The Highlands sits across the South Platte River, on the higher ground northwest of downtown. It is not one neighborhood and it is not one historic district. Several districts overlap here, including Scottish Highlands, Highland Park, West Highland and Potter Highlands, and they do not share the same rules or the same housing stock.
Potter Highlands, in numbers
Potter Highlands is the one people most often mean. It was designated by the Denver Landmark Preservation Commission on 20 April 1979, and substantially enlarged to its present boundaries on 25 February 1987.
The district covers roughly 276 acres and contains close to 700 buildings, of which 571 are contributing — that is, they carry the historic and architectural character the designation exists to protect.
What is actually standing there
The documented range is wide. Earlier buildings, put up before the silver crash of 1893, include Victorian houses, Foursquares and Mission Revival. Later work runs to Prairie, Colonial Revival, Dutch Colonial Revival and Craftsman.
That 1893 line is a useful dating tool rather than a piece of trivia. Construction before and after a financial collapse tends to differ in ambition, in materials and in how much of the budget went where you cannot see it. If you are looking at two houses a block apart here, they may be a generation and a downturn apart in how they were built.
A district with 571 contributing buildings across four decades of styles is not a place where one inspection checklist covers everything. What matters in an 1890s Victorian is not what matters in a 1920s Craftsman.
Designation, and what it actually means for an owner
People mix up two different things here, and the difference matters if you plan to touch the outside of the house.
A Denver landmark district is local designation. Exterior changes visible from the street generally need review against the district’s design guidelines before you do them. That is a real constraint on windows, porches, siding, additions and demolition, and it is worth understanding before you buy rather than after.
A National Register of Historic Places listing is federal, and for a private owner spending private money it is largely honorific. It does not by itself stop you altering your house. It becomes relevant mainly where federal money, permits or licensing are involved, and it can open the door to certain tax credits.
So a National Register listing and a local landmark designation are not the same kind of thing at all, even when they cover similar ground. Check which one applies to a specific address with Denver Landmark Preservation, or with the relevant city, before you assume either way.
What I have not put on this page
Current prices, inventory and what is selling. Those change monthly, and a number sitting on a web page for two years is worse than no number. Ask me and I will pull what is true this week, with the date attached.