Denver Neighborhoods

TODAY

HISTORIC DENVER NEIGHBORHOODS

Select a highlighted area from the map below.

East Denver, including Park Hill, Montclair, Hilltop and Lowry, is a relatively prosperous and largely residential area through which the park and parkway system provides a touring route. East 17^th Ave. Pkwy., East 6^th Ave. Pkwy., Montview Blvd. and Clermont, Forest, Monaco, and Richthofen Parkways are interconnected greenways lined by many fine homes reflecting popular architectural styles of the past 100 years. Richthofen Parkway leads to Montclair, an 1885 suburban town which much subsequent infill, annexed to Denver in 1902. This heterogeneous district resembles a catalog of residential styles from the 1880s to the 1990s Two historic districts on what was, until 1994, Lowry Air Force Base commemorate the tremendous impact of the military upon Denver’s development.

back to top

Capitol Hill
Denver’s 19^th-century millionaires built their showplace homes, schools, clubs, and churches here, surrounded by lawns along gridded, tree-lined streets and flagstone sidewalks. Some smaller homes, modest apartments, and institutional buildings survive amid commercial intrusions, parking lots, and high-rise apartments, in this architecturally rich and diverse neighborhood around the gold-domed state capitol.

back to top

South Denver
The town of South Denver sprouted along the Broadway streetcar line and grew to be the largest of the streetcar suburbs annexed by Denver. Incorporated in 1886, South Denver stretched from South Alameda to Yale Aves. Between Colorado Boulevard and Pecos St. The middle-class town was annexed to Denver in 1893. Well preserved for the most part, South Denver has the Denver’s best collection of bungalows and its first International Style dwelling, the Hegner House (1935), at East Dakota Ave. (SW corner of South University Blvd.).

back to top

The settlement in Northwest Denver began after 1858, when Denver founder William H. Larimer waded across the South Platte River to stakeout "Highlands." This area began to thrive during the 1880s following construction of streetcar lines and viaducts over the South Platte River and railroad tracks. A wave of Italian immigrants between the 1880s and 1920s established "Little Italy" there, although Spanish-speaking settlers have been most numerous since 1950. Highland Park, known as Scottish Village, because of its curving lanes with Scottish names, illustrates over 100 years of low-cost housing built on tiny lots. The ethnic peoples of Northwest Denver have added to a rich collection of churches, cafes, bars and housing.

back to top

Curtis Park
Within the Five Points Neighborhood, this district of Victorian homes includes Denver’s first park (1868), a donation to the city from Samuel S. Curtis, a developer of this pioneer streetcar suburb. It is Denver’s oldest surviving residential neighborhood. Initially a haven for those with the means to move out of the city, Curtis Park evolved into a black, Hispanic, and Japanese neighborhood during the 1920s and 1930s. Comprised of Italianate, Queen Anne and Carpenter’s Gothic homes and many other eclectic Victorian styles. The Curtis Park Face Block Project restored pedestrian ambiance by reinstalling sandstone sidewalks and street trees. This historic district enjoys a renewed popularity.

back to top

From Buildings of Colorado, by Thomas J. Noel. Oxford University Press, 1997; and other works by the author.

For more information about Denver’s neighborhoods, go to the Piton Foundation. Neighborhood map and data is a joint project of the Piton Foundation and the Community Planning and Development Agency of the City and County of Denver.