Bureau of Mines Boulder City Experimental Station, Warehouse, Date Street north of U.S. Highway 93, Boulder City

Source document Quoted word for word from HABS NEV,2-BOUC,1G-. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

Date Street Complex, bordered by U.S. Highway 93 Truck Route, and Elm and Date streets Boulder City, Clark County, Nevada Building 700 is located in the southwest comer of the complex near U.S. Highway 93. Building 800 is located to the southeast, and Building 600 is directly north. Boulder City, Nev., Topographic Quadrangle, U.S.G.S., Photorevised Universal Transverse Mercator Coordinates: (approximate center of building)

Source document Quoted word for word from HABS NEV,2-BOUC,1G-. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

Building as part of the Date Street Complex, was part of the Bureau of Mines Electrometallurgical Research Facility located in Boulder City. As such, it is within the designated Boulder City Historic District. However, because of its construction date, and addition made between and it is considered a non- contributing element to the District. In a report of a survey of the Date Street Complex, Christine Pfaff indicated that in addition to being constructed after the period of significance for the District, the building, itself, exhibited "no exceptional architectural or historical significance." The significance of the Boulder City Historic District is tied to the Boulder Canyon Project (Hoover Dam) and to the history of American City Planning.

This was the first community constructed following the federal New Towns model, as well as the "first fully-developed experience in new town planning as promoted by the Community Planning Movement, a movement which is recognized as the force which most influenced contemporary community planning practices" (Woodward et al. Description: Building 700 was built in as a second warehouse located immediately to the east of the location of the original wood-frame warehouse, which was tom down in The remaining warehouse is a concrete building constructed on a simple rectangular plan, as shown in the c. plan drawing (entitled "New Warehouse"; for the building. Originally 107 feet long (northeast/southwest), an addition on the east elevation extended it to 224 feet in length.

The width remained unchanged with the addition, measuring 62 feet (northwest/southeast). On the plan drawing the only openings included are for six large entries on the west, south, and east elevations. Those on the east have since been removed or included as interior entries with the addition to the warehouse. The remaining four entries are still present. BUREAU OF MINES BOULDER CITY EXPERIMENTAL STATION, WAREHOUSE (Building No. HABS No. (Page 2) The building is one story high and has a low pitch (26 ) gable roof covered with corrugated sheet metal. There is a moderate overhang of approximately 10 inches on the west, north, and south elevations. Along the roofline are seven cylindrical ventilators and a klaxon at the east gable peak.

A vertical concrete block frieze band encircles the addition, whereas the original building has a frieze band comprised of concrete covered horizontal blocks. Windows are present on the north, west, and south elevations, and doors are on the east, south, and west elevations. The windows are recessed 9-light with concrete sills The primary (front) elevation faces east. In the center of the gable is a frame and shelf for an evaporative cooling unit. A vent opening is above this. A recessed door is on the southeast corner of the building. It is a two panel type that appears to be metal in a metal frame. Next to this is an oversized, double, sliding metal door with track above allowing for each door to slide open. The one to the south can slide over the recessed door.

A sign with the building number is on this door. The entry area covers about one third of this elevation. The remaining two-thirds have a poured concrete platform for storage. There are four steps to the top of the platform, which is approximately 4 feet high, and provides easy access to the ground surface just north of the warehouse. The north elevation has only two windows visible. These are rectangular and boarded over. In addition to unattached metal storage units along the east and central part of the elevation, is a small front-gable wood-frame storage shed located near the west end of the elevation. The roof of the shed appears to be covered with rolled roofing material with aluminum roofline flashing.

The walls are comprised of vertical T planking with a possible framed door on the north elevation of the shed. The west elevation has four windows symmetrically placed on either side of the centrally located opening. The opening is a sliding metal door with a track above it extending to the north end of the elevation. When opened it would cover the nearest window to the north. As with the east elevation, there is a raised platform for loading and unloading, but the width of this platform equals that of the building. It is about two feet high and has a concrete block retaining wall on the south side. The south elevation has windows only on the original building. There are four that are evenly spaced with three metal sliding doors in-between.

A fourth, smaller metal sliding door is in the center of the addition. All the doors have tracks above them, and when open, the three on the original building partially cover the windows to their west. Below the doors, the concrete is a darker color. There also are a series of metal hooks located near each of the doors. It is speculated that these were associated with the rail line that once went alongside the building. v:i = ~:= r.i ~ ::i >~ =~~ >= =oc::trl cj ~ ~~ trl ~~ ~~> (;; =-- t"' ""iJ ...,v:i ~z> "ll ~ (IQ ....:io "'iz