The Brown Palace - historic hotel, Denver, Colorado

Travel America, Sept, 2001 by Randy Mink

An island of tranquility occupying a triangular block, the Brown Palace Hotel has been downtown Denver's best address since 1892. A true grande dame blending European panache with Western hospitality, the historic hostelry is an attraction in itself, worth a visit even if you don't plan on resting your head within its elegant confines.

To soak up the Victorian ambience, have a drink or take afternoon tea in the atrium lobby, a stunning space that rises nine floors to a stained-glass ceiling. Surrounded by tiers of cast-iron balcony railings with ornate grillwork panels, it was the country's first atrium lobby. Onyx pillars, gilded mezzanine arches, floral carpeting, and oriental vases with potted palms set the tone.

Harp or piano music accompanies afternoon tea, served in the finest English tradition. Along with a choice of Twinings teas properly steeped for five minutes before being carried to the table in engraved silver teapots, guests savor tea pastries, tea sandwiches, and scones with preserves and Devonshire cream.

For one day every January the sedate lobby switches gears when the National Western Stock Show comes to town. Crowds gather to watch a champion steer parade through the lobby on a red carpet to a "celebrity pen" where an honored employee delivers a polished silver water bowl. The steer holds court for three hours prior to his sale that evening at the show's Junior Livestock Auction.

The tradition of displaying animals in the Brown Palace is a longstanding one. In 1945, Dan Thornton, who later became governor of Colorado, brought his prize-winning bulls to the hotel so they could be photographed for Life magazine. Cowboy trick roper Monte Montana used to ride his horse Rex up the grand staircase to drop in on meetings of the Rodeo Cowboys Association, and sometimes he roped the ,general manager. In 1983 a black-tie auction of cattle was conducted in the lobby.

Clad with smooth brown sandstone, the hotel is actually named for Henry C. Brown, a carpenter-turned-entrepreneur from Ohio, who came to Denver in 1860. He purchased several acres of land, including a triangular plot at the corner of Broadway, Tremont, and 17th streets, where he grazed his cow. Brown made a name for himself by donating the land for the State Capitol and contributing the first $1,000 to build the city's first library. He then decided that what Denver really needed was a grand "unprecedented" hotel--and that he would build it.

Brown had made a fortune selling off the rest of his land on "Capitol Hill" and spared no expense for his luxury hotel, a masterpiece in Italian Renaissance design. He hired architect Frank E. Edbrooke, who had designed the Capitol.

The profile of Henry Brown is etched near the Broadway entrance. Carved in stone between the seventh-floor windows are 26 medallions depicting Rocky Mountain animals.

When the hotel opened on August 12, 1892, it offered 400 guest rooms (compared to 241 today) that rented for $1 to $4 a night. The lobby had a smoking room, men's bar, ladies' waiting room, and Grand Salon. The kitchen, dining room, and convention hall originally were located on the eighth floor, which was two stories high. From the rooftop restaurant, guests could view the grandeur of the Rockies.

The Brown Palace contains 12,400 surface feet of onyx, the most ever used in a single building when the hotel was constructed. And there seems to be marble everywhere, from the lobby staircase and floor to baseboards along the corridors that wrap around the atrium.

Unlike most historic hotels, the Brown Palace has never closed--not even for a day--for renovation. Instead, it has been remodeled and refurbished on an ongoing basis, including a recent $6.5-million restoration of the top two floors. Outfitted with the business traveler in mind, the eighth- and ninth-floor executive staterooms and suites offer high-speed Internet access, safes for a laptop computer to be stored and recharged, ample workspaces, 32-inch televisions, and cordless telephones. The bathrooms feature extra-long granite vanities with two sinks, oversized tubs, and glass showers.

Famous guests over the years have included presidents and kings, movie stars and rock music groups. Dwight Eisenhower, a frequent visitor, ran his 1952 presidential campaign from the second-floor Brown Palace Club. Before the Beatles' visit in 1964, the hotel saw a surge in applications for housekeepers from young girls. After the Beatles' stay, monetary offers were made for the dishes and sheets they used. Choice accommodations today include the Beatles Suite and Eisenhower Suite (where one of Ike's wayward golf balls left a dent in the fireplace molding).

Julia Kanellos, the hotel's historian and archivist, conducts tours at 2 p.m. every Wednesday and Saturday. The tours are free and open to the public.

The hotel's poshest restaurant is the Palace Arms, one of the few dining rooms in Denver that require jackets for gentlemen. Accenting the romantic room are replicas of 22 historical flags, plus antiques from the Napoleonic period, including a dispatch case, bridle, and pair of dueling pistols believed to have belonged to Napoleon and his second wife, Louisa. Specialties include rosemary-crusted Colorado rack of lamb and beef Wellington.