Arapahoe Acres is the crown jewel of mid-century modern neighborhoods in the state of Colorado, where exceptional design, craftsmanship, and ongoing preservation come together in one amazing, park-like setting. In addition to being one of the larger enclaves of mid-century modern homes in the Denver area, it is also among the earliest, with the first homes completed in 1950. The very first home in the neighborhood is at 2900 S Marion Street, and was designed by architect Eugene Sternberg for developer Edward B. Hawkins, who developed all of the homes in the neighborhood with the help of builder Clyde Mannon. This home was a participant of the Revere Quality House Program, which was a program designed to bring builders and architects together for better outcomes in home design, and was created by Paul Revere Copper & Brass Company and the Southwest Research Institute. This program provided promotional exposure for Hawkins with national reach (the home was published in multiple national magazines at the time), and brought prospective buyers to the neighborhood by holding the house open as a demonstration home for thousands to see. As part of the program, Hawkins was required to use Paul Revere Copper for the home, which was used for plumbing, but also on the fireplace.

Sternberg designed the rest of the homes on South Marion Street before leaving the project as a result of philosophical disagreements with Hawkins - and so the remainder of Arapahoe Acres was mostly designed by Hawkins himself, who was not a trained architect, but who was highly inspired by the work of Frank Lloyd Wright and other modernists that he was exposed to while working as a homebuilder in Chicago early in his career, and who proved to be highly talented in his own right. He was also assisted on a few of the homes by young architect Gerry Dion (which was trained by Sternberg at Denver University), who was moonlighting to afford a down payment for a home in the neighborhood for his own family.

The neighborhood also features two Better Homes & Gardens “Idea Homes,” that were designed by other architects hired by Better Homes & Gardens for builders in cities across the country to build as demonstration homes for new ideas in homebuilding. One home in Arapahoe Acres was designed by Bruce Sutherland - another student of Sternberg’s, who ultimately went on to design most of the homes in Littleton’s Arapaho Hills.

Arapahoe Acres was the first mid-century modern neighborhood in the country to be added to the National Register of Historic Places, and is so exceptional, that it was added a couple of years before it qualified to be registered by age (which is an exception made for truly extraordinary places).

Harvey Park is, without question, Denver’s quintessential mid-century neighborhood. No other mid-century subdivision is as big, or has as many mid-century homes as Harvey park does. Built as a very early example of a “master-planned” community, Harvey Park has over 4,300 mid-century homes, with around 10% of those homes (over 400) being what we would call “mid-century modern” - the largest collection of mid-century modern homes in any single subdivision in the city.

There were over 10 different homebuilders constructing atomic ranch homes in the neighborhood, each offering a series of models representing their own definitition of value to the 1950s homebuyer. Most Harvey Park homes are wraparound brick - with one incredible exception being the Cliff May Homes - a group of 170 wood pre-fabricated homes designed by California developer/home designer Cliff May and his architect Chris Choate, and built under license by local homebuilder Burns Construction. Thousands of Cliff May Homes can be found across the country, and Harvey Park has the largest collection of Cliff May prefabs outside of Calfornia.

Harvey Park also features the Carey “Holiday Homes,” designed by Harvard/MIT trained architect Norton Polivnick for Lou Carey of Carey Construction Co. These modernist brick ranch homes came in two phases - the original homes on the 1900-2000 blocks of Vrain and Utica Streets, and a set of “Executive Models” at Raleigh Street and Iliff Avenue.

Additional mid-century modern offerings include the Burns Mods - a set of value alternative homes to the Cliff May Homes that Burns was building in the neighborhood - these homes featured similar floor plans to the Cliff May Homes, but also offered optional basements, wraparound brick exteriors, and even a tri-level model.

As if all of that weren’t enough, it is one of the best kept secrets in town that Harvey Park features the only two private lakefront communities in the Denver city limits - one of which (Lakeridge) features mid-century modern homes that have lots that are at once lakefront and have incredible mountain views.

In the center of Harvey Park, there is a 1930s mansion that is a massive addition designed by Denver’s great Burnham Hoyt (known for designing Red Rocks Amphitheatre) on a two-story 1920s farmhouse.

 

Deza Estates, built high on a hill in the Denver suburb of Northglenn, was developed by home builder H. Art Swanson in 1956. Introduced in the 1956 Parade of Homes, Swanson introduced Deza Estates as a high-end neighborhood of exceptionally well-designed homes to follow-up more modest homes he had been building in Westminster’s Apple Blossom Lane and Fairview in unincorporated Adams County. The neighborhood featured cutting-edge designs by an as-yet unknown architect, and was supposed to offer amenities such as a neighborhood swimming pool and a horse corral for homeowners. Market headwinds that plagued so many other projects in the late 1950s also hit Deza Estates hard, and Swanson never managed to fulfill his vision.

In recent years, Deza Estates and Swanson’s other projects have begun to be recognized, leading to to Deza Estates being added to the National Register of Historic Places at the end of 2023.