Denver Architecture Foundation holding virtual Doors Open Denver

Historically, Doors Open Denver is a variety of in-person tours that explore buildings and sites throughout Colorado. Denver Architecture Foundation hosts the event to highlight historic structures and contemporary buildings mixed into the Denver metro area landscape.

"Architecture and design play a really important role in the quality of our life whether we're aware of it or not," said Natalie Ruhe Thomas, Programs and Communications Manager with Denver Architecture Foundation.

This year, Door Open Denver is going virtual. There are video taped behind-the-scenes tours at 24 locations, including Red Rocks, the historic Elitch Theatre and the NCAR campus.

"You really get a chance to hear from architects, historians, and other experts and a lot of these places aren't accessible typically to the public, so it's really a special opportunity," Ruhe Thomas explained.

In addition to the virtual tours, Denver Architecture Foundation debuting two new audio tours, called Five Points Fortitude. There is one for adults that includes 13 stops and another made for families and young people with eight stops.

"They were created in collaboration with writer/producer donnie betts with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities," Ruhe Thomas said. "They are this amazing opportunity to get people out into Five Points walking around and experiencing the amazing stories. Five Points is this incredibly historic and significant neighborhood in Denver, and there are so many stories in these audio tours that touch up the people who lived there."

LINK: 2023 Doors Open Denver

Doors Open Denver runs from October 6 – 16, 2023. The video tours will be released in two batches:

Released October 6:   

• Red Rocks
• Howard Berkely Park Chapel
• Air Force Academy
• Freyer Newman Center
• 200 block of S. Lincoln
• Fitzroy Place/Iliff Mansion
• Lumnia
• Museo de las Americas
• U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Museum
• Nordlund House
• Boiler House
• The Link

Released October 11:   

• Elitch Theatre
• Mansions of Quality Hill
• NCAR
• Watkins Stained Glass
• D&F Tower
• DIA Public Art
• Loretto Height
• Bosler House
• Bitman-Hower House
• Blair-Caldwell Library
• Dairy Block
• Cliff May Homes