23RD AVENUE’S WALKABLE, FAST-CHANGING HALF OF PARK HILL
North Park Hill
The same 1887 planned suburb as its southern neighbor, but with a more varied housing mix, a faster pace of redevelopment, and the 23rd Avenue corridor’s restaurants and breweries running through the middle of it.
Park Hill’s original developer platted the neighborhood in 1887 with strict building standards for the era. Houses had to cost several times Denver’s typical minimum and sit on deep setbacks, aiming for a picturesque suburban feel rather than a dense city grid. Denver’s administrative map now splits that original neighborhood into three pieces: South Park Hill, North Park Hill and Northeast Park Hill. North Park Hill is the middle of the three, and it carries a genuinely different history and character than its southern half.
A neighborhood shaped by who could buy here, and when
After World War II, Black families who had been confined largely to the Five Points area by discriminatory lending and housing practices began moving into North Park Hill, and the neighborhood became a flashpoint for blockbusting: real estate agents deliberately stoking white residents’ fears to drive rapid, profitable turnover. Rachel Noel’s push for school desegregation grew directly out of what happened here, and it reshaped busing and school assignment across the entire Denver Public Schools system in the mid-1960s. That history is part of why North Park Hill has one of the more genuinely integrated resident bases of any older Denver neighborhood today.
The housing stock reflects a longer, less uniform build-out than South Park Hill’s. You’ll find original 1900s through 1950s brick bungalows and Denver Squares next to newer infill and renovated flips, which means a wider range of price points on the same blocks. The 23rd Avenue corridor running through the neighborhood has become one of Denver’s more active small-business strips: restaurants, coffee shops, breweries and local retail that draw people in from well outside Park Hill.
City Park sits at North Park Hill’s western edge, putting the Denver Zoo, the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, and the park’s own golf course and lake within walking distance for a big share of the neighborhood. That access, combined with a lower average price point than South Park Hill, has made North Park Hill one of the more active redevelopment areas in East Denver over the past several years.
North Park Hill highlights
- 23rd Avenue corridor
Restaurants, coffee shops and breweries in a walkable strip, one of East Denver’s more active small-business districts - City Park access
The zoo, the science museum, a golf course and Ferril Lake within walking distance - A mixed housing stock
Original 1900s-1950s bungalows and Denver Squares alongside newer infill - Integration history
Central to Denver’s school desegregation fight in the 1960s, still genuinely diverse today - Active redevelopment
More renovation and infill activity than South Park Hill, which has kept price appreciation strong
“North Park Hill and South Park Hill share a founding plat from 1887. Everything that’s happened since is why they don’t feel like the same neighborhood anymore.”
East Denver
Discover North Park Hill
Local spots worth knowing
23rd Avenue corridor
A walkable strip of restaurants, breweries and coffee shops that pulls visitors from across Denver, not just Park Hill residents.
City Park
The Denver Zoo and the Denver Museum of Nature and Science both sit inside City Park, a short walk from North Park Hill’s western blocks.
Denver Square housing
Original 1900s and 1910s Denver Square and bungalow homes on tree-lined streets, part of the neighborhood’s original 1887 plat.
City Park Golf Course
An 18-hole municipal course inside City Park, walkable from much of the neighborhood.
Park Hill Library
A Carnegie-funded Mediterranean Revival branch library, a designated Denver landmark serving the whole Greater Park Hill area.
Active infill
New construction and major renovations on individual lots throughout the neighborhood, a sign of continued reinvestment.
Who buys in North Park Hill
North Park Hill draws buyers who want Park Hill’s walkability at a lower entry point, along with people ready to take on a renovation themselves.
Buyers who want Park Hill’s walkability and City Park access at a lower entry price than South Park Hill.
Buyers comfortable taking on an older bungalow themselves, drawn by the mix of original housing stock and active redevelopment.
People who already spend their weekends on the 23rd Avenue corridor and want to live inside walking distance of it.
New construction in North Park Hill
North Park Hill sees more infill activity than most established Denver neighborhoods, mostly individual lot redevelopment rather than large subdivisions. For a bigger new-construction community, Central Park and Green Valley Ranch sit just to the east.
Interested in North Park Hill?
Let’s talk about what’s available on and off the 23rd Avenue corridor right now, and whether a move-in-ready house or a renovation project makes more sense for you.