Denver is the fastest-growing city in the West; today we're seeing booming population growth and near-record building permit volume. Although the current wave of growth won't last forever, our city will continue to grow and change in tune with demographic and economic changes, and in line with our adopted plans. 

Fortunately, through all our city's changes over the last 48 years, our community-supported landmark preservation program has ensured Denver's greatest historic treasures remain. While our landmarked buildings and historic districts can and will be adaptively reused in modern ways, they will always retain their historic character. 

Denver is full of great examples of historic preservation. In robust economies like today's, more projects spring up to breathe new life into long-forgotten buildings. Take Tres Birds Workshop's recent renovation of 580 Gilpin, a 1927 auto garage located in the Driving Park Historic District. The outside remains a utilitarian brick, while the interior has become a light, modern office and art studio. The building is energy-positive (it produces more energy than it uses). It, like many others, exemplifies modern, creative adaptive reuse and responsible preservation.

Over the last few years, Denver Community Planning and Development has taken steps to modernize and improve our landmark preservation program. Last year we worked with historic-property owners to create new design guidelines for all the city's historic districts, with a "how-to" approach to design, as well as guidance on modern energy-efficiency improvements. And today we're proud to be in partnership with Historic Denver, leading the Discover Denver citywide building survey to identify key buildings that help tell Denver's story. 

In Denver, preservation is a community-driven effort. If you know of a building or district that merits landmark preservation, please visit our website and learn more about how you can preserve and protect Denver's historic treasures.

Epworth Church in the 1920s. Image courtesy Denver Public Library.

The Epworth Church building at 1130 31st St., designated a historic landmark in 1999, will soon house a restaurant and offices. The church, built in 1915 by the Denver Methodist Extension Society, was integral to the development of the Curtis Park neighborhood and served as Denver's first community center. 

The key architectural features of this Renaissance-Revival building include masonry, 52 windows and an iconic metal "welcome" sign framing the entry.

Developer Larry Nelson of 620 Corp, Inc., estimates that the church has stood vacant for the last 35 years. Nelson, an active preservationist and former chair of the Lower Downtown Design Review Board, saw its potential.

"It's quite a spectacular space," Nelson said of the church's sanctuary, a high-volume space with a domed top and stained-glass skylight. "It makes a perfect gathering place -- again."

Houses on River Drive in Jefferson Park

Discover Denver, a project to identify historic and architecturally significant structures citywide, will begin its full citywide survey in the Jefferson Park neighborhood.

The citywide survey of 160,000 buildings comes on the heels of three recently completed pilot projects. Like the pilots, the citywide survey will gather information about buildings using public records, neighborhood canvassing, academic research, and tips from the public. Findings from this first-ever citywide survey of Denver will eventually be accessible online so that everyone from property owners to history buffs to real estate agents can learn about our city's past -- building by building. 

Historic Denver, Inc. and the City and County of Denver are leading this collaborative project, funded mainly by a grant from History Colorado's State Historical Fund. 

Learn more at DiscoverDenver.CO. 

Click to visit LPC page

Interested in upcoming cases at the Landmark Preservation Commission? Along with the meeting agenda, you can now view demolition and design-review applications and staff reports.

 

Applications and reports are posted in advance of each commission meeting. Just go to our Landmark Preservation Commission page and look under "Agendas." 

On Monday, May 11, developers broke ground on the Z Block project in the heart of the Lower Downtown Historic District. The project is a nearly full-block, mixed-use office, hotel and retail redevelopment between 18th and 19th and Wazee and Blake streets. 

 

Three historic buildings on Blake will remain. They include the Windsor Dairy at 1855 Blake St., a 1918 building designed by locally-prominent architects Fisher and Fisher; a two-story building at 1801 Blake Street, ca. 1915; and a 3-story building at 1821 Blake St. ca. 1900. 

Based on its location in the LoDo Historic District, the Z Block project required design approval by the Lower Downtown Design Review Board. 

The project is a partnership between McWhinney, Grand American and Sage Hospitality. Learn more at zblocklodo.com.  

 

Rendering of Z Block on Blake Street, showing existing historic buildings

City Council recently approved the name change of the Welton Street Historic Cultural District to the Five Points Historic Cultural District to more accurately reflect the district and its significance. 

"The Five Points community advocated for this change, and we wholeheartedly support it," said Brad Buchanan, executive director of Denver Community Planning and Development.

Along with the name change, the district's period of significance was expanded to include the era prior to and including 1964 -- encompassing the full historic period of African-American business and cultural development along the Welton Street corridor.

In addition, two buildings on Welton Street (2559 and 2801 Welton) were designated as contributing to the district's historical significance, giving them additional protections.
This summer, historic districts signs with the new name will go up along Welton Street.