Show REPORT ON THE JOINT COUNTY AND CITY BUILDING at a session of the county court held monday april selectmen howe cahoon caboon and miller were present judge bartch presiding the following report from the junketing committee who have recently returned from denver and other colorado towns in the interest of the joint city aud and county building was read and referred to the joint building committee your committee selected to make an examination of public buildings in other cities with a view view to obtaining data for the erection of a joint city and county building proceeded to the city of denver on the ath dinst after com completing plating our labors in denver we went to pueblo and canyon city thence home arriving on the inel and now beg leave tore port for the consideration of the court as follows rol lows 0 after arriving at denver we called at the residence of E T ailing a personal friend of one of the committee mr alling ailing who is one of danvers Den vers leading and respected citizens upon being made acquainted quain ted with the object of our visit at once tendered us his services which we cheerfully accepted and which proved a great aid throughout our in that e ity city he first us to a number of influential e citizens iti zens who received us cordially and manifested their willingness to be of service to esthen ac us to the arapahoe count county court cour t house and made us acquainted wi officials in the various departments all of whom we found very cordial and ready to give us information ARAPAHOE COURT HOUSE this building is situate on the centre of a regular city square and is ia feet long feet wide two full stories and a partial story above the basement one hall running through it north and south and another east and west it has four fronts and an elaborate tower feet in height from the basement it is surrounded b by beautiful lawns laid out in artistic stafe with fountains and pools it presents an elegant ap appearance rance an and throughout is sug suggestive tive of the push an and energy which has haa characterized ha the people of that city surely a city is what the people make it that the building when first erected was well adapted and entirely adequate to the wants of the county must be conceded but that it is now after a lapse of only nine years from the timer time of its com entirely inadequate for the needs of that growing city must mast also be conceded and indeed is frankly acknowledged by the officials as aa w will L be seen seen further farther on in this report 0 on n this point hon prank frank church who was for seven years the treasurer of arapahoe county said the recorders treasurers treasur ers collectors county superintendents surveyors and assessors rooms are all too small to accommodate the present population of this city and earnestly advised the building of lar large e and commodious rooms mr me steele who was chairman of the board ot of supervisors during portions 0 rations of the time and a member of iha the e board during all of the time of said construction of said building entertained the same view and said that when it was built many of the people thought it entirely useless to erect such a large building a waste of money the prevailing opinions of the people so far as we were able to learn are of the same effect and the commissioners are now making preparations for a large addition ad thereto while some have advocated the erection of a new building your committee began their inspection of said court house in the basement which in their judgment is too low but twelve t elve feet in height and not properly divided into rooms having connection with rooms on the first floor the boilers are placed in the basement and a tunnel leads to the sidewalk on the street through which by means of a car fuel is carried to the boiler next we visited the recorders apartment the recorders main room is feet and is fireproof with iron shelvin shelving rollers and staircases his private office is feet and copying room feet record room vault feet vault feet and in addition to these he now uses another room feet for the tax records he is compelled to use rooms upstairs for want of rooms below and must have said records taken t up in I 1 the he morning and back to the vault in the evening quite inconvenient veni ent hon J EY smith recorder of arapahoe county informed us that the records in his bis office increase at the rate of per annum he said his rooms ought to have at least one third more area that a court house should by all means have an elevator of which they greatly felt the need that such a building should have three full stories and a basement that the recorders apartment to accommodate a population of should consul consist of one main room feet two rooms for copyists ats each feet one room for dr drafting ti a private office a vault and when abstracting must be done there should be an additional room for that purpose abstracting is not done in the recorders office in denver deaver the treasurers treasur ers room consists of one main room feet and a vault feet the treasurer is also collector of taxes and his room had the appearance of being very much crowded mr E R P mills deputy treasurer considered the room entirely too small he said they ought to have another room feet for clerical work and a private office on being asked a question as to the size of a treasurers treasur ers main rown room to accommodate a population PO 9 lation of people said it ought to be feet and the treasurers treasur ers office should adjoin it the criticisms of the treasurers treasur ers apartment will apply with like force to the assessors assessor ls mr H Y anderson deputy assessor sa said d that if he were erecting a now new building he would provide for said office one main room feet one private office feet and a vault the sheriffs sheri lre apartment is in the basement mentone one room feet private office feet under sheriffs room feet of sufficient size E R benton considers the county commissioners room to Is feet and colonel E J brooks deputy county clerk and recorder gaia said they were larger than necessary and so did also mr J C a member of the board of commissioners but both thew gentlemen and the sheriff concurred in the views of the other officials hereinbefore reported the county court room is feet clerks office feet recording office vault mr william B perry clerk of ef the court said that the court room ought to be b feet for the clerks office feet the county court is also the court of probate denver has five judges of district courts the dimensions ofine of suite of rooms will be sufficient for the purposes of this report the others being similar court rooms feet private office feet attorneys room feet vault feet clerks room feet copyists room feet the jury room with sleeping apartments are on the third floor judge graham considered the court rooms targe large enough for the present time but said an elevator was n necessary 0 C marsh corporation counsel having been connected with the law de department ament of the city for six years said mid denver made a great mistake in not building the court house large enough I 1 and strongly advised the constructing 01 of rooms much larger than necessary for present wants the contract price for the erection of said court house was 1860 jO including extras it cost grounds furniture and fixtures making a total of when the commissioners decided upon its location many objections were interposed on Z account