View source for Brown Palace Hotel (Denver)

{{Use American English|date=July 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox NRHP
| name                           = Brown Palace Hotel
| nrhp_type                      =
| image                          = Brownpalace1.JPG
| caption                        = The Brown Palace Hotel, with the 1959 annex tower visible behind it on the left
| location                       = 17th St. and Tremont Pl., [[Denver, Colorado]]
| coordinates                    = {{coord|39|44|39|N|104|59|14|W|display=inline,title}}
| locmapin                       = Colorado#USA
| area                           = {{convert|9.5|acre|ha}}
| built                          = 1892
| architect                      = [[Frank Edbrooke]]
|builder=Giddes & Seerie
| architecture                   = [[Italian Renaissance Revival architecture|Italian Renaissance Revival]]
| added                          = April 28, 1970
| refnum                         = 70000157<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|version=2010a}}</ref>
| designated_other1              = Colorado
| designated_other1_date         =
| designated_other1_number       = 5DV.110
| designated_other1_num_position = bottom
}}

The '''Brown Palace Hotel''', now '''The Brown Palace Hotel and Spa, Autograph Collection''', is a historic hotel in [[Denver, Colorado]], [[United States]]. It is listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]] and is the second-longest operating hotel in Denver.  It is one of the first [[Atrium (architecture)|atrium]]-style hotels ever built.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Great Tea Rooms of America|author=Richardson, Bruce|publisher=Benjamin Press|year=2006|isbn=0-9663478-6-2 }}</ref> It is now operated by Highgate Hotels and Resorts, and joined [[Marriott International|Marriott]]'s [[Autograph Collection Hotels]] in 2012. The hotel is located at 321 17th Street between 17th Street, Broadway and Tremont Place in [[downtown Denver]] behind the [[Republic Plaza (Denver)|Republic Plaza]]. The main entrance door is on Tremont Place. The Brown Palace Hotel, now The Brown Palace Hotel and Spa, Autograph Collection is member of Historic Hotels of America (a program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation) since 2023.

==History==
The hotel was built in 1892 of sandstone and red granite,<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BOTa5gUx4x0C&q=Monte+Vista%2C+Colorado&pg=PT22 | title=John Fielder's Best of Colorado | publisher=Big Earth Publishing | date=2002 | access-date=4 November 2013 | author=Fielder, John | pages=21| isbn=9781565794290 }}</ref> one year later than the [[Oxford Hotel (Denver, Colorado)|Oxford Hotel]]. It was named for its original owner, [[Henry C. Brown]], who had homesteaded the [[Capitol Hill (Denver)|Capitol Hill]] area,<ref>Noel, ThomasJ., ''Buildings of Colorado'', Oxford University Press, New York 1997 p.53</ref> and was designed with its distinctive triangular shape by architect [[Frank Edbrooke]], who also designed the Oxford Hotel.  The interior and the exterior of the building are considered to be the "finest extant example" of Edbrooke's work.<ref>Morris, Langdon, ''Denver Landmarks'', photos by Melvyn E. Schieltz, Charles W. Cleworth Publisher, Denver, Colorado 1979 pp. 310-311</ref>

Built with an iron and steel frame covered with cement and sandstone by the Whitehouse & Wirgler Stone Company, the building was "one of America's first fireproof structures, according to a May 21, 1892 cover story in ''Scientific American.''"  Upon its completion it was Denver's tallest building.<ref>Noel, ThomasJ., Buildings of Colorado, Oxford University Press, New York 1997 p. 53</ref>

In the early 1930s Colorado muralist [[Allen Tupper True]] began discussing the possibility of creating two murals for the hotel with then owner Denver financier [[Charles Boettcher]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://jeffco.us/boettcher-mansion/history/charles-boettcher/|title = Boettcher Mansion &#124; Jefferson County, CO}}</ref> and after some delay the two works, ''Stage Coach'' and ''Airplane Travel'' were unveiled in the hotel's lobby in 1937.<ref>True, Jere and Victoria Tupper Kirby, Allen Tupper True: An American Artist,  Canyon Leap, San Francisco in association with the Museum of the Rockies, Montana State University, Bozeman, Montana pp.374-380</ref>

In 1935, as a celebration of the [[Repeal of Prohibition in the United States]], Denver architect [[Alan Fisher (architect)|Alan Fisher]] designed "Ship Tavern"; one of four restaurants inside The Brown Palace.<ref>Noel, ThomasJ., Buildings of Colorado, Oxford University Press, New York 1997 p. 54</ref>

==Annex==
The 22-story, 231-room tower directly across Tremont Place was built as a new wing of the hotel in 1959, known as the Brown Palace West.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.prweb.com/releases/the_brown_palace_hotel_and_spa_completes_10_5_million_renovations/prweb12850182.htm|title = The Brown Palace Hotel and Spa Completes $10.5 Million Renovations}}</ref> For many years it operated as a budget wing of the hotel, until the Brown Palace's owners branded the guest rooms in the annex as a Comfort Inn in 1988, and then as a Holiday Inn Express in December 2014.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/news/2014/12/18/brown-palace-annex-becomes-a-holiday-inn-express.html| url-status = dead| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20141221101058/http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/news/2014/12/18/brown-palace-annex-becomes-a-holiday-inn-express.html| archive-date = 2014-12-21| title = Brown Palace annex becomes a Holiday Inn Express - Denver Business Journal}} </ref> The lower levels of the tower are shared with the Brown Palace, including the Grand Ballroom and executive offices. The tower is connected to the main building by a skybridge over Tremont Place and a service tunnel running under the street.

