What’s Out There® Denver Denver, C0 Welcome to What’s Out There® Denver, organized Register of Historic Places. This was complemented in 1990 by The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF) with the listing of the Denver Mountain Parks, expanded in with support from national and local partners and 1995. More recently, industrial spaces along the South Platte presented through generous funding provided by the River are being developed as urban parks, catalyzing new National Endowment for the Arts Art Works program. investment in infrastructure. Today, in this semi-arid climate rich in natural, scenic, historic, and cultural values and a This guidebook provides details about more than 30 examples 200-mile-long backdrop of snow-capped mountains, Denver’s of the significant legacy of parks, parkways, and public open public parks total more than 6,000 acres. spaces that make the Mile High City an unrivaled destination. This guidebook complements TCLF’s interactive, online What’s Leveraging its unique geographic position at the convergence Out There Denver Guide (tclf.org/denverguide). The Guide, of the American grasslands and the Rocky Mountains, Denver one in a series of compendia of urban landscapes that reveal is an unparalleled setting for a diverse collection of designed and interpret a city’s distinctive landscape legacy, includes landscapes. In 1894, the “Park and Boulevard System for overarching narratives, maps, and historic photographs. Denver” plan by Edward Rollandet established a planning vision that was woven through neighborhoods, with parks and What’s Out There Denver dovetails with TCLF’s Web-based cultural institutions interconnected by a network of parkways. What’s Out There, the nation’s most comprehensive searchable Photo by Brian Thomson As part of that system, landscape architects George Kessler, database of historic designed landscapes. The database Reinhard Schuetze, and S.R. DeBoer developed some 4,000 currently features more than 1,800 sites, 10,000 images, acres of parks and more than 30 miles of parkways. Building and 900 designer profiles.What’s Out There is optimized for upon that framework, Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr.’s “Mountain iPhones and similar handheld devices, and includes What’s Park Preliminary Plan,” developed between 1912 and 1914, Nearby, a GPS-enabled function that locates all landscapes in identified more than 40,000 acres of rugged land for park the database within a 25-mile radius of any given location. development. This stretched Denver’s parks into the hinterland, The Cultural Landscape Foundation and offered an opportunity for the nation’s premier landscape On behalf of The Cultural Landscape Foundation, I appreciate architects, Olmsted Brothers, to develop a coherent system in Established in 1998, The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF) is a 501(c)(3) organization that educates and engages your interest in What’s Out There Denver and I hope you will the nearby mountains. the public in order to make our shared landscape legacy visible, identify its value, and empower its stewards. The enjoy experiencing the Mile High City’s unique and unparalleled organization’s vision is that the public values and supports culturally significant landscapes and the safeguarding landscape legacy. of this heritage for future generations. TCLF provides people with the tools to see, understand, and value landscape Development of parks within and surrounding Denver architecture, its practitioners, and our cultural landscape legacy in the way many people have learned to do with continued until the 1940s, and began again in the 1960s Sincerely, buildings and their designers. Through its website, lectures, outreach and publishing, TCLF broadens the support and and 1970s with urban renewal. Modernist and Postmodernist understanding for cultural landscapes nationwide to help safeguard our priceless heritage for future generations. designs by Lawrence Halprin, Sat Nishita, Hanna/Olin, and I.M. learn more at tclf.org Pei Associates aimed to transform and reclaim the city with a diversity of new public spaces. In 1986 Denver’s extensive Charles A. Birnbaum, FASLA, FAAR network of parks and parkways were listed in the National PRESIDENT AND FOUNDER, THE CULTURAL LANDSCAPE FOUNDATION 2 The Cultural Landscape Foundation www.tclf.org 3 W 128th Ave E 128th Ave SUPERIOR 287 BRIGHTON E 128th Ave D e 87 470 n Main St ve 22 r- BROOMFIELD d B v ou Adams County l ld E 120th Ave B er N Huron St e T 128 St Quebec Community Park l p W 120th Ave b E 120th Ave 128 k a e NORTHGLENN 85 S d t Great Western Reservoir E 112th Ave d R S W 112th Ave e R n s l o a t m rd h e ig m r i iv B 6 S R N E 104th Ave Chambers Rd Huron St Huron N Sheridan Blvd 44 dsworthWa Blvd W 104th Ave Colorado