Denver's Most Iconic Landmarks

The Colorado State Capitol was designed by the architect Elijah E. Myers and built from Colorado granite, with construction beginning in 1886 and the building taking shape over the following decade.

Its design follows the model of the United States Capitol, with a central dome rising above a long classical facade at the top of a gentle hill east of downtown.

In 1908 the dome was covered with gold leaf, a tribute to the gold rush that founded the state, and it has been regilded several times since.

Inside, the building is famous for its Colorado Rose Onyx, a rare pink and red stone quarried near Beulah in southern Colorado and used for wainscoting throughout the halls.

Stained glass, murals depicting the history of water in the West and portraits of the presidents fill the rotunda and corridors. The House and Senate chambers still host the Colorado General Assembly each year.

The Capitol is also known for its mile-high steps. Over the years, several markers have tried to pinpoint where the elevation reaches exactly one mile above sea level.

An engraving on the 15th step dates from 1947, a brass marker was later added on the 18th step, and a more precise survey in 2003 placed the current official benchmark on the 13th step.

Denver's first Union Depot opened in 1881, when railroads were transforming the young city into the commercial capital of the Rocky Mountain region.

After a fire and decades of growing traffic, the station was rebuilt, and the central Beaux-Arts hall that stands today was completed in 1914, linking older wings on either side.

For much of the 20th century, travelers poured through its Great Hall, and the neon Travel by Train signs on its facade became a downtown icon.

As rail travel declined, the station grew quiet. Then a major restoration, completed in 2014, turned it into the centerpiece of a new transit hub.

The Great Hall, with its tall arched windows, chandeliers and ornate plaster details, was restored and filled with shops, restaurants and a bar, while the upper floors became the Crawford Hotel, named after the preservationist Dana Crawford.

Today Union Station is again the heart of downtown. Trains to the airport, commuter rail lines and Amtrak's California Zephyr depart from platforms behind the historic building, and buses run from an underground concourse.

Locals meet for drinks in the Great Hall, families play in the fountains on the plaza in summer, and the surrounding neighborhood has grown into one of the busiest parts of the city.

The Denver Art Museum traces its roots to the Denver Artists' Club, founded in 1893, and has grown into one of the largest art museums between Chicago and the West Coast. Its campus in the Golden Triangle neighborhood combines two very different buildings.

The Martin Building, designed by the Italian architect Gio Ponti and opened in 1971, is clad in gray glass tiles and was renovated and reopened in 2021.

Across the street, the Hamilton Building, designed by Daniel Libeskind and opened in 2006, is a dramatic composition of sharp angles and titanium panels that seems to burst out of the ground.

Together, the two buildings make the museum one of the most recognizable sights in the city and a landmark of contemporary architecture.

The museum's collections span the globe, but it is particularly known for its holdings of Indigenous arts of North America, art of the American West, and pre-Columbian and Spanish colonial art from Latin America.

Galleries also cover European, Asian, modern and contemporary art, design and textiles, and the museum regularly hosts major traveling exhibitions.

The United States Mint at Denver struck its first coins in 1906 and remains one of the main coin production facilities in the United States.

Its granite and marble building, inspired by Italian Renaissance palaces, stands on Colfax Avenue near Civic Center Park, and it has expanded over the years as production grew. Coins made here carry a small D mint mark.

The Mint has its share of history. In 1922, robbers attacked a Federal Reserve truck outside the building, a dramatic episode that became part of Denver lore.

Over the decades, the facility has produced coins for everyday use as well as commemorative and collector coins, and it also stores a portion of the country's gold reserves.

Guided tours take visitors through exhibits on the history of coinage and the Denver Mint, and offer a view of the production floor where blanks are pressed into coins. It is a fascinating and free look at a working government facility in the middle of the city.

Denver Botanic Gardens was founded in 1951 and moved in the following decade to its main site on York Street, next to Cheesman Park.

Over the years it has grown into one of the leading botanic gardens in the United States, with dozens of distinct gardens spread over its grounds and a strong focus on plants adapted to the dry climate of the American West.

The gardens' most recognizable building is the Boettcher Memorial Tropical Conservatory, a concrete-and-glass structure opened in 1966 that shelters a humid world of tropical plants under its curved roof.

Outdoors, visitors can explore a Japanese garden, water gardens with lilies, rock alpine gardens, plains and steppe gardens, and collections of plants from around the world.

The gardens are also a cultural venue, with art exhibitions, a summer concert series and a winter light show that draws large crowds during the holidays.

A second location, Chatfield Farms in the southwest suburbs, offers a working farm and natural areas, and is known for seasonal events.

The Denver Museum of Nature & Science was founded in 1900 as the Colorado Museum of Natural History and opened its first building in City Park in 1908.

It has grown into one of the largest natural history museums in the United States, with collections that range from fossils and minerals to anthropology and space science.

The museum is famous for its wildlife dioramas, which recreate habitats from around the world and from Colorado with remarkable realism.

Its Prehistoric Journey exhibit traces the history of life on Earth through fossils and dinosaur skeletons, while other galleries cover gems and minerals, Egyptian mummies, the human body and space exploration. A planetarium and a giant-screen theater add immersive shows.

The museum's setting is part of its appeal. From the steps and terraces at the back of the building, visitors enjoy one of the classic views of Denver: the lake in City Park, the downtown skyline and, on clear days, the long line of the Rocky Mountains on the horizon.