Baker Historic Neighborhood

Funny what you find when you Google "What to do in Denver this weekend".  Sometimes you get some good suggestions and sometimes you get some GREAT suggestions.  We happened to hit on a great one last weekend.  

The Baker Neighborhood Association was having a fund raiser and were offering self-guided tours of 6 homes.  These homes, for the most part, were beautifully restored.  Most of them had kept several original elements in the houses (transom windows, wooden molding, stained glass windows) that added to their charm.  As expected, the majority of the homes had made substantial changes to the homes such as adding large modern kitchens, open floor plan living areas, and updated bathrooms.  Almost all of the homes had left the exterior of the home as it was originally built.  The homeowners were there and gave us a brief history of their homes before we toured it and many even had pictures of their house from the 1890's available for us to look at.  That was fun because we got to see the "before and after" look of the homes.  

They were also giving guided tours of the Historic buildings along South Broadway. The tour showcased the distinctive Denver architecture of the buildings on Broadway from the Art Deco Mayan Theater to the Neo-Classical Post Office on Cedar Ave. Most of the buildings have now been re-purposed and are being used as restaurants, unique shops and bars with outdoor patios.  We had a yummy lunch at the Punchbowl Social Club and have decided that we need to go back there and explore the other restaurants that are in that area.  

Mayan Theater on left

And as it usually goes, we ended up getting rained on for part of the tour!