It's time to rejoice, architecture nerds: Doors Open Denver returns on Friday, a 10-day event that celebrates buildings' pasts, presents and futures.
In a pre-COVID world, the Denver Architecture Foundation (DAF) literally opened doors to cool buildings that people might never otherwise step inside. During the pandemic, the National Endowment for the Humanities awarded the nonprofit with a grant aimed specifically at audio tours, to spread some architectural love while we all remained socially distant. DAF interim executive director Michael Hughes said this year's Doors Open program will be the last to hinge on this less-than-in-person approach, as they spend the rest of that grant money.
So, rejoicing architecture nerds: This year, you get to choose your own adventure and wander through Five Points with the help of an in-depth audio tour. And the best part? It's completely free. The project will be available online from Oct. 9-16.
The tours were produced by donnie l. betts, a longtime Five Points documentarian.
He's spent decades interviewing residents and producing content about their contributions to Colorado. Some of that material has made its way into this new Doors Open walking tour, whose mini episodes are flush with music, sound effects and quotes from people like Charlie Burrell, Terry Nelson and Wellingon Webb.
"I try to tell the story of Blacks in the West," betts told us. "I've been very involved in trying to keep the history alive in Five Points."
Revisiting a neighborhood's history is important, he said, especially as things change. It's one reason why an architectural foundation offered an interesting forum for this work - historic structures, and their absences, are part of this place's story.
"When it comes to Five Points, a lot of the buildings have been destroyed because of gentrification, so that's why its important to tell the story, too," he said, "so that somebody knows there was a life before this."
Neighborhood stakeholders have worked to maintain Five Points' identity in the face of these changes, but betts said its story isn't defined by loss. As tour-goers listen to his tracks beneath the Rossonian Hotel or in front of Justina Ford's old house - now home to the Black American West Museum - he hopes they'll see the past shining brightly into the present.
"I just hope people go and enjoy the tour and take in the neighborhood," he said. "The neighborhood is alive and well. go enjoy."
If you miss your 10-day window to take betts' tour, you may have to wait until it's available again. Hughes, DAF's interim director, said the foundation is working on a new library for their audio tours - which also includes content about Civic Center park and downtown - but that will have to wait until someone takes his place at the helm.
