History Tour - Denver

I had another early morning walk around Denver before it got hot. LoDo (Lower Downtown) is where most of the development and rejuvenation of the city has taken place in the last 30 years. Once a run-down area of warehouses, railway tracks and a polluted river, it is now a beautiful area of restaurants, parks, walking and cycling trails, shopping, bars and swanky apartments and lofts.

I left Denver in the early 90s, just as this transformation was starting to take place. One thing I did shortly before I left was to go view a ‘Parade of Homes’ downtown, where several rejuvenated buildings that had been converted into Lofts were being showcased. I believe that this was one building I viewed. It was the first warehouse turned into residential lofts. I loved what I saw though I was shocked at the high price! That makes me laugh now - I believe they were selling for around $100,000. They’d be many many more times that today.

This building was built in 1906 for Spratlen-Anderson Mercantile Company, a successful Denver based grocery business who occupied the building until 1923. It was then sold to the Davis Bros Drug company, who occupied the building until 1985, after which it was bought by a developer who turned it into the Edbrooke Lofts, naming the building after the original architect. Frank Edbrooke was a prominent Denver architect who designed many local buildings including the historic Brown Palace Hotel.

Besides enjoying the history and architecture of this part of Denver, I also love discovering ‘Ghost Signs’ on the sides of the old buildings. See Extra photo for some of the examples. Top left of the collage is actually the other side of the same building - distorted a bit because I had to use the panoramic option to get the whole building in! The middle picture is another ‘Warehouse to Loft’ conversion that I saw on that ‘Parade of Homes’ tour in the early 90s. Acme Lofts was still an empty shell when I saw it but we were able to see an exhibit of the architectural plans. I’d love to see the inside of the finished project today!

Besides looking at old warehouses, I also walked by some of the old iron bridges that crossed the Cherry Creek, some of which have been saved and restored and turned into pedestrian bridges. The middle right shows the beautiful Cherry Creek Trail that goes on for miles, way out into the less urban areas of Denver.

I ended my walk at Union Station and visited my favourite little quirky coffee bar and got a wave from its innovative and creative entrepreneur. Matthew Pendleton is an artist who also runs this coffee bar in a VW bug. He’s a delight to talk to, and I enjoyed hearing about his upcoming art exhibit in Santa Fe, New Mexico. I blipped his ‘On The Road Coffee’ back in June. You can read more there, and check out this video here.