
A radically Modernist replacement of a Victorian courthouse destroyed by fire, this won a national AIA award for the innovative Denver firm that designed it. The architects were inspired by the memory of the old courthouse and the architectural context, but were driven by a small budget. A stark box of smooth-faced concrete block, the building is a study in minimalism adorned only by contrasting rough-faced block for the foundation, stringcourses, and window trim. White glazed block “dentils” are the only cornice ornament. The Douglas County Executive Building (1994?), 101 3rd Street, is a much more successful combination of contemporary cinderblock and traditional rhyolite.