Staying at The Brown Palace Hotel & Spa in Denver feels like traveling back in time. The first thing you’ll notice is the building’s unique triangular shape, caused by the intersection of two differently aligned street grids of early Denver. Opened in 1892, the historic hotel has long been the grand dame of Denver lodging options and the first time you step into its massive atrium lobby you’ll quickly discover why. Rising eight floors up from the ground, the cavernous space is designed in an Italian Renaissance style that remains breathtaking to this day. (Don’t miss the numerous griffins hidden in the design, the mythological guardians of mountain treasure and a nod to Denver’s early mining-based economy.)
Not only is the atrium lobby gorgeous, but it also provides some excellent acoustics that are put to welcome use thanks to the copious amount of live music you’ll encounter during a stay here. The performances are fantastic, especially in such a throwback space, and include a variation of piano cabaret, harp, and jazz quartets, from the afternoon into the evening hours seven days a week, including Sunday brunch. You’ll hear the tinkling piano and syncopated percussion drifting down the hallways at various times throughout your stay when there’s live music in the atrium, and it dreamily adds to the overall retro ambiance.
That overall vibe and the unique live music are the biggest draws for this iconic property, but a stay here is compellingly unique in plenty of other ways. The rooms come in varying sizes and designs with plenty of the interesting building quirks you’ll encounter at old hotels alongside the more modern updates like comfortable headboards, televisions and reading lights. All of the on-site dining options are worth your time, if only to experience their fascinating character and personality. The Palace Arms restaurant features an antiques weapons theme and is dripping with Napoleonic artifacts. The regal Ellyngton’s dates back to 1900 and is an excellent option for breakfast and lunch. The Ship Tavern is a bar full of large-scale model sailing ships with a New England nautical theme. Needless to say, there’s a lot happening!
If you mention The Brown Palace to anyone who lives in Denver, the first thing they’ll probably bring up is its legendary afternoon tea which takes place in that soaring atrium. Luckily, the tea lives up to the hype and probably takes the cake (pun intended) for the absolute best food-and-beverage offering on the property. (They even have Devonshire cream shipped directly from England.) To go along with the overall throwback theme, you’ll definitely want to set aside some time for tea during your stay at this one-of-a-kind hotel.
Time Out Tip: Exhausted after a long day of travel? The hotel also has houses the Brown Palace Spa where you can book appointments for massages, facials and more. In fact, the entrance to the spa from the lobby actually goes through the old Grand Fireplace. (Hopefully that means the hot stones are extra toasty.)
