Denver, citywide
Denver house styles: a field guide
Ten kinds of house you'll see on a Denver drive, what gives each one away from the curb, and which neighborhoods have them.
By Ryan Garvey, Broker Associate, Compass · Updated
Why Denver is a brick town
Denver builds in brick because of one night in 1863. On April 19, somewhere between 2 and 3 in the morning, a fire started behind the Cherokee House at 15th and Blake and burned out most of the blocks between 16th Street, Market, Wazee and Cherry Creek. A law afterward required nearly every building in town to be brick, and the rebuilding went up that way.
The habit outlived the emergency. In 1895 Denver's Grodavent Brothers published a brick version of the American Foursquare, and that boxy two-story house became the Denver Square. Into the 1920s, Denver's small cottages were still almost always brick.
Denver Assessor data
When each neighborhood was built
The style follows the decade. Find when a neighborhood went up and you know which houses to expect there.
Before 1940
1940 to 1959
- Athmar Park
- Barnum West
- Belcaro
- Chaffee Park
- College View - South Platte
- Cory - Merrill
- East Colfax
- Elyria Swansea
- Harvey Park
- Harvey Park South
- Hilltop
- Mar Lee
- Montclair
- North Park Hill
- Northeast Park Hill
- Ruby Hill
- Skyland
- Southmoor Park
- University
- University Hills
- University Park
- Valverde
- Villa Park
- Virginia Village
- Wellshire
- Westwood
1960 to 1999
About 1880 to 1900
Victorian and Queen Anne
Denver's Victorian building boom ended with the crash of 1893, and by the early 1900s the style was out of fashion, so what you see is mostly from the 1880s and early 1890s. Many survivors sit in historic districts, where exterior changes go through design review.
Where to look: Whittier, Cole, Congress Park, City Park West, Five Points
How to spot one
- Tall, asymmetrical front with several gables, dormers and sometimes a round or angled corner tower
- A busy porch with turned spindles
- Brick and wood mixed on the same wall, with scalloped or shaped shingles up in the gables
- A smaller one-story Victorian cottage cousin, with a gable-front porch and arched windows
About 1895 to the 1910s
Denver Square
It's the American Foursquare, built in brick. 5280 counted hundreds still standing in Denver's older neighborhoods in 2011.
Where to look: Congress Park, City Park, Whittier, Cole, Country Club
How to spot one
- A two-story brick box, close to square from the street
- A hipped roof with a wide overhang
- A front porch across part or all of the front
- Trim that changes with the builder: the same box shows up plain, classical or Craftsman
About 1910 to 1930
Classic Cottage
History Colorado calls it the small sibling of the Foursquare, and it was everywhere in Denver's 1910s and 1920s neighborhoods. Historic Denver counted about 65 in a single survey of Park Hill and two neighboring areas.
Where to look: Park Hill
How to spot one
- One to one and a half stories, basically a one-story Denver Square
- A tall hipped roof with a single dormer in the middle, its eaves flared out
- A porch with square brick columns, often tucked under the main roof
- Brick walls, a brick chimney on the outside and a raised foundation
About 1910 to 1930
Craftsman bungalow
Bungalows took off in Denver between 1910 and 1920. In Cole, the 3200 and 3300 blocks of Vine and Race are a National Register district made up mostly of brick Craftsman bungalows.
Where to look: Park Hill, Congress Park, Washington Park, Skyland, West Highland, Cole
How to spot one
- One or one and a half stories, low and wide
- A shallow roof with deep eaves, often with exposed rafter tails or brackets underneath
- A big front porch on thick tapered or square columns, sometimes with a brick rail
- Clipped gables, a shed dormer or half-timbering in the gable end
Late 1910s into the 1930s
Tudor Revival
By the 1920s Denver builders were working in English, Dutch, French, Italian and Spanish revival styles, and the English one is the Tudor. Park Hill's 17th Avenue Parkway has Tudors from 1929 and 1930.
Where to look: Hale, Park Hill, University Park, Bonnie Brae
How to spot one
- A steep roof, often with a tall front-facing gable and sometimes clipped ends
- Half-timbering on the upper story
- Brick, stone or stucco walls and an arched front door
- Narrow casement windows in groups, and a big decorative chimney on the front
The 1920s
Mediterranean and Spanish Revival
The tile roof gives it away from a block off. The style shows up big too: South High School and the old St. Thomas Seminary campus in Cory-Merrill are both Mediterranean Revival.
