communities

Curtis Park​

In 2023, Habitat Metro Denver completed two single-family homes in Denver’s historic Curtis Park neighborhood.

These single-family, 3-bedroom, 2-bathroom homes are located in a welcoming and walkable area, and are designed to honor the area’s rich history and culture.​ The homes are one block from Mestizo-Curtis Park and pool, a 10-minute drive from downtown Denver, and a 3-minute walk from the 30th and Downing light rail station.

Project Highlights

  • Located in Curtis Park, just north of downtown Denver
  • Designed to match the area’s historic architecture
  • Nearby schools include Denver Language School (Gilpin Campus), Cole Art and Science Academy, Cole Middle School, and Manual High School
  • Close to amenities including the park and pool at Mestizo-Curtis Park, light rail station, restaurants and retail shops

The Architecture

Most of Curtis Park is located in a Historic District, so the City of Denver reviews all new home and building designs to ensure they match the historic architecture of the neighborhood. Habitat’s home designs – in the Queen Anne and Italianate styles – were approved by the Denver Landmark Preservation Commission. As you explore the neighborhood, you will notice these and other distinct building styles are preserved to look like they did in the late 19th and early 20th centuries when the neighborhood was growing.

The Area’s History 

When it was built in 1880s, the Curtis Park neighborhood was affordable and accessible by street car, so working class families who lived in the area could easily commute to downtown Denver. In the early 1900s, many wealthy Denverites moved away from Curtis Park towards Capitol Hill, setting off a series of population shifts.  

Beginning in the 1920s-1940s, African Americans and Latinos were the primary residents of Curtis Park, many of them relegated to the area after being restricted from living in other neighborhoods. Welton Street in Five Points had become the economic and social hub for Denver’s black community, and many African Americans lived in Curtis Park. Large numbers of Japanese Americans also came to live in Curtis Park after WWII. During the 60s and 70s, Curtis Park continued to see diverse groups getting by amidst aging buildings and worsening conditions. In 1975, a good portion of the neighborhood received a district designation on the National Register of Historic Places, beginning a series of slow, steady growth in the area that continues today. Today, Curtis Park remains a neighborhood of people from different places and backgrounds. 

Habitat’s two single-family homes are joining the rich and diverse history of Curtis Park by ensuring decent, affordable homes remain accessible to families in the area.

The block where Habitat’s Curtis Park Homes will be built was once the site of Platte Valley Homes, a 10-building, 77-unit public housing project constructed in 1933 as part of a low-cost housing project under Roosevelt’s New Deal. In 2018, Denver Housing Authority (DHA) removed aging buildings, including the Platte Valley community center, to begin redevelopment and renovations.  

We are pledged to the letter and spirit of the U.S. policy for the achievement of equal housing opportunity throughout the nation. We encourage and support an affirmative advertising and marketing program in which there are no barriers to obtaining housing because of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, handicap, familial status, or national origin.

Habitat for Humanity of Metro Denver is a 501 (c) nonprofit organization, FEIN: 74-2050021 see our About Us page for more organization information.