Modern American Perpendicular Gothic," the building was designed by local architect William N. Bowman. The new building, completed in 1929, was built to provide dial telephone service for the first time in Denver. It is a 15-story building with buff-colored

terra cotta Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based unglazed or glazed ceramic where the fired body is porous. In applied art, craft, construction, and architecture, terracotta ...

, on a pink granite base. According to its NRHP nomination, the "Mountain States Telephone and Telegraph Company, the building's original owner, called its architectural style 'Modern American Perpendicular Gothic,' referring to its setbacks, massing, vertically, and

style ornamentation." With . The Gothic Revival architecture of the Mountain States Telephone Building is featured on many of Denver's Architectural tours. The entrance of the building features 13 murals from the history of telecommunications by

Allen Tupper True Allen Tupper True (May 30, 1881 – November 1, 1955) was an American illustrator, easel painter and muralist who specialized in depicting the American West. Biography Allen Tupper True was born May 30, 1881, in Colorado Springs, Colorado, the ...

, which were painted in 1929. The murals are located at several of the entrance lobbies and in one location inside the building."Allen Tupper True Murals" ''Telecommunications History Group''
Accessed Oct. 9, 2021. Denver telephone building mural -1

References

External links

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Telecommunications Virtual Museum: 931 14th St: Historic Building, Virtual Tour
National Register of Historic Places in Denver Gothic Revival architecture in Colorado Office buildings completed in 1929 Office buildings in Denver Lumen Technologies Telephone exchange buildings Telecommunications buildings on the National Register of Historic Places Commercial buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Colorado {{Colorado-NRHP-stub

See also

References

External links