In the Berkeley neighborhood between W 38th and W 44th, Tennyson Street is home to one of West Denver’s most vibrant and fastest growing commercial and retail hubs. The five block stretch was originally developed in the early 1900s and featured restaurants, a theater, and community spaces. Although few of the original businesses carry on, the red brick masonry construction widely used throughout Denver’s early development remains a cherished style for its inhabitants. The development along Tennyson Street has endeavored to preserve the classic aesthetic, presenting specific challenges to build a modern retail space suitable for restaurants and cafes.
Located just south of Cesar Chavez Park, the iconic corner building was abandoned after a severe fire burned the interior beyond repair. A complete demolition of the interior building structure was needed to revitalize the site, however, preserving the uniquely multi-angled brick facade was tantamount to the design, and because the developer wanted to plan for the possibility of future rooftop expansions, the ancient and fire-damaged masonry was unsuitable for modern building demands.
CRAFT developed an internal structural steel system to provide long span open spaces for the tenants and to provide sufficient support for the existing masonry walls to act as facade elements exclusively.
Denver’s notoriously poor-quality and highly expansive topsoil required new reinforced concrete grade beam foundations dropped below the existing foundation elevation to reach suitable soil. The close proximity of a neighboring building from the same era required careful consideration for the foundations at the property line. The existing masonry foundations were underpinned by the new foundation system capable of supporting two stories of commercial live loading as well as reinforced concrete on metal deck floors on steel bar trusses carried by a structural steel framing system. The lateral force resisting system consists of a combination of braced frames and moment resisting frames at the front facade.
The steel system required geometrically irregular connection conditions which were carefully coordinated with the steel fabricator to ensure components did not clash with existing building elements. CRAFT provided a full 3D construction model to the fabrication team to use for detailing connections, and the fabricator returned 3D fabrication models of the fully detailed connections back to CRAFT for FEA evaluation and verification. The traditional 2D shop drawing review process was supplemented by reviewing the full-building fabrication model developed by the steel detailer.
Careful consideration of the existing masonry walls was required to ensure the brittle components were properly supported for out-of-plane wind and seismic ground movement. Due to the poor state of the walls and high modern demands, the masonry wall and parapet were through-bolted to the concrete slab on metal deck and steel parapet support at 2-foot spacings. Local repair was required where existing masonry was too fragile for safe use.
The modern store fronts required larger openings that the existing masonry lintels could not support, thus new steel channel lintels were introduced to allow for large, glazed storefront walls that bring light into the deep floor layouts.
Throughout the construction process, CRAFT worked closely with the General Contractor PGArnold to ensure unforeseen existing conditions were properly rectified and coordination challenges were quickly resolved. This included developing solutions for temporary support of existing masonry walls during demolition and designing the building systems with flexibility for future expansion, demonstrating CRAFT’s ability to navigate complex construction demands with foresight and adaptability.
Project Team
Architect: Storyn Studio for Architecture, General Contractor: PGArnold Construction, Steel Fabrication and Erection: High Ball Erection
