Baker
Like Highland it is a neighborhood in transition. But while some observers suggest that Highland's fast growth may be peaking, there's still time to get in on the gentrification of Baker. Bounded by 6th Avenue, Broadway, Mississippi Avenue, and the Platte River, this central Denver neighborhood features an eclectic mix of architectural styles, including elegant Queen Anne's, sturdy Denver Squares, and stately Dutch Colonial Revivals. The neighborhood also has a good number of galleries and several top-notch dramatic theaters.
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Capitol Hill
is one of Denver's most historic and diverse neighborhoods. Its long standing popularity has made it the center city's most densely populated neighborhood, due in large part to its proximity to outstanding transportation infrastructure, parks, and unique retail and entertainment opportunities. The neighborhood also offers perhaps the city's widest range in housing types and price ranges--everything from high rise apartments to single family homes, apartments in historic mansions to lofts in renovated commercial buildings.

Capitol Hill was founded in the 1880s as a new residential suburb for Denver's wealthiest families, who built extravagant Victorian, Tudor and Greek revival mansions using sandstone, granite and other materials native to Colorado. The Colorado State Capitol building--dedicated in 1890--stands on the neighborhood's far west side at Colfax Avenue & Lincoln Street.

Today, many of those mansions still stand, but the neighborhood has evolved into a mixed-use community with a majority of apartments and condominiums. After serious population declines in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, Capitol Hill has gained 4,000 residents in the past four years, and some estimates call for 3,000 more new residents in the next 3 years.
General Boundaries: Colfax Avenue, York Street, 7th Avenue, Lincoln
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Central Platte Valley
This neighborhood is largely a blank slate at this time, a 120-acre expanse to the west of Downtown Denver that is home to about 500 residential units. However, after spending most of this century marked by rail yards, warehouses, viaducts and garbage dumps, the area is on track to evolve into an exciting, mixed-use urban neighborhood with 3,000+ housing units, and more than 3 million s.f. of offices, shops, restaurants and hotels. Construction of the first housing units between Union Station and the South Platte River has begun.

Currently, the most prominent landmarks in this area are entertainment venues: Pepsi Center arena, The Children's Museum, Six Flags Elitch Gardens amusement park, Denver’s downtown aquarium, and the REI Denver flagship store (an outdoor goods retailer) in the former home of the Forney Museum, a railroad and transportation museum.

Another big shift in the neighborhood has been the addition of 90 acres of parks along the South Platte River (Gates-Crescent, Centennial, Fishback, Confluence, Cuernavaca and Commons parks, and the new Skate Park). These parks are the anchors for the Central Platte Valley's residential community--"The Commons" neighborhood--that will be built over the next 20-30 years. Commons Park, the 30-acre centerpiece of this park system, was completed and dedicated in 2001.

In addition to these entertainment, recreation and cultural amenities, the Central Platte Valley's biggest advantage is its proximity to Downtown Denver. Shuttle service on the 16th Street Mall--Downtown Denver's primary retail, transportation and pedestrian corridor--was extended through LoDo and behind Union Station all the way to Commons Park in 2001. The extension brings closer access to the Millennium Bridge, a pedestrian bridge over the consolidated train track that remains in the Central Platte Valley. Central Platte Valley's residents have a 10-minute walk into Lower Downtown and Downtown's central business district.

To enhance access in the CPV, there are plans to develop an intermodal facility that handles passenger trains, regional buses, light rail and commuter rail, making it the hub of Denver's metropolitan transportation system. A 1.5-mile light rail spur operates in the Central Platte Valley, linking the Auraria Higher Education Center and Downtown, with stops at CPV entertainment destinations (such as the Pepsi Center and Mile High Stadium) and future housing and commercial developments.

