The new building at the Denver Art Museum showcases the museum’s African art. Courtesy Denver Metro CVB
By Herb Sparrow
Denver can be a surprise for first-time visitors.
The first surprise is its weather. “That is the most misunderstood aspect of the city,” said Angela Berardino, senior communications manager for the Denver Metro Convention and Visitors Bureau. “People have in mind there is snow on the ground all year. But it is dry and mild; the average temperature in February is 45. There are more than 300 days of sunshine, which is more than Miami or San Diego.”
Then there is the location. Although the Rocky Mountains are easily visible — “You can always see the mountains,” said Berardino. “If you can’t, just walk a block” — Denver is not in the mountains.
Colorado’s largest city is located on high, rolling plains that lead to the Front Range of the Rockies, where several peaks soar more than 14,000 feet. “In 20 minutes you can be in the foothills; but Denver is totally flat,” said Berardino. “Coming from Kansas, it is flat, flat, flat. When you get to Denver, the mountains start.”
However, the Mile High City is really a mile above sea level. The 15th step on the west side of the gold-domed state Capitol is exactly 5,280 feet — one mile — above sea level, as is a row of purple seats in the upper deck at Coors Field, the home of the National League Colorado Rockies.
Arts commitment Another surprising aspect to Denver is its commitment to the arts.
“If they haven’t been here, many people have it in their head that Denver is just a small town out west,” said Berardino. “They are shocked when they land and realize there is so much culture, and the city has invested so heavily in it. It is topnotch.”
The latest and most visible commitment to the arts is the new titanium, granite and glass Frederick C. Hamilton Building at the Denver Art Museum. The building is the first in the United States designed by Daniel Libeskind, master planner for the new World Trade Center space in New York.
The unusual building, which opened in October, has crystal-like shards that flare out from the center, with one of the peaks shooting toward the original building, which was designed by Gio Ponti of Italy.
“It is very dramatic and exciting,” said Andrea Fulton, director of communications for the museum. “It allows us to showcase collections we have not had room to put on view: contemporary, African, oceanic and Western.”
With more than 40,000 works of art, the Denver Museum of Art has the largest and most comprehensive collection of world art between Kansas City and the West Coast.
Contemporary design Later this year, another striking new building will be added to the Denver art scene with the opening of the Museum of Contemporary Art/Denver. Located in LoDo, Denver’s downtown historic district, the museum’s shell will be a lighted glass and polypropylene curtain wall.
Another impressive glass structure marks the entrance to the Denver Performing Arts Complex, which covers a four-square-block area of downtown. A blocklong, 80-foot-tall glass arch spans the entrance to the complex, which, with eight theaters and 10,800 seats, is the second largest in the country — only Lincoln Center in New York is larger.
The complex includes the nation’s first symphony hall in the round, a Tony Award-winning regional theater, a 2,800-seat theater for touring Broadway shows, and the two-year-old Ellie Caulkins Opera House inside the restored and upgraded 1908 Newton Auditorium, with its grand staircases and four levels of seating.
The Newton Auditorium was built for the 1908 Democratic National Convention. “They brought in snow from the mountains so the delegates could have a snowball fight,” said Suzanne Blandon, media relations director for the complex.
One hundred years later, on Aug. 25-28, 2008, the Democratic Party will again convene in Denver to select its presidential nominee. But instead of having snowball fights, the delegates might want to check out the city’s 20,000 acres of parkland.
Park city “Denver has the largest number of urban parks in the country. Everywhere you go, there are parks,” said Sid Wilson, president of the local receptive operator A Private Guide.
Denver’s Mountain Parks Department even has its own buffalo herd.
Two of Denver’s venerable and most popular attractions, the Denver Zoo and the Museum of Nature and Science, both more than a century old, are located in the sprawling 314-acre City Park.
The zoo, which has nearly 4,000 animals representing more than 700 species, is in the midst of a long-term, multimillion-dollar makeover and renovation.
The newest addition, three years ago, was Predator Ridge, which re-creates a portion of Kenya’s Samburu National Game Reserve with a series of rock ledges for two prides of lions. Next up is the $40 million Asian Tropics exhibit, scheduled to open in 2009, which will provide a new habitat for Asian elephants, Indian rhinos and Malayan tapirs.
The Museum of Nature and Science, within walking distance of the zoo, is one of the largest of its kind in the country, covering six areas of science.
Its broad scope ranges from 90 world-class habitat dioramas to a large gem and mineral collection to the telescope used by William Clark on the Lewis and Clark Expedition. The museum’s Prehistoric Journey exhibit has won national awards for its detailed look at the age of dinosaurs, down to wormholes in prehistoric leaves.
The Civic Center Park in the heart of downtown, adjacent to the Denver Art Museum and in front of the Capitol, will undergo its first major refurbishing in years under the direction of Libeskind.
Plans call for a 72-foot-tall light-and-water feature in a new round plaza in the center of the park. A bow-tie-shaped water plaza will be lined with a gazebo cafe and pavilion with views of the Capitol reflected in the water.
A curved footbridge will connect the park with the end of the 16th Street Mall, a milelong pedestrian path lined with outdoor cafes, shops, park benches, fountains and the three-level Denver Pavilions, an outdoor shopping and entertainment complex.
At the other end of the mall is Lower Downtown— called LoDo locally — 26 square blocks of late-19th- and early-20th-century warehouses that have been revitalized into a hotspot of activity.
Inside the renovated buildings are more than 70 restaurants, sports bars and brew pubs; nearly 30 art galleries; and shops such as the Tattered Cover Bookstore.
“LoDo is a mecca for foot traffic,” said Wilson.
As is much of Denver, which is an easy city to get around. “It is a very walkable city, especially downtown,” said Berardino of the CVB. “You can walk to 500 restaurants within a few blocks. It is a very easy city to navigate.”
If you don’t want to walk, a free shuttle service runs the length of the 16th Street Mall, and Denver voters have approved a $4.7 billion plan for 119 miles of new light rail and commuter rail that will eventually connect the Denver International Airport with downtown.
And that will make it all the easier to discover Denver’s many surprises. CONTACT
Denver Metro Convention and Visitors Bureau www.denver.org (800) 880-9059
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