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Thursday, May 7, 2009

Denver Cottages & Homes

It was another beautiful day during my visit to Denver, Colorado, so my daughter-in-law and I dressed Leo up and put him in his stroller to take a walk around the neighborhood.

Mauri, my son and daughter-in-law's Pomeranian, was excited that he was going to walk with us too!

I loved this little cottage, and was lucky that there was an open house for it one day so that I could peek inside. It was built in 1891! Almost totally updated inside, it still retained it's original charm outside. It was a two bedroom duplex, with two baths, a stainless steel appliance and granite counter top kitchen, and an enormous deck and property in the back. The wooden fence went around it's whole perimeter. It was a very sweet, doll house type property.

Another colorful Victorian cottage with quite a bit of the original ornamental detail.

As you can see the multicolored striped wooden scallop design was popular during that era.

I wonder if this front porch and balcony may have been added at a later date?

A whole row of cute cottages, each slightly different.

This house had the original Victorian wrought iron fence around its perimeter.

You will have to click on the photo above to enlarge it to see, but this house had a colorful gecko sculpture attached to its facade, and some sort of gargoyle bird figurine?

This house was now converted into a real estate office. Nostalgic Homes Real Estate specializes in older urban vintage and historic homes located in many Denver neighborhoods. Denver has not suffered the decrease in home value that many areas in the United States has experienced from the present economic downturn, perhaps because they have not embraced over expansion or urban sprawl as much as other areas, and residents have embraced buying and preserving the existing older home stock. Also, Forbes Magazine has called Denver one of the most popular cities in the United States, and it's population continues to rise each year.

Some larger Victorian homes.



This street made me smile because the houses looked like many I see in my neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York.

The 5-county Denver-Aurora Metropolitan Statistical Area had an estimated 2008 population of 2,506,626, and ranked as the 21st most populous U.S. metropolitan statistical area. The population of Brooklyn is almost the same, and we have the largest population of NYC's five boroughs.

A beautiful carved eagle sculpture outside this Denver home.

Another frequently seen style of house is the Craftsman style brick bungalow.




A few stores with a western design along an avenue.

This is Denver's original gourmet cupcake bakery called "Happy Cakes." Martha Stewart has selected the Happy Cakes "Cosmo" cupcake as one of "Martha's Favorites" as featured on her show MARTHA during Cupcake Week and on her website. The "Cosmo" is a Vodka-soaked cranberry cupcake with lime-infused butter cream.

Blue seems to be the most popular house color!







Mauri was enjoying our long walk....

...... and Leo was enjoying a long nap while his Nonna was busy taking all these photos of the different homes.

I loved the wooden architectural ornaments on these homes.



This house was impressive! Please enlarge to see the gargoyles at the sides of the front gate. A good way to keep annoying solicitors from the door?

More pretty colors on these cottages.



This stone house had an interesting half circular porch.


Another pretty front porch on this red brick home. I love the porch swing!

This is the Koopmeiners/Baehre Residence. They rescued and reclaimed an abandoned church and school that had a leaky roof and termite damage, and converted it into this award winning home!

Two large beautiful Victorian architecture corner houses. I'd like to live in either one!

Our walk was coming to a full circle, so we headed home.

One happy little boy in front of his house! Home Sweet Home.


Next blog post I'll take you to a large antique, memorabilia, collectibles store I discovered in Denver. I'm sure you'll see things in my photos that you will remember from your youth!

31 comments:

  1. I love 'em all. There was a neighborhood somewhere close to downtown where the Molly Brown house is. Is this anywhere close to that?

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  2. Cool houses. Wouldn't you love to get a peek inside of them? Leo is sure getting big. He's such a cutie! ~ Robyn

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  3. What a variety. THey are all pretty, but my heart belongs to the craftsman cottages! I love geckos, so I really liked the house with the gecko on the wall, I can see me doing that!

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  4. I echo Nohla - I love the craftsman cottages although can live in any of the. Smiled when you found the group that could be in Brooklyn! What a pretty pretty post. And the little guy - oh - he couldn't be any cuter.

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  5. What a charming neigborhood! It looks like you are having a great time exploring!

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  6. Oh what fun! How nice to have a virtual tour of Denver...and see all the charming cottages.

    And Leo took it all in stride...like guys always do when it comes to home tours.

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  7. I was just grinning from ear to ear as I read this post! I did not realize how wonderful the architecture of Denver is--and am so happy to learn that they actually USE the older structures and rely less on building so much new stuff! That is certainly a big problem elsewhere--like where I live!!

    My husband's niece lives in that area--your photos just make me want to hope on a plane (or get in the car!!!) and go visit her! I would love to see those homes in person.

    Yummmmmmm--that cupcake place sounds wonderful....Vodka Soaked Cranberry Cupcake! Delightful!

    I know how hard it must've been to leave Baby Leo (and your son, DIL and Mauri!!!) Leo is a lucky little guy to have YOU as his Nonna!! I'm so glad you arrived home safely---landing in NY is scary--at least I felt that way when we landed at LaGuardia!