Where to look: Bonnie Brae, Country Club, Cory-Merrill
How to spot one
- A red clay-tile roof, low and gabled or hipped, or a flat roof behind a parapet
- Stucco or painted brick walls, often white
- Arched doors, arched windows or an arcaded porch
- Casement windows with iron grilles and the occasional small balcony
The 1940s
Minimal Traditional
This was the house built right before and after the Second World War, a stretched version of the small house the federal housing program would insure, with a nod to the Tudors before it. Look for it in the neighborhoods shaded for the 1940s and 1950s on the map above, mixed in with the first ranches.
How to spot one
- A small one-story box with a side-gabled roof
- Tight eaves with little or no overhang
- A centered front door, often under a small front gable
- Shutters as most of the decoration, and siding or brick on the walls
Late 1940s through the 1960s
Mid-century ranch
Ranches replaced the Minimal Traditional house by the early 1950s and filled Denver's postwar neighborhoods. In Harvey Park, 93 percent of the detached houses went up between 1940 and 1959, and in Athmar Park it's 86 percent. If you want everything on one floor and a yard out back, these are the neighborhoods to look in.
Where to look: Virginia Village, Athmar Park, Harvey Park, Wellshire, Cory-Merrill
How to spot one
- One long, low story with a low roof and wide eaves
- A garage or carport at one end, often the part nearest the street
- A big picture window in the living room
- A small front stoop, with the patio and yard out back
1949 to the late 1950s
Cliff May and mid-century modern
Denver has a real cluster of these. Harvey Park has 170 Cliff May post-and-beam houses built from 1954 to 1956, which Historic Denver calls the largest such tract outside California. Krisana Park in Virginia Village, begun in 1954, has its own conservation overlay that limits how tall houses can go. Arapahoe Acres in Englewood, built 1949 to 1957, is on the National Register.
Where to look: Harvey Park, Virginia Village, Englewood
How to spot one
- Low and horizontal, with walls of glass facing the yard
- Post-and-beam framing, sometimes prefabricated
- Natural stone, wood screens and louvers as the decoration
- Curving streets, in the planned subdivisions
1950s into the 1970s
Split-level
Rare in Denver's older neighborhoods: Historic Denver's Park Hill survey found only 5. They belong to the 1960s and 1970s, so look where the map above shades lighter.
How to spot one
- A two-story section joined to a one-story wing at half height, so three staggered levels
- A low roof with wide eaves, like a ranch
- The garage on the lowest level, often partly below grade
- Brick on the bottom and siding above, with a big front window
FAQ
- Why are so many Denver houses brick?
- After the fire of April 19, 1863 burned out most of early downtown, a law required nearly every building in Denver to be brick. The habit stuck, and the city's Denver Squares, cottages and bungalows went up in brick for decades after.
- What is a Denver Square?
- Denver's brick version of the American Foursquare: a boxy two-story house with a hipped roof and a front porch. Denver's Grodavent Brothers published a brick plan for it in 1895.
- Where are the Cliff May houses in Denver?
- Harvey Park has 170 Cliff May post-and-beam houses built from 1954 to 1956, which Historic Denver calls the largest such tract outside California.
- How do I know when most houses in a neighborhood were built?
- The map on this page shades each Denver neighborhood by the era with the largest share of its detached houses, from Denver Assessor parcel data. Each neighborhood guide also gives the full breakdown.
Sources
- Downtown Denver burns to the ground: the Great Fire of 1863, Denver Public Library
- Squared Off, 5280
- Classic Cottage, Field Guide to Colorado's Historic Architecture and Engineering, History Colorado
- Queen Anne, Field Guide to Colorado's Historic Architecture and Engineering, History Colorado
- 1920s Small Homes Survey Report, Historic Denver
- Bungalow, Field Guide to Colorado's Historic Architecture and Engineering, History Colorado
- Tudor Revival, Field Guide to Colorado's Historic Architecture and Engineering, History Colorado
- Mediterranean Revival, Field Guide to Colorado's Historic Architecture and Engineering, History Colorado
- Minimal Traditional, Field Guide to Colorado's Historic Architecture and Engineering, History Colorado
- Ranch Type, Field Guide to Colorado's Historic Architecture and Engineering, History Colorado
- Cliff May Homes, Historic Denver
- Arapahoe Acres, Wikipedia
- Appreciating Krisana Park's history and character, University of Colorado
- Split Level, Field Guide to Colorado's Historic Architecture and Engineering, History Colorado
- Denver Assessor parcel data via Denver Open Data, September 2026 extract