Arapahoe Acres
Englewood, CO

America’s First Mid-Century Modern Historic District — Built in Englewood

In 1949, a developer named Edward Hawkins and a Czechoslovakian architect named Eugene Sternberg drove around a tract of farmland south of the University of Denver and decided that the postwar American suburb could be something other than what everyone assumed it had to be. No back alleys. No grid. No identical houses stamped onto identical lots. Instead: curvilinear streets that bent around the natural topography, a boulevard through the center, homes placed individually on each lot for privacy and mountain views, and architecture drawn from the International Style and Frank Lloyd Wright’s Usonian tradition rather than from the Colonial Revival patterns that defined virtually everything being built in America in 1949.

The first nine homes sold immediately. Life magazine ran a feature on the neighborhood. Architects across the country took notice. Sternberg and Hawkins eventually parted — Sternberg favored International Style and affordable construction, Hawkins wanted more expressive designs with natural stone, wood sunscreens, and glass — but Hawkins saw the project through, completing roughly 70 homes himself in the Usonian tradition before bringing in architect Joseph Dion to complete approximately 35 more in an International Style. Between 1949 and 1957, 124 homes were built. In 1997, Arapahoe Acres became the first post-World War II residential neighborhood in the country to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Today the neighborhood looks almost exactly as it was built. The curvilinear streets are intact. Cornell Avenue’s boulevard still bisects the rectangular 30-acre site. Many of the original Japanese gardens commissioned by residents in the 1960s from Stanley Yoshimura and Hylam Shimoda are still maintained. The homes themselves — butterfly roofs, clerestory windows, natural stone accents, horizontal planes, open floor plans — attract a buyer pool that is national in scope and architecturally specific in its priorities. When a home in Arapahoe Acres comes to market, it sells to someone who has been looking for it. That is the only kind of buyer this neighborhood produces.

Historic Designation Note: Arapahoe Acres carries both National Register of Historic Places listing and local historic designation through the City of Englewood’s Historic Preservation Program. Exterior alterations — including changes to windows, rooflines, siding, and landscaping elements — are subject to Englewood’s local historic design review process. Buyers who plan to modify exterior elements should review the City of Englewood’s historic preservation guidelines and consult with the Englewood Historic Preservation Program before purchasing.

7 Miles from Downtown, 7 Miles from the DTC — Centered Between Both

Arapahoe Acres sits in central Englewood, bounded by East Bates Avenue to the north, East Dartmouth Avenue to the south, South Marion Street to the west, and South Franklin Street to the east. University of Denver is approximately 10 blocks north. The Harvard Gulch Park and trail system runs adjacent. South Broadway — Englewood’s primary commercial and cultural corridor — is three blocks west, putting the Gothic Theatre, Osteria Alberico, Cochino Taco, and the Broadway dining stretch all within an easy walk or a very short drive.

The DTC is approximately 7 miles southeast via I-25 or University Boulevard. Downtown Denver is approximately 7 miles north via Santa Fe or Broadway. RTD’s D Line at Englewood Station provides light rail access to downtown without a highway commute. Swedish Medical Center and the Englewood medical corridor are within 10 minutes. The location — centered exactly between downtown Denver and the Tech Center, walkable to one of the metro’s strongest restaurant corridors, adjacent to Harvard Gulch — is one of the reasons Arapahoe Acres holds its value independent of the architecture. The architecture is the reason buyers seek it out. The location is the reason they stay.

Harvard Gulch, the Highline Canal, and the South Platte River Trail

• Harvard Gulch Park (adjacent — trail, disc golf, rec center, pool)
• Harvard Gulch Trail (connects east toward Cherry Creek trail network)
• Highline Canal Trail (2 miles east — 71-mile regional trail)
• South Platte River Trail (accessible via Englewood trails — regional corridor)
• Wellshire Golf Course (city-owned public 18-hole — 1.5 miles north)
• Broken Tee Golf Course (public 9-hole at River Run — nearby)
• Belleview Park (1.5 miles southwest — Farm, Mini-Train, Pirates Cove adjacent)
• Pirates Cove Water Park (public — slides, pools, lazy river)
• Cherry Creek State Park (5 miles east — 4,000 acres, reservoir, trails)
• Harvey Gulch Path (internal neighborhood greenway)
• RTD D Line at Englewood Station (light rail access northbound/southbound)
• Museum of Outdoor Arts (nearby — rotating sculpture installations)

Harvard Gulch Park borders the neighborhood’s northern edge and provides the primary daily outdoor amenity — a trail running east-west through the gulch, a disc golf course, a recreation center, and a seasonal pool. The Highline Canal Trail, one of the metro’s most beloved regional trails, is accessible approximately 2 miles east and connects into a 71-mile system that runs from Waterton Canyon north through multiple cities. Wellshire Golf Course, the city-owned public 18-hole course designed by Donald Ross, is 1.5 miles north and is consistently regarded as one of the best public courses in Denver for the price.

Education in Arapahoe Acres

Arapahoe Acres is served by Englewood School District No. 1. The district’s elementary program includes an International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme at Charles Hay World School, which is a genuine differentiator for families who value the IB framework at the elementary level.

All school assignments should be verified directly with Englewood School District No. 1 before purchasing. Attendance boundaries vary by specific address. Open enrollment options, charter schools, and district choice programs may be available — inquire directly with the district for current options.

Where Arapahoe Acres Residents Eat

South Broadway, three blocks west, is one of the strongest restaurant corridors in the south Denver metro — a strip that has been building genuine dining character for a decade and accelerated significantly since Osteria Alberico opened in 2024. The stretch from Old Hampden south to the Gothic Theatre area gives Arapahoe Acres residents walkable access to a dining scene that most suburban neighborhoods require a car to reach.

Life in Arapahoe Acres

Arapahoe Acres has a community culture that is more specifically its own than almost any neighborhood in the Denver metro. The residents who live here are not people who ended up here — they found it, pursued it, and in many cases waited for years for the right home to become available. Architects drive slowly through on weekend afternoons. Tour groups stop on Cornell Avenue. Design enthusiasts from other cities make pilgrimages. For the 124 families who actually live here, the houses are not objects of study — they are homes with radiant floor heat and clerestory windows and Japanese gardens and the specific pleasure of living in a place that was built with genuine conviction about what a neighborhood could be.