Denver's 10 Oldest Landmarks

Built in 1875, the Crawford Building at 1600 Glenarm Place is the finest surviving example of Second Empire commercial architecture in Denver — a Mansard-roofed statement of Eastern sophistication planted in a frontier city that was determined to project confidence.

Built in 1873 on Denver's oldest commercial street, the Gallup-Stanbury Building anchors Larimer Square — the historic district that preservationist Dana Crawford saved from demolition in the 1960s for $1 million.

Built in 1873 on Larimer Street, the Kettle Building pioneered party-wall construction in Denver — a method where both side walls are shared with neighbors. It's a small but historically significant piece of how Denver's dense downtown fabric was assembled.

Built in 1859 as a stage stop four miles from Denver's land office, Four Mile House is the oldest surviving structure in the Denver area — a log-and-frame frontier inn that still operates as a living history museum in today's Four Mile Historic Park.

Built around 1875 on Gaylord Street, the Bosler House sat vacant and deteriorating for decades until the fines for landmark violations reached $560,000 — one of the largest preservation fine cases in Denver history. A preservation coalition then rescued it.

Built in 1874 by Henri Foster — the developer who platted the original Town of Highlands — this Italianate Victorian at 3445 West 32nd Avenue is one of the oldest surviving structures in Denver's Highland neighborhood, and the home from which Foster sold the neighborhood's earliest lots.

Built in 1874 at 1338 15th Street, this Wells Fargo express office is one of the few surviving examples of Gothic Revival commercial architecture in Denver — pointed arches on a frontier money house, chosen to project the solidity of a cathedral.

Barney L. Ford arrived in Denver having escaped slavery via the Underground Railroad. By 1863, he had built a brick commercial building on Blake Street that housed one of Denver's finest restaurants — serving Black and white diners at the same table when most of the city was segregated.

Eugene Field — the poet who wrote 'Wynken, Blynken, and Nod' — lived in Denver from 1881 to 1883, editing the Denver Tribune and writing poetry. The 1875 house associated with his Denver years has a legend attached: bullet holes in the exterior woodwork, reportedly from a robbery near the Denver Mint.

In August 1876, 39 delegates gathered in a modest building at 14th and Blake Streets to write the Colorado State Constitution. The Centennial State was born in Constitution Hall — which was later demolished for a parking lot.