c. 1890–1920

Denver Square

Denver's take on the American Foursquare: a boxy brick house with a hipped roof and front porch, and a practical, lightly classical interior of oak trim, built-in buffets and simple mantels.

The Denver Square is the city's version of the American Foursquare: a boxy two-story brick house with a hipped roof, a front porch and a simple, practical plan. Thousands were built across Denver between about 1890 and 1920. Inside, they were finished with the stock millwork of the day, in oak or painted pine, with built-in buffets, china closets, colonnades, simple mantels and paneled doors.

Because so much of that millwork came from national catalogs, period catalogs like Curtis Woodwork are the best guide to what belongs in these houses. Restoring or extending a Denver Square works best when every room shares the same casing, door and built-in profiles.