While the land on the east side of the South Platte River is still being developed, the west side of the CPV between the river and I-25 has some characteristic red-bricked buildings with ground floor retail and restaurants and residential lofts above. Commons Park West, a 340-unit apartment complex, is the largest of recent developments, along with East-West Partner's Riverfront Park.
General Boundaries: I-25, Wewatta Street, Auraria Parkway, 23rd Street
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Cherry Creek
Home to the ritzy, upscale boutiques of Cherry Creek North, Cherry Creek is where Denver's wealthy come to shop. And like the retail Meccas in other cities -- Rodeo Drive, Michigan Avenue, Fifth Avenue -- Cherry Creek often oozes with a "more beautiful than thou" attitude. Cherry Creek is centrally located, has better-than-average public schools, and boasts the metro area's highest concentration of top-rated restaurants, a multi-screen movie theater, a well-stocked branch of the Denver Public Library, and a plethora of art galleries.
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Cheesman Park
Outlined roughly by University Boulevard and Downing Street, Colfax and Sixth Avenues, surrounds one of Denver's finer parks, Cheesman Park, and borders one of Denver’s finest and highly traversed amenities, the Denver Botanic Gardens/Conservatory. Cheesman Park neighborhood contains two historic districts and has a feel of an oasis-where the urban dwellers slow down to enjoy their lives with lots of pedestrians, coffee shops and neighborhood gathering spots. Cheesman Park is a great place to buy a home, condo or investment property.

With an eclectic mix of Victorian homes, mid-rise apartments, condos, and office buildings. The current population is approximately 14,000. The Cheesman Park neighborhood surrounds the 80 acre urban open space for which the neighborhood was named. Cheesman Park is located at 13th Avenue and Franklin Street. This neighborhood includes a mix of apartments and single-family homes that increase in value substantially near the park.
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City Park
Still relatively reasonable in price is City Park West, an urban treasure trove of historic homes going back to Denver's silver boom of 1880 to 1893. Bounded by Clarkson Street, University Boulevard and Colfax and 23rd avenues, it's located between North Capitol Hill and City Park, Denver's largest central park, containing the Denver Zoo and the Denver Museum of Nature & Science.
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Congress Park
Until the 1950's, the park this area was named after was called "Congress Park". That park was renamed after the Cheesman family made a $100,000 contribution to the city in 1957, and the "Congress Park" moniker was handed down to a smaller park at Eighth Avenue and Josephine Street. Existing homes in Congress Park are comparable in style and quality to those in Washington Park.
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Country Club Neighborhood
This neighborhood had its beginnings in 1902 when a group of investors purchased from an estate; 400 acres with the intent of building an exclusive residential area and a recreational club. The South half was destined to be the club itself, with the North to be developed into residential housing. In 1905, the exclusive Park Club Place on the West side of the area was incorporated into Denver, and in 1906 developer Frederick Ross annexed the Country Club area to the city. Architects William Fisher and S.R. DeBoer both contributed to the style and grace of the area.

From the beginning, homes sites were spacious with deep setbacks and parkways allowed gracious separation of the estates. The North Country Club area, between 8th and 6th Avenues was developed on the early 1900's, with Seventh Avenue becoming a Parkway in 1907 under Mayor Speers City Beautiful plan. The Denver Country Club itself, built on 142 acres on either side of Cherry Creek, became the Club for Denver's elite. Mansions, some of which stand today, were built along the South side of the golf course.

Today, the area is one of Denver's premiere neighborhoods. The stately mansions, designed by many of Denver's best known architects, show styles ranging from Colonial to Tudor, from French Chateau to Santa Fe and Georgian. Victorian's and Denver Squares abound in the North area, with Contemporaries filling in spaces sold from the larger estates. Most of the homes have undergone continuous renovation, with some interiors showing the best of today's design and finishing. The location, close to Cherry Creek shopping and Downtown business offers great value.
General Boundaries: Downing Street on the West, 8th Avenue on the North, University-York on the East, and Alameda Avenue on the South.
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Curtis Park
This district of Victorian homes includes Denver’s first park (established in 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 minority 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.

Curtis Park's housing mix is wide ranging: single story duplexes stand next door to recently renovated grand Victorian mansions; flat-roofed row houses next to classic, two-story Denver Square brick houses; Queen Anne-style houses with second floor porches are also numerous. There are three designated historic districts in the Curtis Park neighborhood: Clements, San Rafael and Glenarm Place.

Throughout the neighborhood's history, many of Curtis Park's residents have worked in Downtown Denver, which is only a 15-minute walk or a quick ride on RTD's light rail--or, in past decades, on streetcars--from Downtown's businesses and office buildings.

A current effort that is changing the landscape of Curtis Park is the rebuilding of the neighborhood's housing projects through a $26 million federal HOPE VI grant. Four blocks of two-story apartment buildings that were built for public housing in the 1950s were demolished in 2000. The area is being rebuilt to accommodate market-rate apartments and condominiums alongside affordable and low income units, creating a more economically diverse community. Construction of the new housing is underway, remarkably transforming the neighborhood.

