Doors Open Denver (DOD) is a free event that offers residents and visitors the opportunity to learn about Denver’s diverse architecture and design. Participants may experience DOD through self-guided tours, urban Adventures (self-guided tours tailored to a specific interest or theme), and expert tours (led by architects and historians.) The event takes an inside look at Denver’s distinctive buildings and unique places, both historic and modern. 

Doors Open Denver 2013:  April 13-14
Ticket Price: FREE
Theme: City Beautiful,Then & Now
The theme of the 2013 event is City Beautiful, the movement that inspired architects to improve the quality of life and uplift the human spirit. The City Beautiful philosophy is the most dominant planning aesthetic still apparent in the Mile High City. ln fact, our Civic Center was given the highest honor a historic site can earn when Secretary of the lnterior designated it a National Historic Landmark.

Participating Sites

DOWNLOAD LOCATION MAP

Doors Open Denver is an annual celebration of Denver’s built environment and design. The two-day event allows residents and visitors to tour the spectacular buidlings they see every day but may never have entered. It allows the public to truly experience and develop a new appreciation for their home town and the facilities that comprise Denver’s rich architectural landscape. It also helps build a sense of community by opening up the doors of Denver to everyone.

Every year approximately 80 buildings open their doors to the public. Some examples of participating sites have included: the Presidential Suite at the at the Brown Palace Hotel, the Daniels & Fisher Tower on the 16th Street Mall, and backstage at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House. An additional number of expert guided tours (approximately 100) are also available to the public. Examples include the Historic City Park Tour, Denver After Dark Tour, Mayan Theatre Tour and a Historic LODO Tour. Approximately 60,000 visits occur during Doors Open Denver weekend every year. As a city-wide free event, Doors Open Denver appeals to a broad range oif people. The event primarily attracts Denver Metro area residents.

The Denver Architectural Foundation is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization whose mission is to increase public awareness and appreciation for architecture and its influence on our quality of life through education, participation, and advocacy for excellence. Because this event is an important initiative of the Mayor’s Office, Arts & Venues Denver also supports it with staff time and funding.

Doors Open Denver Activities

McNichols Building
Event Headquarters and Expert Tour Registration
144 West Colfax (corner of W Colfax & Bannock
SAT & SUN 7:30 AM – 4:00 PM

ONE PAST FIVE
McNichols Building - 144 West Colfax (Corner of W. Colfax and Bannock)

WED Aprll 10 5:01 PM – 7:00 PM
Historic Denver will host one of their popular One Past 5 Happy Hour events as a kick-off for Doors Open Denver. Tickets are $30 per person and will include light food, beer and wine.  For more information, please visit: historicdenver.org
 
Colorado Architecture Month
The Colorado Component of The American Institute of Architects (AIA Colorado) has declared April “Colorado Architecture Month.” Colorado Architecture Month provides a series of events, which are open to the public and are intended to celebrate the importance of architecture in people’s every day lives. Architecture impacts how we live, work, play…and even eat! Many of these events are free to the public. In addition to AIA Colorado, the four local chapters of AIA in Colorado (AIA Colorado North, AIA Colorado South, AIA Colorado West and AIA Denver) will host or sponsor events and programs ranging from Doors Open Denver and Delicious Designs to the ever-popular Box City for Kids events, where children experience the design and construction industry firsthand by requesting permits, ordering materials and designing and constructing buildings into a cardboard city.
For more information on Colorado Architecture Month events, visit www.ColoradoArchitectureMonth.org.

Box City for Kids
SAT 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM
Wellington E. Webb Municipal Office Building, Atrium (201 W Colfax0
The American Institute of Architects Denver chapter (AIA Denver) invites area children to participate in Box City for Kids, a free and unique children’s event that promotes an understanding of historic preservation and urban design by combining art, architecture, creative thinking, city planning, design, construction, fun and learning into one comprehensive educational experience. Children in kindergarten through fifth grade (accompanied by adults) will experience the design and construction industry firsthand by requesting permits, ordering materials and designing and constructing buildings into a cardboard city. AIA Denver member architects and design professionals will offer advice and assistance to participants. RSVPs are recommended for guaranteed entry. For more information, visit www.ColoradoArchitectureMonth.org or contact AIA Denver at 303.446.2266.

FOCUS ON ARCHITECTURE PHOTOGRAPHY COMPETITION
Presented by Mike’s Camera

“Denver: The City Beautiful" by Dr. Tom Noel

SUN
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
McNichols Building - 144 West Colfax (Corner of W. Colfax and Bannock)

Tom "Dr. Colorado" Noel (Prof. of History at CU-Denver and author/co-author of 41 books) welcomes you to his free slide show, "Denver: The City Beautiful." He will introduce you to Mayor Speer's master plan and how most of it became reality.  Don't miss this talk which will explain why Civic Center just received National Historic Landmark designation as the best preserved U.S. example of the City Beautiful dream.

“Architectural Apparitions”
SAT & Sun 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM
Ellie Caulkins Opera House – 1400 Curtis St
View this collection of images shot in more than 50 cities across the nation by Denver photographer T. John Hughes. The collection features historical photographs of buildings that have vanished from our cityscapes "ghosted" over what stands in their exact locations today. These engaging images tell stories of change in our built environment and evoke memories in the viewing public of places inhabited and visited over a lifetime.