Blvd 2 W 100th Ave E 100th Ave 93 Thornton Pky E 96th Ave THORNTON W 92nd Ave Coal Cree WESTMINSTER 85 k Canyon Rd 72 W 88th Ave FEDERAL HEIGHTS Standley Lake E 88th Ave Reg'l Pk 287 82nd Ave W Wildlife Ref W 84th Ave Focus on Naturalistic or Cohesive style L 121 76 eyde W 80th Ave n Rd Rocky Mountain A characteristic of many national and state parks across the United articulating and framing significant views and vistas, native Arsenal Nat'l Refuge 36 shington St Wa Ralston States, this style is derived from the use of constructed features that plants enhanced landscape compositions and passages of scenery. Reservoir 6 are made to blend with theirPena settingsBlvd and appear natural, rather than By minimizing impacts, as well as re-naturalizing clear-cut and d v 224 W 72nd Ave Hidden E 72nd Ave man-made. Designed and constructed between 1916 and 1942 by quarried areas, planners and designers endeavored to promote the Indiana St Bl Lake n a d landscape architects, architects, engineers, park superintendents, and natural, scenic, and cultural values of individual parks. Landscape i Pecos St wer Rd To r W t 6 Ralston Rd e Ave Rd 4th Ave W 64th Ave E 64th White Ranch S h craftsmen—often working in collaboration—this work displays the architects such as Thomas Vint and Conrad Wirth led the Civilian s k l S Federal Blvd Federal Lower Derby Lake r l i Long Lake Open o 270 h COMMERCE t Y landscape characteristics of Picturesque, Arts & Crafts, and Prairie Conservation Corps in the implementation of many projects, including o Broadway Space Park Regional Park CITY o F W 58th Ave Ralston Rd E 58th Ave 265 styles. Standards and guidelines were developed to enrich the visitor parkways, overlooks, campgrounds, entranceways, bridges, trails, and ARVADA E 56th Ave E 56th Ave experience,32 creating a continuity across parks while reflecting the comfort stations. Design considerations promoted cultural resource rd Rd •• •• Regis Univ-Denver 85 character of the regional landscape. management, compatibility with natural systems, and a sense of Wa •• Rd harmony with the physical setting. ⓴ 25 In undertaking this work, designers employed local building materials, W 44th Ave LAKESIDE Berkeley Lake Park 70 St Havana 35 St Peoria which resulted in a “rustic” style of 470architecture. Purposefully 51 E 40th Ave Naturalistic or Cohesive style sites MOUNTAIN VIEW 87 Chambers • 58 eek W 38th Ave 33 Sand C 95 re McIntyre St W 32nd Ave Martin Luther King Blvd Smith Rd Clear Cr ➏ ek W 29th Ave d GOLDEN ➑ v WHEAT RIDGE EDGEWATER ➎ l 36 B rk St ➍ ➐ t Camp E 23rd Ave List of sites r o ➌ Yo George City Montview Blvd p t ⓯ r i S West W 20th Ave Park 19th St ⓳ A ➊ Babi Yar Memorial Park ⓲ South Marion Street Parkway s Kipling St •• m E Colfax Ave W St ⓮ 287 m 287 40 y 40 40 70 6 i 70 ➋ Civic Center Park ⓳ Speer Boulevard W Colfax Ave ➋⓰ a t 70 S t h 391 ⓭ ri Aurora A S th ➌ 16 Street Mall ⓴ Berkeley Lake Park ve c Sports ➒E 8th Ave Peo be W 6th Ave ⓬ e E ➍6th ACityve of CuernavacaPark Park •• Inspiration Point Park u 6 Monaco Pk Broadway Q W 6th Ave ••Lincoln St E 6th Ave Kalamath St Havana St ➎ Commons Park •• Washington Park Apex Open (15 mi) E 1st Ave Space Park ➓ ➏ Confluence Park •• Rd Picadilly Green Mountain W Alameda Ave ⓫ 2 da Ave 70 85 me Buckley Air DENVER MOUNTAIN 40 26 LAKEWOOD E Ala E Alam Open Space ⓲ eda➐ Pky Curtis ParkForce Historic Base District PARK SYSTEM Belmar Washington •• Park ➑ Mestizo-Curtis Park •• Genesee Park Mi ⓱ Park Matthews W ssissippi Ave GLENDALE E Mississippi Ave North y ➒ Denver Botanic Gardens •• Red Rocks Park Winters Open 8 vd y l 30 Pk k •• B Dinosaur P Space Park da Ruby Hill d g o AURORA e v •• l Red Rocks Amphitheatre n d i DENVER PARK AND l B Open Space Park a Horseshoe am l p r i y S Monaco St o A t W Jewell Ave l E Je Park K i Park PARKWAY SYSTEMw e o W s ll r S Ave W Evans Ave C E Evans Ave e St Peoria S •• Fairmount Cemetery v i S E Iliff Ave ➓ Alamo Placita Park (12 mi) ••n S Downing St U wer Rd wer University Of To South ➊ •• Riverside Cemetery •••• 88 S Red Rocks Denver-Denver ⓫ Hungarian S Freedom Park M W Yale Ave St 74 Dinosaur o Park rri Rd •• Governor's Residence at Open Space son Teikyo Loretto E Yale Ave 225 Meadowood⓬ Cheesman Park ParkAnd Heights Univ vana the Boettcher Mansion 8 Rd Club Gun S Bea Park James A Bible a Recreation Ctr r C S Broadway ⓭ Cheesman Park Esplanade re Park •• Northside Park Air Force ek Rd ENGLEWOOD S H Bear Creek S Chambers Rd Bear Creek 285 S Monaco Pky ⓮ City Park Esplanade Reservation Little Bear MORRISON Park E Hampden Ave E Hampden Ave •• Shop Creek Lake Park t S ⓯ City Park Park 30 dsworth Blvd S Wa te •• Sloan's Lake Park 470 W Oxford Ave 25 i 83 Soda Lakes d CHERRY HILLS VILLAGE m ⓰ Colorado State Capitol E Quincy Ave SHERIDAN S e Blv •• s •• University of Denver Mt Falcon W Quincy Ave