General Boundaries: Broadway, Downing Street, 23rd Avenue, 38th Street. Note: The boundaries between the Curtis Park, Five Points and Ballpark neighborhoods overlap. Census tract authorities apply the name "Five Points" to all three areas, while other authorities call the entire area "Curtis Park."
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Downtown
There is a common perception that the majority of Downtown Denver's housing growth during the 1990s has happened in Lower Downtown. However, the rate of residential growth in the upper end of Downtown--in what is often referred to as the central business district--has been on par with Lower Downtown. Both areas have populations of approximately 2,180 people. The upper end of Downtown now has approximately 1,000 rental units and 100+ for-sale units.

A critical future project for Downtown residents was the extension of the 16th Street Mall to Commons Park, linking Downtown with the Central Platte Valley. The pedestrian mall gave Downtown residents (and workers) quick access to the 30-acre Commons Park, with a bridge carrying pedestrians over the valley's consolidated main line (CML) track.

General Boundaries (central business district): Broadway, Speer, Larimer Street, 20th Street. Note: the area between Speer Boulevard, 20th Street, Larimer Street and Wynkoop Street is Lower Downtown.
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Golden Triangle
is in many ways a resurrected neighborhood. Much of the old neighborhood's single family houses were removed during the fifties, sixties and seventies and replaced by service businesses, car repair lots and surface parking. Now the residential population is back on the rise.

The Golden Triangle is bordered by Speer Boulevard, Colfax Avenue and Lincoln Street, just to the south of Downtown Denver. The neighborhood's current growth has been driven by several new construction developments with for-sale condominiums and lofts, as new residents are attracted by the neighborhood's central location and proximity to Downtown. The Golden Triangle's north side hosts some of Denver's most prominent cultural attractions in the Civic Center Cultural Complex: Denver Art Museum, Denver Public Library, Colorado History Museum, Denver Mint, Byers-Evans House and Civic Center Park.
General Boundaries: Speer Boulevard, Lincoln, Colfax Avenue
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Historic Highland
One of the three original settlements that became the city of Denver in 1859, Highland fell on hard times between the end of World War II and the end of the 20th Century, but has recently been experiencing something of a renaissance. First rediscovered by the arts community, Highland boasts the highest concentration of theaters and art galleries in town. In addition, some of the area's best and most eclectic restaurants call Highland home. More recently, the neighborhood -- bounded by Federal Boulevard, Speer Boulevard, the Platte River, Inca Street, and 38th Avenue -- has been invaded by couples and families looking for some of the city's best housing bargains.

Standing on the west side of I-25 and overlooking Downtown Denver, Highland is a resurgent center city neighborhood with a rich ethnic history. The community has been home to many waves of American immigrants--Italian, Irish, German and Mexican--who established the neighborhood's still-thriving churches, businesses, restaurants and cultural events.

Housing types available in Highland are wide-ranging--row houses, duplexes, apartments above retail shops, grand Victorian and Queen Anne mansions, and post-WW II era single family detached houses. The streets and the neighborhood's hilly topography are lined with trees.
General boundaries: Federal Boulevard, 38th Avenue, I-25, 23rd Avenue.
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Hilltop
A well-established, upper-middle-class neighborhood in east central Denver, Hilltop is bordered by Colorado Boulevard on the west, Holly Street on the east, Seventh and Alameda Avenues on the north and south. It's best known for Cranmer Park's sundial and a stunning view of the Front Range. Other landmarks include the Denver Tennis Club (est. 1928) and the Cableland mansion, now the mayor's ceremonial residence. Its first structure, built in 1891, was a farmhouse that still stands at 330 Bellaire St., just northwest of the park. Nearly 4,000 people live there in about 1,600 homes, about half of which are brick ranches built after World War II.
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Lower Downtown/LoDo,
Located in the area where Denver was founded in 1858 by General William Larimer, LoDo as it is commonly referred to, was once the city's thriving retail center before it fell into disuse and slid into slums. In the late 1980s, LoDo underwent a vigorous revival. Today LoDo is a vibrant 25-block urban neighborhood comprised of brick warehouses, industrial buildings and commercial structures that have been renovated into offices, lofts and retail space.