==Past guests==
Past guests include the "Unsinkable" [[Molly Brown]] (she stayed at the hotel only a week after the [[RMS Titanic|''Titanic'']] disaster), infamous Denver crime boss [[Soapy Smith|Jefferson "Soapy" Smith]], [[Sun Yat Sen|Dr. Sun Yat Sen]] (just before becoming the president of the new [[Republic of China (1912–1949)|Republic of China]]), Denver Socialite [[Louise Sneed Hill]], [[Queen Marie of Romania]], [[John Wayne]], and [[The Beatles]].  Presidential guests include [[William Taft]], [[Warren Harding]], [[Harry S. Truman]], [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]], [[Ronald Reagan]], and [[Bill Clinton]]. [[John Galen Locke]] died there in 1935 while at a political meeting.

==Murders of 1911==
The hotel was the site of the [[Brown Palace Hotel Murders of 1911|high-profile 1911 murders]] in which Frank Henwood shot and killed Sylvester Louis "Tony" [[Pfuel|von Phul]], and accidentally killed an innocent bystander, George Copeland, in the hotel's "Marble Bar."  Henwood and von Phul were rivals for (or shared) the affections of Denver socialite [[Isabel Patterson Springer|Isabel Springer]], the wife of wealthy Denver businessman and political candidate [[John W. Springer]]. The murders culminated in a series of very public trials.<ref name="Times. 1911">{{cite web | title=WAS VON PHUL MURDERED?; Friends of St. Louis Man, Shot in Denver, Call Killing a Conspiracy. | website=The New York Times | date=1911-05-27 | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1911/05/27/archives/was-von-phul-murdered-friends-of-st-louis-man-shot-in-denver-call.html | access-date=2018-07-31}}</ref><ref name="Kreck2016">{{cite book|author=Dick Kreck|title=Murder at the Brown Palace: A True Story of Seduction and Betrayal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SBOpDQAAQBAJ&pg=PT32|date=1 January 2016|publisher=Fulcrum Publishing|isbn=978-1-55591-872-9|pages=32ff}}</ref><ref name="Faulkner2010">{{cite book|author=Debra Faulkner|title=Ladies of the Brown: A Women's History of Denver's Most Elegant Hotel|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4EJ_CQAAQBAJ&pg=PT48|date=3 December 2010|publisher=Arcadia Publishing Incorporated|isbn=978-1-61423-636-8|pages=48–}}</ref>

==Popular culture==
In Joan Didion's 1977 novel ''[[A Book of Common Prayer]]'', the narrator, Grace Strasser-Mendana, lives at the Brown Palace after her parents' deaths.

The hotel features in the 2017 Jane Fonda and Robert Redford film ''[[Our Souls at Night (film)|Our Souls at Night]]''.

It features in the time travel novel “Warm Souls” - Part 2 of the “Wealth of Time” series by Andre Gonzalez. The Brown Palace is featured on many of Denver's cultural tours.<ref name="LetsRoam">{{cite web|url=https://www.letsroam.com/scavenger_hunt/denver_scavenger_hunt|publisher=letsroam.com|title=Denver Architectural Scavenger Hunt|access-date=2018-08-14}}</ref><ref name="Rocky Mountain Tours">{{cite web|url=http://rockytopglide.com/|title=Rocky Mountain Cultural Tour=2020-01-14}}</ref>

==Gallery==
<gallery mode="packed" heights="200" caption="Brown Palace Hotel">
File:Brown Palace Hotel Atrium Stained Glass Ceiling.jpg|The Brown Palace atrium stained glass ceiling
File:Brown Palace Hotel Atrium Balconies.jpg|Historic balconies and interior architecture in atrium of The Brown Palace
File:Grand Staircase Detail in Brown Palace Hotel.jpg|Historic staircase detail and interior design in The Brown Palace
File:Brown Palace Hotel in Denver, Colorado, USA.jpg|Brown Palace outer facade
File:Brown Palace Hotel Exterior Flat Iron Corner Facade.jpg|Standing on the flatiron shaped corner of The Brown Palace, looking up it is easy to see how dramatically angled the building is.
File:6408-DenSkyline-BrownPalaceCosmoHotels.Jpg|The Brown Palace and its then-new annex tower, seen in 1964
File:2007-05-04-Brown Palace Hotel.jpg|Brown Palace Interior and Atrium
File:The Brown Palace-Christian Unlimited.jpg|Front facing view of The Brown Palace Hotel in 2024
</gallery>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Brown Palace Hotel (Denver, Colorado)}}
*[http://www.brownpalace.com/ Official website]

{{Registered Historic Places}}
{{Denver}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:The Brown Palace Hotel and Spa, Autograph Collection (Denver, Colorado)}}
[[Category:Colorado State Register of Historic Properties]]
[[Category:Hotels in Denver]]
[[Category:Hotel buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Colorado]]
[[Category:National Register of Historic Places in Denver]]
[[Category:Hotel buildings completed in 1889]]
[[Category:Autograph Collection Hotels]]
[[Category:Denver landmarks]]