Denver City & County Building

The Denver City and County Building is crowned by a three-story clock tower and a massive, lighted dome that glows against the night sky. Built in nineteen thirty-two, it replaced a Victorian courthouse that Denverites claimed was haunted by the ghost of a judge. Mayor Benjamin Stapleton pushed for the new neoclassical structure to project stability during the Great Depression. He insisted the project use only local stone and labor, turning the building into a massive relief effort for desperate, out-of-work citizens.