Montclair, Denver

The community was originally designed to attract wealthier residents who were turned off by Denver's "400 saloons and forty Market Street bordellos".

However, due to his sudden death from appendicitis in 1898, plans for a health spa, art museum, hotel, gymnasium, casino and pavilions never materialized.

Then-mayor Robert W. Speer eased the transition by beautifying and extending Richthofen's system of parkways and boulevards from the central city into the suburb, planting many trees and erecting fountains and monuments.

In 1907, the Montclair Improvement Association was formed to push the City of Denver into providing "graded, curbed, oiled and lighted streets, water and gas mains, a sewer system, parks and parkways and other services.

In 1975, residents and the Denver City Council voted to make the central heart of Montclair a historic district.

Precisely the same requirements that made Montclair exclusive at the turn of the century became a driving force behind the establishment of the district - the neighborhood includes grand old trees, large lots, and distinctive houses, including nineteenth-century Victorian architecture and Queen Anne style architecture in the United States as well as 'TB houses' designed specifically for tuberculosis sufferers.

However, during the twentieth century these original homes were joined by bungalows, cottages, Tudor revival, and modern Ranch-style houses.

[8] In addition to land marking the architectural merit of Montclair, the historic district designation served as a means of community preservation and revitalization.