National Bureau of Standards/ National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)

National Bureau of Standards/ 325 Broadway/ Pereira & Luckman (Los Angeles) with J.E. Stanton (Los Angeles), and Robert Ditzen (Boulder) architects/ International Style/ built 1954

N.I.S.T., the National Institute of Standards and Technology, was known as the National Bureau of Standards prior to 1989. It is a federal lab that develops and supplies measurement tools, test methods, and scientific data that businesses need to invent, innovate, and produce high-quality products for electronics, communications, optics, nanotechnology, public safety, biosciences, forensics, defense, and environmental applications. The Boulder campus sits on 206 acres.

The Department of Commerce Boulder Laboratories Building 1, also known as the Central Radio Propagation Laboratory (CRPL), was designed in a regional variant of the modern architecture International Style. It was constructed in 1953 to 54. The opening was on September 14, 1954 with a ribbon cutting by then President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

This is the first of many scientific research buildings, all designed with an innovative sensibility. The CRPL building was ‘cutting edge’ for its day with a rational and unornamented design, a central ‘spine’, and flanking wings of laboratories. The exterior calls to mind an aircraft carrier in appearance due to its gray concrete walls, flat roofs, linear window shades, and control tower on top.

Pereira & Luckman Associates was founded in 1950 by college classmates Charles Luckman and William Pereira in Los Angeles. Over their 10 years in business they employed 300 people and had 56 buildings constructed from their designs, primarily in California. Their company's notable buildings include the Theme Building at Los Angeles International Airport, CBS Television City, and the First National Bank in Denver. They teamed with two other architecture companies on the design for the Federal Bureau of Standards in Boulder, J.E. Stanton and Robert Ditzen.

About historic preservation interest for this building: https://www.nist.gov/ofpm/historic-preservation-nist/boulder-laboratories