of its being too far out of city onton the plains was then a prevalent re valent expression now in the heart oath of the city it the building is constructed of gre grey san sandstone it is well proportioned and finished dished in general plan and design is exoe well adapted to the purposes for which it was intended and although too small to accommodate the present population of denver yet it reflects great credit upon the men who had the energy and the nerve to erect the imposing structure at a time when popular sentiment declared it unnecessarily large and a burden upon the community it has taken but nine vears to prove the fallacy on the one liand hand and the wisdom on the other CITY HALL your committee also visited the city hall in denver which is quite a astl costly larr building n located on the corner of larimer and fourteenth streets with no park or grounds save the streets the contrast between the city hall and county court is quite marked we were not very favorably impressed with the former through the kindness of colonel Z E brewster clerk of the board of health the committee was enabled to obtain such information regarding the building as they desired mr J pearse chief of the fire department gave us ua a very interesting explanation and exhibition of the department that gentlemen gentleman has everything in excellent condition and his elevy action shows that he is the right man in the right place STATE CAPITOL this building is now in course of construction st and is a model of architectural skin skill the walls are massive and the tower or dome when completed will be feet high we had the pleasure of meeting mr P gomery the superintendent and mr william geddis the contractor of said building budding both of these gentlemen gave us valuable information in regard to concrete work in foundations ete etc also in regard to thickness of walls the capitol capital is being built of granite and when finished will be an imposing structure the people already appear to take great pride in it CITY HOSPITAL AND JAIL we visited the city hospital for the purpose of obtaining fats data which might be useful in the building of an addition to our county poorhouse and es especially bally in making provision for a hospital in connection therewith by our visit to the city jail we obtained important information as to the manner of keeping and feeding county prisoners the jail is ia a complete structure and admirably adapted to prison purposes the cost per day for feeding each prisoner there is 25 cents PUEBLO COURT HOUSE this building was visited in the evening after dark but no new points were obtained it is rectangular in form situated on the centre of a square surrounded by lawns CANYON CITY COURT HOUSE this court house is well adapted to the wants of that beautiful town the iron shelving in the treasurers treasur ers vault in our opinion is superior to anything we have seen STATE penitentiary this institution is located at canyon city colo and was visited for reasons similar milar to those given for visiting the denver hospital and jail kindly received by the officers we were enabled to obtain same some useful information and were it not for the length of this report we would enter somewhat into details the cost of food for each prisoner per day is all of the convicts who are able are required to work and many of them learn useful trades recommendations As a result of our investigations we respectfully fully recommend for the consideration of the court as aa follas that the joint city and county building be rectangular in form not less than feet long extending northeast and southwest and feet wide with halls twenty feet wide running lengthwise and crosswise through h the center thereof that the basement ge be fourteen feet high and divided into rooms to connect with other rooms on the first floor by means of a stairway that said building be constructed three full stories above the basement each story at least seventeen feet in length that all the exterior walls be built of gray sandstone that a vault be built at each of the four right anglea formed by tho intersection of the two halls on the first and second floors each feet that these vaults extend from the base to the tower or dome that the first story be fire proof I 1 that eleva elevators be built in the center of the mod by the intersection of the two halls that there be but a shallow excavation for the foundation deeming it best to raise the surface of the square or building site b by V filling in so as to make a gentle agenole slope from the building to the sidewalks that rooms be built for and the various county officers located as follows BASEMENT sheriff and coroners apartments the committee do not deem it necessary to give the size of rooms for offices to be located in the basement FIRST FLOOR recorders apartment main room 40 xao toot private office feet copying room feet proofreading proof reading and draugh ting room feet one vault feet collectors apartment main room feet private office feet on one vault feet one clerical room feet assessors apartment one main room feet a private office feet SECOND FLOOR county clerk one main room feet private office feet vault feet probate court courtroom feet judges office feet also a room for the selectmen and one for the county treasurer DISTRICT COURTS court room feet witnesses room feet clerks room feet feel clerks clerk 13 private vate room fet vault vl feet THIRD FLOOR A duplication of rooms last above set forth and the remainder of this room to be divided into jury rooms grand and petit with sleep sleeping departments etc one room for county attorney one for county surveyor county superintendent fish and game commissioner etc your committee further recommend that no steam boilers or other heating apparatus be put ut into the basement of the building budding abar thai this court confer with the city council as aa to the advisability of purchasing about rods of ground opposite either side of the eighth ward square on which to erect a boiler house that if the city council concur therein the said mid boiler house be connected with the joint building by means of a tunnel into info which the e team steam pipes leading from the boiler to said asid building may be placed there are grave reasons why these last recommendations should be carefully considered much useful information which we obtained in regard to material and construction we have deemed prudent to withhold from this report for the present or until the time for accepting plans has arrived in our recommendations it will be seen that we have confined ourselves principally to that portion of the building chichis chis to be occupied by county officers floers of and in making said recommendations we have endeavored not to be unmindful of I 1 our duty to the public in the expenditure of money nor of the grave responsibility which rest upon those who are to select the plans for and erect a public building which is to be adequate to the wants of a growing city and county for many years and concerning which there has already been so much controversy and consequent delay our thanks than ice are due to mr E T alling ailing hon J H smith mr J C twombly dr E C gray and other gentlemen of colorado for material aid courtesy and kindness during our investigation earnestly hoping that henceforth delay may give way to speedy progress this report is respectfully respect full submitted i G W BARTCH JOHN P CAHOON RICHARD HOWE committee |