Bonnie Brae Neighborhood and Park

Bonnie Brae is one of the most unique and attractive neighborhoods in Denver. It is predominantly a residential neighborhood with large family homes and peaceful, tree lined streets. There is a rich diversity of architectural styles. Many of the homes date from the 1930s and 1940s, but there are also some large new houses in the area. These new builds, which have replaced some of the ranch and Tudor style homes, are now considered characteristic of the neighborhood and are often highly sought after.

Bonnie Brae is a small community, which still feels something like a village despite having been surrounded by the city. There is an active neighborhood association that organizes social events such as the Bonnie Brae Wine Group.

The neighborhood has a good selection of businesses, which will be within walking distance for most residents of the area. There are some particularly good cafes and restaurants in Bonnie Brae, as well as a range of useful stores. The Cherry Creek shopping center, Washington Park and downtown Denver can all easily be reached from Bonnie Brae, and this has made it a very desirable address.

Bonnie Brae, which means Pleasant Hill in Gaelic, was initially conceived as a community that would resemble a Scottish village, but which would be conveniently located on the outskirts of Denver. Since this plan was made, however, Denver has spread around the site, encircling it within the city. The origins of the area are still apparent, however, in its winding streets, charming central park and a collection of little stores and restaurants, which make it feel like a close knit, compact community.

The area began to be developed in the 1920s, under the guidance of local businessman George Olinger, who had been inspired by a neighborhood of the same name that he had visited in Kansas City. Olinger hired Saco DeBoer, a well-known landscape architect, to design the streets of Bonnie Brae in the style of its Kansas City namesake, leaving the area completely unlike the standard Denver grid system.

It took some time for these plans to be fulfilled, however. The first houses in the area were constructed in the early 1920s, but work was still going on into the 1950s. The gradual nature of the development of Bonnie Brae was largely due to the problems caused by the Great Depression of the 1930s, and many of the homes in the area were only completed after the Second World War. The Art Moderne and International styles developed in Europe during the 1920s and 1930s are very apparent in the area because of this delay that allowed the new architecture to be imported and incorporated into Bonnie Brae at the end of the Depression. Without the delay, the area would already have been built up in an older style.

Slowly, the community began to take its present shape, with beautiful family homes and local businesses. One of the most enduringly popular of these is the Bonnie Brae Tavern, which first opened in 1934, not long after the end of prohibition, and which remains popular with the locals to this day.

Bonnie Brae Park is a small, circular park set right at the heart of the neighborhood. It is a beautiful, serene place in which the locals often sit out on a sunny day or bring their children to play. The park has something of the feel of a traditional village green. The local neighborhood association holds an annual picnic in the park for the residents of Bonnie Brae.