Today, LoDo is a mixed-use neighborhood that is also a regional destination attraction for entertainment. Art galleries, restaurants, brewpubs, jazz clubs, and specialty retail stores line the ground floors of historic buildings. LoDo residents enjoy proximity to outdoor parks and amenities, including the Cherry Creek bike path, the 16th Street Mall, and the recently completed 30-acre Commons Park in the Central Platte Valley.

Coors Field, home of the Colorado Rockies, and the Pepsi Center, the home of the Denver Avalanche and Nuggets, are located in this neighborhood. Wynkoop Street is home to historic Union Station, the Tattered Cover bookstore, and the Wynkoop Brewing Co., Denver's first brewpub (and the countries largest) that opened in 1988.
General Boundaries: Larimer Street, Speer Boulevard, Wewatta Street, 20th Street.
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Lincoln Park
is one of Denver's oldest neighborhoods, lying just to the south of the Auraria Higher Education Center campus where Denver was settled in the 1850s by gold seekers. Many houses in this neighborhood date from the turn of the century, and its proximity to Downtown and broad range of housing types make it an attractive center city neighborhood.

The La Alma/Lincoln Park neighborhood--known to many as the West Side--is often identified by its primary retail and commercial corridor--Santa Fe Drive. The street has seen a significant amount of investment in recent years, as office users, shops, restaurants and banks have renovated building facades (nearly 20 buildings on Santa Fe have new facades, including two refurbished historic buildings). Business owners and neighborhood leaders have worked closely with the City to install street trees and other amenities to enhance the pedestrian environment. Other tenants along Santa Fe include an authentic Mexican bakery, galleries, a Spanish-speaking radio station, picture framers and specialty retailers.

The Denver Civic Theater is a Santa Fe Drive landmark. Opened in the 1930s as a movie theater, the building was variously used (including one stretch as a meatpacking plant) before a renovation in 1993 recast it as a neighborhood arts center with two theaters and a gallery. Local playwrights and a resident performance company have used the venue in recent years for a variety of dramatic productions.

Much of La Alma/Lincoln Park's housing is single family detached houses from a variety of architectural styles and eras. Two-story brick Victorians, row houses, duplexes, brick bungalows, new loft projects and one-story stucco houses line La Alma/Lincoln Park's streets. The 1,050-unit Parkway Center apartment and condominium complex is located at 12th & Galapagos Street, with a prominent frontage on Speer Boulevard. The new South Lincoln Park public housing facility was completed in 1996, replacing a dilapidated housing complex that was built in the 1950s.

Downtown is easily accessed from La Alma/Lincoln Park via RTD's light rail line, which has a station at 10th & Osage Street on the western edge of the neighborhood.

Also among the neighborhood's landmarks are: Museo de las Americas (also on Santa Fe Drive), Denver Health hospital complex, Denver West High School, Lincoln Park, the Asian and Hispanic Chambers of Commerce, and Sunken Gardens Park along Speer Boulevard. A vacant building at the intersection of Speer Boulevard and Colfax Avenue that formerly housed Denver's courts and District Attorney offices was recently renovated into a Latino cultural and business center. Buckhorn Exchange, a 105-year old restaurant that holds the state's first liquor license, is also located in La Alma/Lincoln Park.
General Boundaries: West Colfax Avenue, Speer Boulevard, 6th Avenue, Osage Street.
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Mayfair
Is one of those neighborhoods that sits quietly in the middle of beautiful neighborhoods such as Hilltop, Crestmoor, Park Hill and Montclair. Mayfair boasts having the 1st Chiropractic Center in the United States which was replaced in 1995 with Camberley By-The-Park Town homes. The family of Speer Medical Center donated the vacant land across the street to the neighborhood which now has one of the loveliest small parks in Denver.

Mayfair consists of mostly small ranch and bungalow style homes, many of which have been replaced by newer larger homes. There are 2 major grocery stores, restaurants, coffee shops, hospitals, and easy access to Downtown and Cherry Creek via Historic Parkways.
General Boundaries: East Colfax Avenue, 6th Avenue, Monaco Parkway, Eudora Street.
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Park Hill
Three miles from the Central Business District and primarily residential, Park Hill used to connect the old Stapleton Airport facilities. But now, with the new Denver International Airport (DIA) relocation much further to the northeast, Park Hill has returned to a quieter, more dignified neighborhood of brick bungalows, mansions and some classic art form Tudors and ranches and 2-stories particularly up and down Montview Blvd. The east part of Park Hill anchors Denver University's Law School branch. Park Hill has worked to gain and maintain its proud and diverse population.

