The city’s premiere architect, raconteur and man-about-town, Temple (Sandy) Buell was born into a prestigious Chicago family on Sept. 9, 1895. His grandfather, Thomas Hoyne, was a reform mayor of Chicago, and his great-great grandfather, Norman Buell, numbered among the 13 pioneers who incorporated the village of Chicago in 1833.
Socially precocious and fun loving, Temple Buell nevertheless was a good student, attending Lake Forest Academy and later graduating from the University of Illinois with a B.S. degree in Architecture. He later earned his M.S. degree from Columbia University School of Architecture in New York City. In 1917, Buell won the prestigious The Prix de Rome, a scholarship in painting, sculpture and architecture given only to the most talented students since 1663. Unfortunately, World War I broke out before he could take advantage of the award.
Chicago-born Temple Buell, architect, philanthropist and the toast of Denver
After attending officers training camp in New York, Buell was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Coast Guard Artillery, after which the Army sent him to France. During the Battle of Chateu-Thierry, he nearly died after being exposed to poisonous phosgene gas.
Following the war, he worked briefly for Chicago architectural firms, including renowned theater and hotel builders C.I. and George L. Rapp. His lungs weakened, he developed tuberculosis in 1921. His physicians urged him to move to Colorado, where for several months he stayed at Oakes Home Sanitarium in north Denver. After recovering, he returned to work part time for architects Mountjoy and Frewen, where his first project would be an addition to the prestigious University Club.
Shortly thereafter, Buell opened his own architectural firm under the name Temple H. Buell, Architect. In 1923 he incorporated under the name T.H. Buell & Company Architects. His biggest project would be the Paramount Theater, which debuted on Sep. 5, 1931.
A model “transitional” cinema featuring both silent and talking pictures, the Denver movie house was originally intended to showcase films by Paramount Studios, which hoped to create a “perfect” theater in every state. Unfortunately, the studio would be hit hard by the Great Depression and only a few theaters were completed. Paramount Publix Corporation took over, scaling back the Denver building to one-third the original size. Still, the result was stunning.
The Paramount featured an Art Deco design exhibited at the Chicago Worlds Fair in 1932. The main entrance was originally at the Kittredge Building on 16th Street, with a side entry on Glenarm Street. As a design feature, Buell used white, glazed terra cotta tiles rising upward and outward in pinnacles. East Indian moldings, geometric shapes and figures graced the interior.
The Paramount would be considered Buell’s finest achievement, the only downtown movie house to survive the urban renewal blitz of the 1960s and ‘70s.
By 1940, the handsome, 6-foot-4 Buell owned the largest architectural firm in the region, employing nearly 150 people. His projects included the U.S. Customs House addition, the State Services Building and 26 local schools, including Horace Mann Middle School, St. Cajetan’s Elementary School (now demolished), Kunsmiller and Merril Junior High Schools and Lincoln and Kennedy high schools. He also served as city planner for Arapahoe County.
During the 1930s, Buell purchased 192 acres, which he helped develop into Cherry Hills Village. He also co-founded and served as president of the Cherry Hills Country Club. In 1949, he began construction of the Cherry Creek Shopping Center at East 1st Avenue and University Boulevard. Although he had purchased the land decades earlier, the project was delayed by nearly a quarter of a century of political bickering and zoning disputes.
The design of Cherry Creek Shopping Center was something new to retail architecture, with stores grouped together and surrounded by parking lots. Cherry Creek Shopping Center was an immediate hit and Buell became “the father of the urban shopping mall.” Buell invested extensively in real estate throughout the Denver area and owned much of the land south of the Cherry Creek Mall and around the Polo Grounds
In 1921, while still living in Chicago, Buell married Marjorie Callae McIntosh, an heiress whose family founded Household Finance Co. of Chicago, one of the world’s largest finance companies. The couple had four children, Callae Mackey, Temple Hoyne, Jr., Beverly Milne and Marjorie Daphne. The Buells owned a beautiful estate on South University Boulevard, surrounded by acres of land. In 1941 they hosted a Gone With the Wind Gala that became the talk of the town to entertain visitors to the Rotary International Convention in Denver.
Inspired by the convention, in 1945, Buell created a blueprint for possible Rotary International headquarters in Denver on the site of the old Catholic Cemetery, where Botanic Gardens was later built. Although he won rave reviews for his classical design, dubbed by local newspapers “the Temple of Rotary,” Rotarians dug in their heels and ultimately voted down a move from Chicago to Denver.
Never much of a homebody, Buell divorced Marjorie in 1958, after 37 years of marriage. He married Virginia Bennett Crocker in 1963 and divorced her eight years later. In 1975, at age 80, he married Sherry Montague. The marriage was short-lived.
In 1988, the American Institute of Architecture presented Buell with the “Architect of the Year” Award, its highest honor. He continued to operate his firm until 1989, when he became ill. Although Buell died in 1990, at age 94, many still remember his dynamic personality, humor, wit, and graciousness as a host. A dedicated philanthropist, he created the Temple Buell Foundation, which continues to provide support for programs and initiatives for children, especially in the areas of “early intervention, prevention, and improving the social and educational systems critical to the well-being of Colorado’s youngest citizens.”
Several buildings around town bear his name, including the Temple Buell Theater at the Denver Performing Arts Center. Among his major gifts to universities, a $5 million grant to Columbia University in 1983 established a Center for American Architecture.
Buell’s Paramount Theater became his crowning achievement. Photos courtesy of Denver Public Library, Western History Collection
