Washington Park West

Washington Park West, which almost everyone calls West Wash Park, is the grid of blocks between Broadway and Downing Street, from Alameda Avenue south to Mississippi Avenue and I-25. Baker is across Broadway, and Platt Park sits to the south.

From South Denver to Denver

All of this was part of the Town of South Denver, incorporated in 1886 after saloons, dance halls and gambling set up near the Overland Park racetrack. The town priced liquor licenses at $3,500 a year, which kept most bars out. Denver annexed it in 1894 and took on its $263,000 debt. Building picked up once the city created Washington Park in 1899.

The houses

Denver Assessor open data counts about 2,190 detached houses here, and 93 percent of them went up before 1940. Only about 4 percent date from 2000 or later, and the median house is roughly 1,410 square feet. Bungalows, Cape Cods and Queen Annes line the leafy blocks, with a few late-1800s brick houses among the early 1900s ones and the odd contemporary build squeezed in. Many early houses have been split into multiple units, so a converted two- or three-unit house on a street of single ones is normal. If you want an original house with its old trim and porch, the choice is wide. Something built in the last twenty years is much harder to find.

Small bungalows here have a history of being torn down for large duplexes, and some residents once asked the city to limit part of the neighborhood to single houses. Zoning differs from lot to lot, so look up a lot's zone district with the city before you write an offer if you plan to build or add a unit.

South Pearl Street and Ohio Avenue

Pete's Central One, at 300 South Pearl, is the neighborhood's Greek restaurant, where flaming saganaki comes to the table with a shout of "Opa!" It's closed Mondays. Down the block at 383 South Pearl, the Candlelight Tavern is a neon-sign dive with cheap drinks, burgers, chili, shuffleboard and pool, open every day of the year. On Ohio Avenue, Wash Perk is a coffee house at Emerson with plenty of outdoor seating, a few blocks from the park. South Broadway's restaurants, bars and shops line the west edge.

The park across Downing

Washington Park's whole long west side faces this neighborhood. The park covers 165 acres, laid out by Reinhard Schuetze starting in 1899, with Smith Lake, Grasmere Lake and the Lily Pond. From the blocks nearest Downing, it's a short walk.

Getting around, and a stadium on the way

Broadway runs along the west side, Alameda across the top and I-25 along part of the south edge. The I-25 and Broadway light rail station, opened in 1994, sits at that interchange with 988 parking spaces. As of fall 2026 the C, E and T lines stop there, while the H and L are suspended during the downtown rail rebuild. Buses 0, 0L, 11 and 14 stop there too. Louisiana-Pearl station, just south in Platt Park, has the E and T lines plus buses 11 and 12. If you'll ride the train most days, the blocks closest to Broadway and I-25 keep the walk shortest.

Denver Summit FC, the pro women's soccer club, has broken ground on a 14,500-seat stadium at Santa Fe Yards, by I-25 and South Broadway, and expects to open in 2028. A pedestrian bridge approved in 2023 would link the station west to the stadium and the South Platte River Trail.