    Welcome Home. L, Dana

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  8. Your grandson is so adorable!..and I have to say so is Mauri:) I love their neighborhood and I agree with you that I could live in just about any one of those cottages...

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  9. These pictures were a joy to look at . . . including the homes! :) Makes me wish I had a front porch!

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  10. So enjoyed the tour. What an amazing area! Each home is absolutely gorgeous. I am turning a little green at this very moment! Look at Leo, how he has grown. He hasn't caught the blogging bug yet, but I am sure he will learn lots of tips from his Nonna in due course. I love the photo at the end of your post where he has woken from his nap, such a happy little fellow. x

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  11. Thanks for the walk Pat. Now I'm a little tired, but it was worth it.....LOL

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  12. wow i love the victorian cottages! how many pictures of them!!
    ciao, Luis

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  13. Wow there were some interesting homes there. But Leo is still the cutest!

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  14. Leo and Mauri...how sweet they are! Very lovely they will grow up together. :o) LOVED this showcase of homes, Pat...WOW--some really stunning architecture. And cottage charm just can't be resisted. Thanks for the trip! Happy weekend, my friend ((HUGS))

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  15. Absolutely loved the parade of homes and pics of your family. Our son lived in Kingston,NY,with IBM, for 12 years. We visited there quite often. One year we decided to go into New York City. One day was not enough to see it all. Did get to see a BW play.Little did we know that was their last year in New York. I would probably never have gone after they moved to Texas.What a wonderful blog site.

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  16. Oh, what cute pics of Leo and Mauri! That one of him sleeping in his stroller is frameworthy! Is that a mini-pom, Pat? He's such a cute little guy.

    Loved seeing the architecture of the city, particularly Denver's cottage Victorians. That looks like a fun neighborhood. I have always wanted to visit the West. Fred has two cousins who live in Colorado.

    Looking forward to seeing what you found in the antique shop!

    XO,

    Sheila :-)

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  17. Leo just simply gets prettier and prettier!! A doll baby!

    The cottages are wonderful! My cousin lived in a cottage in Denver, during the 1960's. One of the brick homes, reminds me of hers.

    Wonderful post!!
    Happy Mother's Day!

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  18. Hi Pat, I was on hiatus from blogging and happy to come back and check out your blog. What a feast for the eyes this post is. First off, I love the mystery and tranquility of your new banner. Now, onto Leo. My word! Look how big he is getting, indeed, as you say. Your trip to Colorado was just the ticket. He is cuter than ever, really really sweet, I want to kiss those baby cheeks of his what a darling! And what a cute doggie too!

    I always enjoy looking at pictures of houses, what a variety and lots of colour to these. I did enlarge the gargoyle house and glad I did. What a house! Looks like spooky things might be happening there. If that house was in my neighbourhood I would stop and look and speculate (discreetly of course!).

    We have arts and crafts bungalows like that in my neck of the woods too. I love how solid they look.

    Now for the cheesecake in another post...no fair posting such gorgeous looking cake when I have no access to a fork at the moment! tee hee.....

    So Glad to see all is well in Pat-ville....

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  19. Such charming cottages...wonder if they call them "painted ladies" the way they call larger Victorian homes painted in that fashion that. Mauri is too cute, but Leo is even cuter. How obliging he was to take a nap in the fresh air and sunshine. A perfectly wonderful stroll-by, Pat!

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  20. Oh how I enjoyed that walk with you, Leo and Mauri! I love looking at houses. Ours are in quite different styles, often built to suit the British weather.

    Loved the music too! It felt like I was sitting watching a beautiful slide show!

    Thanks so much. Come and visit my blogs, my own one and the one of where I live, in a small Scottish town not far from Edinburgh!

    http://evelyn186.blogspot.com
    http://peeblesforpleasure.blogspot.com

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  21. I am like you. I go places and take pictures of the houses instead of mountains and lakes! Cute little guy!

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  22. Fantastic post. I loved seeing all the different cottages and houses. Pictures of Leo too:) Denver looks lovely!

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  23. What wonderful homes. I like them because they are all so different. Your little grandson is adorable ♥ Thank you for taking us on a walk with you.

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  24. What lovely homes, I enjoyed the tour! And baby Leo is a doll.
    Have a happy mother's day!
    Martha

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  25. Oh my Pat! Those houses are wonderful!! I never even knew they were there even though we'd been skiing in the area many times. Buying one perhaps?? ;)

    rue

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  26. Beautiful homes Pat, I love them all and more than that, love the pictures of Leo..he is growing before our very eyes..hugs..M

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  27. What a lovely tour you've shared here. These are delightful homes ... each with personality all their own. Thanks so much for sharing.
    Hugs and blessings,

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  28. Hi Pat, I am just catching up today. I love the tour of the houses. Each one is prettier than the next! Leo is just as cute as can be.
    ♥, Susan

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  29. GREAT homes! A couple of the cottages (like that first one that's for sale) look a bit like Ocean Grove. What a fun walking tour you took us on!

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  30. I found this blog while googling for "Victorian cottage". We have a revival home and I'm struggling with exterior design and the front garden. Your photos really helped. Thank you.

    ...Pam

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