Doors Open Denver Offers 3-Weeks Of Virtual Tours
DENVER (CBS4) – Doors Open Denver usually runs over the course of one weekend, and features dozens of different tours of Denver buildings, both new and old. Last year, 7,000 people explored the city during that one weekend. This year, Doors Open Denver is going to run for three weeks and offer virtual tours of 12 sites.
"Offering it virtually actually opens that up a little more, in fact, in that you can participate in every tour if you like," said Pauline Herrera, Executive Director of the Denver Architecture Foundation. "In the virtual environment, it's taking place over several weeks, and so every Monday through Thursday of each of those weeks, we will offer one tour a day."
The sites are a balance of historical and modern/contemporary. There are also a variety of architectural uses, for example, cultural sites, like the Freyer-Newman Center at the Denver Botanic Gardens, civic sites, like the Blair Caldwell African American Research Library, and commercial sites like Dairy Block.
"We also have private residences, which are highly unusual for Doors Open Denver. So that is something that we were excited to be able to offer. There are three of them this year," Herrera explained.
There are also five locations that have never been presented in Doors Open Denver before. The tours cost $7 for members of DAF, and $9 for non-members.
LINK: Register for a Doors Open Denver Virtual Tour
"The goal is always to engage the public and celebrate our city's architecture and design," Herrera told CBS4.
In addition to the virtual insider tours, the Denver Architecture Foundation is offering two brand new audio tours. You can access the audio on your phone, while you walk through Downtown Denver or Civic Center Park. These tours are free and feature 24 locations that are historically significant to Denver and Colorado.
"Those have been in the making for over two years, so this is actually a really exciting moment for us," Herrera said.
You can also engage with Denver architecture through the lens of a camera. DAF is holding its annual Y/OUR Denver photography competition. Entries will be accepted through October 29th, 2020. Winners of the competition will be displayed virtually in December.
There are ways to engage in Denver's built environment throughout the year. DAF offers tours every month, a lecture series, and special events.
"We produced a guide to Denver architecture that covers about 202 different neighborhoods. So that is something that is available for purchase on our website," Herrera added.
