The State School of Mines continued to thrive as it passed to the hands of its 6th leader, Dr. Regis Chauvenet. Chauvenet was quickly dealt a challenge to his school's existence. The Colorado legislature began considering the proposition of consolidating the School of Mines with the University of Colorado, to get the state-funded higher education under one roof. Mines, the people of Golden and others vigorously protested this proposal, defending the school's existence as an established institution gaining an international reputation, a good thing that would be wiped out if the Boulder university, a school not devoted to such specialization, were to take over its educating mission. The State agreed, and the State School of Mines was blessed to continue the work it began.
By 1890 SSM had run out of room again,
and Chauvenet saw it was time for another wing to be added to the Hall of
Chemistry. Not one to settle for less, Chauvenet and the school's leaders
sought out Colorado's 1st licensed architect, Robert S. Roeschlaub, to draw
up the new design. This Roeschlaub did, in a style heretofore foreign
to Golden: the Romanesque. Romanesque was a medieval style, used
in Europe's great cathedrals before the Gothic was even invented. American
architect Albert Richardson helped spearhead its revival, and Roeschlaub brought
it to Colorado.
State School of Mines - Hall of Chemistry,
1893
From left - original building (1880); north
wing (1882); Executive Building (1890)
Illustration from Golden Globe Industrial
Edition, May 15, 1893
The new wing, intended to house the SSM administration, came to be called the Executive Building. Built into the hillside by contractors George H. Kimball and Herbert Tracy Quick for $88,460, it was a 3-story red brick structure with rows of rounded arch and rectangular windows, with fine sandstone trim. Thomas Gow built its stone work, while William H. Curry did the brick work, supplied from the yards of William H. Gifford. The entrance the building was Roeschlaub's trademark, a great stone arch, led to by a grand staircase. As its iron girders were set in place, editor Oscar Webb Garrison of the Golden Globe reviewed "This building when completed will be a superb job, substantial, tasty and solid." This breathtaking building truly set a new standard for architectural design in Golden; within a year the brickyard manager north of Golden lived in a house of like style.
Three years later, a sorrowful afterthought reached the Mines campus. The original Territorial School of Mines building was gone. After Mines had left in 1880, it had served as the first building of the State Industrial School for Boys, now the Lookout Mountain School for Boys. Later, after SIS built new buildings around it, the historic Mines building served as the school's hospital. In late January 1893, it joined its sisters in the fate of cremation:
At about 9 o'clock Sunday morning a prolonged whistle from the engine at the Reform School notified the people that there was something wrong, and shortly after the fire alarm sounded from the Central Fire Station in town. This called out the Excelsior Hose Co. on the jump, and a number of citizens joined in the race for the scene of the conflagration. This proved to be in the old original building that was erected for the School of Mines and used as such until the new buildings for that institution were built. But little pressure could be obtained from the water tank, as the location of the fire was as high as the supply tank, and the flames got so much headway that it was found impossible to stop them. All the woodwork and roof were burned, leaving nothing but the bare walls standing, but by the aid of the Golden firemen and inmates of the school nearly every thing movable in the house was saved. The fire originated in the attic, probably from a defective flue. The building was used for office, Supt. Hatch's living rooms, some rooms for the female employees, and the upper story for a hospital, in which were five boys upon the sick report. They were all removed safely and domiciled in another small building upon the ground. There was $7,000 insurance on the building in the Springfield Mutual, California Ins. Co. of North America and the German American, all represented here by Capt. E. L. Berthoud. The institution was already very much crowded, and the loss of this building will render the situation worse still. We hope the legislature will push the bills now before it for relief.
- Colorado Transcript, February 1, 1893