Downing. Erected in 1924 as the "Aristocrat of
Apartments," the Norman was specially designed by architect
William Norman Bowman as his home. After a hard childhood, Bowman, born in New York in 1868, had
studied under Elijah E. Myers, the architect who designed the
Colorado Capitol. Bowman settled in Denver in 1910, originally
living in an elaborate suburban home, the Yamecila, at 325
King. He won
numerous commissions to design such structures
at the Mountain States Telephone building, Park Hill Methodist
Church, the Colburn and Cosmopolitan hotels, Cole and Byers
junior high schools, and the headquarters for the EI Jebel
Shrine. After his wife's death, Bowman decided to move into an
apartment, resulting in the construction of the Norman. Bowman emphasized luxury and beauty in the West Country
Club structure. The exterior colonial revival building was
enhanced by marble entry walls, nine-foot-high ceilings,
mahogany doors and terrazzo bathroom floors. There was
car-hop, laundry and maid service, and the Norman promised
that unlimited ice was available for tenants day or night. The
goal, its advertising announced, was to "surround its dwellers
with more of an atmosphere of refinement." Though the Norman changed owners and went through
bankruptcy in the 1930s, it remained one of South Denver's
most distinctive apartment houses into the 1980s. In the
summer of 1983, the Norman and the neighboring Country Club
Gardens apartment complex to the north were acquired by the
New Height Group. The new owner converted the Norman into
condos. The structure was renovated and placed on the National
Register of Historic Places. Remaining as apartments was Country Club Gardens between
Downing, Ellsworth, Ogden and the Norman. This was the first
multiunit housing project sponsored in Denver by the Federal
Housing Administration. Built in 1939-40, the developers
included a group of 12 Denver investors and four local banks. The city refused their pleas that the structure only have six-inch
walls opposed to the city building code mandating 12-inch
exterior walls. Country Club Gardens, designed by the
architectural firm of Fisher, Fisher & Hubell (the successor to
Fisher & Fisher), and sponsored by the Van Schaack real estate
company, however, was allowed to have only a 22-foot setbackfrom the Downing Parkway as opposed to the required 35-foot
setback. When completed, Country Club Gardens had 187 units
with 722 total rooms, occupied six acres, and was said to
embody the best of garden city planning principles. By the mid-1980s, its residents along with those of the Norman
and others living in the area were complaining about their new
neighbor at the northeast comer of Bayaud and Ogden, Country
Club Towers. On what had been an empty lot and the garage
behind the Norman, a 183-unit highrise was erected in
1985-86, easily overshadowing all the other buildings in the
area. The 20-plus-story edifice was not popular. Established
residents claimed it blocked the sun and interfered with their
views of the mountains. Noting its pyramid theme, they pointed
out that the hideous structures in George Orwell's 1984 were
also of pyramid design, leading some to label Country Club
Towers as being the worst of "1984 architecture" as they
insisted that it besmirched the South Denver landscape. Meanwhile, off to the southeast of the Country Club, other
distinctive residential enclaves had retained their charms. Except where otherwise noted, ©Copyright 1999-2008, WWPNA. All rights reserved. Community Website Creation by Growing Venture Solutions
General Country Club Gardens History News
