The Park Lane

Every time I walk around Washington Park here in Denver, I pass by the Park Lane Towers, seen in the photograph on the left.  They are a series of high rise condominium buildings located on the north end of the park.  Ed, my old boss at the University of Denver Bookstore, once rented an apartment there, and told me that most of the residents were senior citizens, and because most of them did not use the pool or gym facilities, he had them all to himself, which he thought was quite a perk. He also told me that you had to put your dog in a cart in order to transport it outside.  I can just imagine trying to do that with my sister Susan's dog Blackberry - every walk would be an adventure. Years ago, I thought about buying a condo there.  I actually wound up taking a look at one. It was a one bedroom apartment, and seemed pretty damn small, and so I took a pass.  I did not want to live somewhere that was not as nice as my current place, and happily, a short time later, my building went condo and I was able to buy a two bedroom unit right across from the University of Denver.

Soon after I first moved to Denver and started visiting Washington Park, I learned that the Park Lane had originally been a hotel.  Until a few weeks ago, I assumed that one or all of the current buildings made up the hotel and that they were then converted to condos.  When I finally googled "Park Lane Hotel," I learned that the hotel was actually a single building built in 1928 and located on spacious grounds at the north end of the park.  I found an image of it on a postcard that was (and possibly still is) for sale on E-Bay for $15.00, as seen on the right.  And I must say, it looks very impressive.  Not only was it a luxury hotel, but it also had a famous rooftop restaurant called Top of the Park.  In 1968 the hotel was demolished, and was replaced by 3 apartment towers in 1969 that were converted to condominiums 10 years later.  A fourth tower, the Marion Parkway Condominiums, with only three units per floor, was built in 1974.  Now THAT is the building I should have looked at all those years ago.  Live and learn.