J.W. Noaecker

J.W. “Wes” Noaecker was born (1913) and raised in Grand Island, Nebraska. After completing high school he apprenticed with Gordon Shattuck, a local architect, to become a draftsman and architect. He earned his architect’s license in 1942, and in 1943 went to work for Safeway. Later that year he moved to Colorado, continuing his employment with Safeway, where he redesigned and updated their older stores in California, the Pacific Northwest, Montana and Wyoming.

In 1953 he changed employers, going to work for the University of Colorado in Boulder. He was made Director of the Physical Plant (Construction) in 1959 when his predecessor, Waldo Brockway, retired. In 1963 the Physical Plant merged their construction and maintenance divisions, and Wes Noaecker was made overall director of the new and enlarged department. He remained in this position until ill health forced him to retire early in 1970. He died in October 1974.

Noaecker's first work for C.U. appears to have been married student housing at Athens Court in 1957. The Nuclear Physics Laboratory on east Marine came next in 1960, with later additions; note the large cyclotron housing at the back - with massive concrete walls and a steel door made from surplus warship armor, the idea was to either to keep their own particles in or unwanted ones out. The front (north) facade, with its concrete piers, red brick and darker spandrels reminds one of the exterior of the stadium, which had been designed by Brockway and in which Noaecker had offices.

The Litman Laboratory, from 1961, is a true gem, one of the most delightful buildings in Boulder, and thus gets its own page. Later, and neighboring projects, were Research Laboratories #2 and #3, built in 1963 and 1969.

The Rose Litman Laboratory

This is one of my favorite buildings in Boulder; I think it was originally conceived by Iktinos and Kallicrates, but they lost the CAD files and had to build the Parthenon instead.

The building has two stories, with the second being set back a few feet on sides, front and back. Cantilevered overhangs shade the lower level, and the second floor windows have their own aluminum shades.

Drawings dated June, 1961 show that only one floor was originally intended, and if that's all they built it would have been one long, low-slung piece of work-kind of like an early '60s Lincoln Continental (suicide doors) with the top down. The central core had an attic, about four feet high, and it is still there, a base for the second floor. Overall, the front elevation would have shown complete bilateral symmetry, except that the north section has a couple fewer windows than the south. The original entry portal was of course shorter, but reaching to the top of the attic.

Drawings from December of the same year show the second floor, labeled "second floor addition." The front portal became much larger to accommadate a stairwell, and the bump-out at the rear (the back stairs) was also added. The attractive aluminum sun shades on the second floor are included in the December drawings.

I have more to do on this building, but here is something curious (maybe it isn't to you if you are an architect or engineer): notes on the drawings allow 100 lb live loads on the main floor, but only 50 on the second.

Horizontals want to dominate here, but Wes has contained them pretty well with the even fenestration on both levels, as well as the vertical extrusions marking off the windows on the upper facades. Like the sun shades, those are OEM, and included in the drawings.

The back of the building is just as nice as the front; the windows continue right up to the service doors, and the bump-out above is articulated well with the darker brick bands and a couple of sets of smaller windows.

As fashion-forward as this place is on the outside, the interior is all business; lots of cinder block, conduits large and small, and linoleum (or something) on the floors. No marble countertops, stainless steel dishwashers or bamboo floors here-scientists don't need them.