What's the story with HIGHLANDS of Denver? (Arvada, Littleton: middle-class, apartments)

[Tiger Beer]

What's the story with HIGHLANDS of Denver?

I just viewed google maps, and the housing looks very small (quaint), condensed, and has a great character to it...pedestrian-friendly, walkable, etc.

Granted I don't know Denver very well, but is that typical style of Denver housing? Are the Highlands unique? What other areas of Denver look like that?

[steveindenver]

What other areas of Denver look like that?

All of it.

[HighlandsGal]

I think the Highlands area actually has the biggest proportion of modern style dwellings in the area...........of course, this is because the old houses have been torn down on those properties.

[tfox]

Originally Posted by steveindenver

All of it.

Well, not ALL of it, certainly not ALL of the metro area, or even all of the city of Denver. But Denver did have a huge boom from about 1880 - 1910 or so, and many of the Denver neighborhoods you hear discussed on this site date from that time period. In addition, the cores of a few of the suburban areas like Arvada, Englewood, and Littleton also date form that era, and in parts look a lot like what you saw in Highlands. These types of neighborhoods make up, about... oh... I'd guess about 40% of the city of Denver. The rest of the city of Denver is built in waves since then, and even some areas of the city of Denver (Stapleton, Green Valley Ranch) are still being built now.

Highlands, for its part, was more of a middle-class area originally, so that's why many of the houses are small by today's standards. Interestingly, a number of the very rich in that era originally settled in mansions in Capitol Hill, and many of those were later abandoned -- some were destroyed, others cut up into apartments, turned into commercial properities, and some have been restored back into mansions today.