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Denverites are trying to keep the city’s history alive by preserving its historic houses, maintaining them as inns, museums and more.

The Mile High City is home to around 300 spaces on the National Register of Historic Places, with buildings, parks, cemeteries, bridges and districts making the list, according to History Colorado. However, a handful have since been destroyed, because of fires, dismantling and other causes.

Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, hundreds of historic properties fell victim to demolition “as part of so-called urban renewal efforts,” according to Historic Denver. The nonprofit group, joined by History Colorado, has responded by working to protect and restore these places for generations to come.

History Colorado was established in 1879, serving as both a charitable organization and a state agency under the Department of Higher Education. Historic Denver was initially formed in 1970 to save the Molly Brown House from demolition, said Andrea Malcomb, director of the Molly Brown House Museum.

The city’s historic buildings are “a direct connection to those people in the past,” she said. “Those are the people that shaped our city, that made Denver what it is today.”

In some of Denver’s neighborhoods, including downtown and Capitol Hill, historic homes have been converted into multi-unit apartments, attempting to mitigate the area’s housing shortage.

A drive through the capital city means paying tribute to architectural popular in years past: Queen Anne of the 1880s to 1910s, Beaux-Arts of the 1880s to 1930s, and art deco of the 1930s and 1940s, according to History Colorado. Locals and visitors alike can travel back to previous time periods when they stop by the city’s historic houses.

Here’s a look at four of the city’s most historic buildings:

1. Molly Brown House Museum

Tucked in beside Capitol Hill offices and apartment buildings, the Molly Brown House Museum at 1340 Pennsylvania St. stands out as a mansion of聽Queen Anne and Richardsonian Romanesque styles.

Built in 1889 by architect William Lang for Isaac and Mary Large, the home was purchased in 1894 by James Joseph 鈥� known as J.J. 鈥� and Margaret Brown. The latter went down in history as the “unsinkable” Molly Brown, a socialite and activist who survived the Titanic’s sinking in 1912.

“Our house is made of Colorado,” Malcomb said on a tour, pointing out the stones used to build the four-level mansion: rhyolite from Castle Rock and Manitou sandstone from Garden of the Gods.

After the Brown family sold their home in the early 20th century, it served as a boarding house, an apartment building and more.

In non-COVID years, the museum hosts 55,000 to 60,000 visitors annually. prices range between $10 and $16, with free admission for members and children aged five and younger.

The museum is showing a special exhibit, “Heroine of the Titanic,” until Sept. 25.

2. Capitol Hill Mansion Bed & Breakfast Inn

Denver’s Capitol Hill Mansion at 1207 N. Pennsylvania St. was originally constructed for the Keating family in 1891, but travelers are now welcome to spend the night. Transformed into a bed and breakfast inn, it opened for business in 1994.

The inn’s brochure calls the Capitol Hill Mansion “one of the last splendid homes erected before the Silver Crash of 1893 when the government stopped buying silver to support the currency.” It’s built in Richardsonian Romanesque style, with an eight-foot stained glass window, fireplaces and a porch.

Owner and innkeeper Carl Schmidt II, who originally hails from southern Texas, bought the ruby sandstone house in 2001. He and his daughter Bailey cater to visitors, who have their choice of eight guestrooms named after Colorado wildflowers, including the bluebell, gold banner and elk thistle. Schmidt also cooks for his vacationers, with egg souffl茅 with sausage, ch猫vre and herbs listed for breakfast on the chalkboard menu on May 10.

His guests travel from as close as Fort Collins and Littleton to as far as New York and Germany.

Schmidt described business as steady, adding that guests appreciate the complimentary on-site parking. The inn the maximum score of five on online travel company Tripadvisor’s bubble rating system, and ranks as No. 1 out of six B&Bs in the city.

The of a one-night stay ranges from $199 to $289, depending on the room.

3. Center for Colorado Women’s History

The Byers-Evans House at 1310 Bannock St. was first constructed in 1883 for Elizabeth and William Byers, who founded and published the Rocky Mountain News. It’s now home to History Colorado’s Center for Colorado Women’s History.

The Italianate-style house is situated in the Golden Triangle near the Denver Art Museum and Civic Center park.

In 1889, Byers sold the two-story house to the Evans family, who lived there for over 90 years. Out of the objects and artifacts currently on display at the museum, 90% originally belonged to the Evans, said guest services coordinator Cat Jensen.

Nine of the people who lived in the house, including family members and domestic servants, were women. Among them, Cornelia Evans served in a leadership position at Denver’s chapter of the American Red Cross, with daughter Josephine Evans supporting the war effort in France during World War I.

Tours purposely begin in the kitchen to acknowledge “the work of the women behind the scenes,” Jensen said. A maid for the Evans, Esther Allspach, provided her grandchildren with an oral history, giving the museum “an insight into what life was like for women who were poor or working class or immigrant, as opposed to the Evans.”

The house officially became a museum in the 1990s. Its team offers six tours on days with regular hours. costs range between $4 and $8, with free entry for military, History Colorado members and children aged five and younger.

4. Colorado Governor’s Residence

Before it was dubbed “Colorado’s Home,” the Colorado Governor’s Residence at 400 E. Eighth Avenue was built for businessman Walter Cheesman for $50,000 in 1908. However, he died before construction was finished, with Colorado native Claude Boettcher buying it in 1923 for $75,000.

The Boettcher Mansion, which spans 25,000 square feet, includes 27 rooms, three floors and a ballroom in the basement. Notably, “this house was always owned by women,” said History Colorado docent Shellie Hochstadt, listing the owners as Alice Foster Sanger Cheesman and Edna Boettcher.

The Boettcher Foundation offered the house to the state of Colorado in 1959, which agreed to the deal in 1960.

Former Gov. Stephen McNichols was the state’s first chief executive officer to reside in the house. Every governor has spent some of his term at the mansion, with some living there full-time like the Lamms or part-time like the Hickenloopers, said Hochstadt.

Gov. Jared Polis lives primarily in Boulder with his family, but uses the house for news conferences, weekly cabinet meetings, roundtables and other events.

In 1997, the inter-governmental political forum known as the Group of Eight, or “G8,” was hosted at the mansion. Foreign dignitaries, including the Jordanian king and Japanese emperor and empress, have also dined there.

The Colorado Governor’s Residence plans to open for public tours this summer. After a COVID hiatus, the return of school and December holiday tours are also in the works.

Do you have an idea for a historic building for The Denver Post to profile? Email reporter Megan Ulu-Lani Boyanton at mboyanton@denverpost.com.