University Park

University Park is the South Denver neighborhood just east of the University of Denver campus. It runs from I-25 on the north to Yale Avenue on the south, and from University Boulevard east to Colorado Boulevard. Wellshire sits across Yale, and University Hills is across Colorado Boulevard.

Prairie land given for a college

In the 1880s this was open ground about three miles southeast of Denver's city limits. Rufus "Potato" Clark and a group of farmers offered the university 150 acres on three conditions: plant trees, lay out a street grid, and never make or sell alcohol there. The University Park Subdivision was platted in 1892, the university moved down from downtown that fall, and Denver annexed the area, then part of the town of South Denver, in 1894.

That dry rule left a mark. Some South Denver mortgages still carry old covenants against making or selling liquor on the property, so if one turns up in your paperwork, that's where it came from.

Tudors, bungalows and the new builds next door

The streets are wide and the lawns are grassy, and almost everything is a single-family house. Midcentury brick Tudors and bungalows are the older core, with small 1960s houses mixed in. Big new builds have gone up among them, so a small original can sit next to something far larger. If you buy one of the originals, walk the whole block first and picture what could replace the houses on either side of you.

Observatory Park and its 1894 telescope

Observatory Park is the neighborhood's main green space, with mature trees and tennis courts. Chamberlin Observatory stands on its lawn, a red sandstone building designed by Robert Roeschlaub and finished in 1891. The university owns it, and inside is a 20-inch refracting telescope that saw first light in 1894.

The Denver Astronomical Society runs ticketed public nights there on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and seats go quickly, so book early. Its monthly open houses, with small telescopes on the lawn, are free.

Dinosaur Park and the Harvard Gulch trail

Robert H. McWilliams Park goes by Dinosaur Park around here, for the purple dinosaur on its playground. It has a basketball court and plenty of shade. The East Harvard Gulch Trail, a concrete path, runs through it and across the middle of the neighborhood, ending near Colorado Boulevard. If you want the trail at your door, look at the blocks along the gulch.

Pizza and ramen on University Boulevard

Beau Jo's, the Idaho Springs pizza maker, came back to Denver at 2110 S. University Blvd. after being gone since 2017, with hand-rolled mountain pies and a weekday lunch buffet. Down the boulevard at 2022, Tatsu Izakaya does sushi rolls and big bowls of tonkotsu, miso and vegetable ramen. Both are on 5280's 2026 University Park list.

Light rail just outside both corners

I-25 runs along the north edge. University of Denver Station sits just west of University Boulevard at Buchtel Boulevard and High Street, with 540 parking spaces. Colorado Station is just across Colorado Boulevard near I-25, with 363 spaces and Bustang's South Line. Both stops are on the E Line, and the T Line stops there too while the H Line is suspended for downtown rail work.

The historic district and what it covers

City Council approved the University Park Historic District in April 2024. It isn't a block of houses: it picks out individual structures spread across the area, including Chamberlin Observatory, the Buchtel Bungalow and Fitzroy Place, a Romanesque mansion at 2160 S. Cook St. built from 1891 to 1893 for Elizabeth Iliff Warren.

On a listed building, exterior work that needs a permit, like a new roof, goes through design review. Most houses aren't on the list, so ask early whether yours is.