Interiors, Vintage

An 1891 Denver Victorian Gets a Facelift: Maintain the Eccentric

Laura Medicus Interiors

This Victorian beauty was built in 1891 in Denver and when I walked up to it in the winter of 2024 it was looking down on its luck. It had been converted to apartments probably in the 1950’s and most recently had been through a bad fire when a tenant on the top floor left a window open, a candle burning and decided to leave for the evening. There were very few interior plaster or drywall walls left; almost everything was down to the studs. Thankfully, there were some original touches left that showed what a beauty this home must have been. My client updated everything and retained the apartments on each floor. This week I’m highlighting the common areas and next week I’ll show you the updated apartments.

Before
The trashcans lined up really paint the picture. It definitely had a haunted vibe or at the very least a “please break in and vandalize me” vibe.
My client wanted bold and we went for it. I took my inspiration from the painted ladies of San Francisco. My first few exterior color ideas were sent back to me with the message “Get Weirder.”

I took this video after paint and before landscaping.

The entry the first time I visited. The white paint that you see was done by the original owner to tamp down the smell of smoke.
Our quirky entry now! I went with a William Morris wallpaper and a darker green with a touch of blue on the stairs and trim.
This is the original stained glass window – beautiful!
A new, cute hex floor from Bedrosians.
Look at this paper! This was one of the papers the entry in it at one time. I counted at least 3 layers of wallpaper. I call this one Creepy Plantation.

A quick step up to look at the Entry with the original door, stained glass and trim.

This is a view from one of the apartments looking out to the back stair. The back stair had pink walls with a fun fuschia trim that we decided to keep. My client and I couldn’t get over how cool the original back stair paint scheme was.
Here she is all gussied up!
Love these colors.

I took this walking into one of the apartments from the back stair.

Getting to walk through old, decrepit buildings is one of the more fun things of my job. Sometimes the messier things are, the more I’m intrigued.

The important thing is not what they think of me, but what I think of them.” Queen Victoria

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Published by Laura Medicus Interiors

Laura is a Denver Interior Designer who runs an Interior Design Studio based in sunny Colorado with a strong commitment to livable and interesting interiors. She also runs The Colorado Nest, a Denver blog about Design, Art and Life in the Mountain West and co-hosts the book podcast "The Inside Flap" on iTunes, Stitcher and Google Play.

1 thought on “An 1891 Denver Victorian Gets a Facelift: Maintain the Eccentric”

  1. Pingback: Reviving Denver’s Historic Homes: A Renovation Journey – The Colorado Nest

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