The neighborhood begins just east of the Denver Museum of Nature and Science on Colorado Boulevard to Quebec Street and from Colfax Avenue to as far north as 52nd Avenue. Montview Boulevard, developed in 1882, and Monaco Parkway are main thoroughfares and typify the wide, tree-lined neighborhood streets. Park Hill's nationally recognized neighborhood organization sponsors an annual tour of the many historic homes in this welcoming community.
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Uptown
Lying to the immediate east of Downtown Denver, Uptown offers an eclectic mix of elements: restaurants, retail, historic mansions, new construction loft and condominium projects, hospital campuses, small office buildings, entertainment venues and neighborhood gathering places. It is quickly becoming one of the most popular neighborhoods in the city, due in large part to its ease of accessibility to Downtown's core.

The architectural styles and housing options in Uptown cross the spectrum from Denver Squares, Victorians, apartment complexes, bungalows, Queen Anne-style houses with second-story porches and much more. A majority of the neighborhood is single family detached houses, with tree-lined boulevards that separate sidewalks from the street.

Uptown's southern boundary is Colfax Avenue, Denver's traditional retail and services corridor that is undergoing a remarkable recovery. New retail, housing and office development is changing Colfax's landscape, and the refurbished Fillmore Auditorium and Ogden Theater draw music fans for live performances. The numerous restaurants on 17th Street have resulted in a "Restaurant Row" destination attraction.

A longtime anchor in the Uptown neighborhood has been a complex of hospitals in the neighborhood's core. St. Joseph's, Presbyterian/St. Luke's, and Kaiser Permanente occupy three hospitals near the intersection of 18th & Franklin Street, and many hospital supply, doctor's offices and related businesses are located in nearby buildings. The hospitals employ nearly 10,000 workers.
General Boundaries: Broadway, Colfax Avenue, 23rd Avenue, York Street.
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Washington Park
Since the late 1970's the Washington Park neighborhood has become one of Denver’s premier inner city places to call home. With Denver's largest traditional park at the center, Washington Park East and Washington Park West display home styles from the craftsman bungalow on the east to Victorian on the west. Homes constructed of brick, most of them built from 1900 to 1940, are set back from tree lined streets, with the park easy walking distance from every residence. Those folks relocating to Denver and desiring to live in the city will find wonderful real estate values in this charming neighborhood.

The area first began to develop in the 1860's with sporadic development around a buffalo wallow that later became Smith Lake in today's park. By 1886 the population justified the creation of South Denver, the big city's first suburb. Economic hard times forced the area to annex to Denver in the mid 1890's and by 1899 construction was started on the park. Traffic moving south to the now established University of Denver (chartered in 1889), and middle class pressure to get away from the city helped to fuel serious growth after the turn of the century.

By the 1900's, row after row of neat bungalows were built from the park east to University Boulevard. By the late 1970's, these well built homes were perfect for updating. Homes have been and still are being rehabbed, reconditioned, rebuilt, 'top-popped' and in a very few cases, scrapped out and new homes built.

Today, Washington Park is one of Denver's largest and finest parks, with lawn bowling, tennis, the city's largest flower gardens, a recently built recreation center, summer concerts, volleyball, great cycling and of course, just a lazy nap under a tree.
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Whittier
The Whittier Neighborhood subdivisions were developed in the period after the Civil War. In the 1870s, a real estate boom occurred in anticipation of the city's connection with transcontinental railroad. This boom was heightened by the discovery of silver. As anticipated by the platters of the early subdivisions, the railroad extensions to Denver included the Kansas Pacific railroad on the 40th Avenue alignment north of Whittier.

Development of homes in Whittier followed in the 1880's and 1890s. The majority of the homes were built by owners of Denver businesses. This neighborhood is one of the oldest communities in Denver. As a result, many of the buildings and homes date back well over 100 years, contributing to the historic charm that attracts so many people. Today, new energy and revitalization have resulted from the introduction of RTD's Light Rail which connects Whittier and Five Points to downtown. Businesses and residents alike are flocking to this vibrant neighborhood.