When people stroll past the Brown Palace Hotel on a busy Denver afternoon, or check into the Queen Anne Bed & Breakfast, they’re stepping into the legacy of Frank E. Edbrooke. Born in 1840 and arriving in Colorado with little more than a carpenter’s eye and boundless ambition, Edbrooke went on to become the most celebrated architect in the state’s history, known as “the dean of Denver architecture.”
His story began on the Illinois prairie in a log cabin in Deerfield, where he was one of nine children. His English-born father, contractor Robert J. Edbrooke, rebuilt large portions of Chicago after the catastrophic fire of 1871, and young Frank worked alongside him, learning the craft from the ground up.
After honing his skills in Chicago, Edbrooke moved on to designing depots and hotels for the Union Pacific Railroad, which brought him west. In 1879, he arrived in Denver to supervise construction of two landmark commissions for his architect brother Willoughby: the Tabor Block at 16th and Larimer Street and the Tabor Grand Opera House at 16th and Curtis Street. The Tabor Grand was later called the finest building ever constructed in Denver; however, it was demolished in 1964.
Building an Empire and a City
F.E. Edbrooke & Co. quickly became the largest architectural practice in Colorado. He was a founding member of the Colorado chapter of the American Institute of Architects and mentored a generation of younger architects.
His preferred materials were the landscape itself. He used local red sandstone, granite, and brick, assembled into massive yet graceful Richardsonian Romanesque structures. He was also an early adopter of steel-frame construction, helping push Denver’s skyline upward at a time when the city was still finding its footing.
The Queen Anne Bed & Breakfast
Long before it welcomed guests for weekend getaways, the Victorian house at 2147 Tremont Place was simply a home, designed by Edbrooke in 1887 for relatives of the prominent Tabor family. Built in the Queen Anne style that Edbrooke favored for residential work, the house features the ornate detailing, asymmetrical facade, and decorative woodwork characteristic of the era’s finest domestic architecture.
Today, the property operates as the Queen Anne Urban Bed & Breakfast, a nationally registered landmark. With 14 guest rooms — many designed by local artists — it remains one of the most charming overnight experiences in the city, a living piece of Denver’s Victorian heritage that Edbrooke would likely recognize today.
The house is one of the last surviving residential properties Edbrooke designed that remains intact, making it a rare and precious window into the more intimate side of his practice. It is currently listed by Michelle Seward, global real estate advisor with LIV Sotheby’s International Realty.
The Brown Palace Hotel
If the Queen Anne represents Edbrooke at his most personal, the Brown Palace Hotel, which opened in 1892, represents him at his most spectacular. Widely considered both his masterpiece and one of the finest buildings in American architectural history, the Brown Palace is an engineering marvel that was ahead of its time by decades.
Developer Henry Cordes Brown, a carpenter-turned-real-estate-mogul who had grazed cattle on the triangular plot at Broadway, Tremont, and 17th Street, hired Edbrooke to design a hotel that would put every other lodging in the region to shame.
Working with the awkward triangular site rather than against it, he created a nine-story building whose three sides wrap around a breathtaking atrium lobby, with balconies rising eight stories above the ground floor and topped by a stained-glass skylight. Architectural historians have noted that Edbrooke conceived this atrium design more than seventy years before it became a signature feature of modern hotel design.
For the exterior, Colorado red granite and Arizona sandstone were used, and 26 medallions carved by artist James Whitehouse depicting animals native to the Rocky Mountains can still be seen between the seventh-floor windows today. Inside, he imported Mexican onyx for the lobby, the Grand Salon, and the eighth-floor ballroom.
When it opened, the Brown Palace was the tallest building in Denver. The hotel has hosted nearly every U.S. President since Theodore Roosevelt first visited in 1905, as well as world leaders, celebrities, and dignitaries.
It remains a working luxury hotel today, listed on the National Register of Historic Places and still regarded as the finest extant example of Edbrooke’s work.
The Oxford Hotel
A year before the Brown Palace opened, Edbrooke completed another landmark just a few blocks away. The Oxford Hotel, at 1600 17th Street near Union Station, opened in 1891 and holds the distinction of being Denver’s oldest surviving hotel.
Edbrooke designed the original five-story red brick structure on a U-shaped plan, and some historians believe it may have been Denver’s first steel-skeleton building, predating the Brown Palace by two years.
The Oxford’s fortunes ebbed and flowed over the decades — it thrived through the turn of the century, declined as rail travel waned after World War II, and was eventually restored to its original glory in a $12 million renovation completed in 1983.
That restoration made the Oxford one of Denver’s first modern boutique hotels and an anchor of the Lower Downtown revival. Today it remains a beloved fixture of the city’s hospitality scene, listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Beyond the Hotels
Edbrooke’s reach extended far beyond hospitality. Among his most significant surviving works:
Colorado State Capitol (1915) — Edbrooke served as the final architect for the State Capitol, completing the iconic dome capped in Colorado gold. Modeled after the U.S. Capitol, its four-story cruciform body and three-tiered dome remain the most recognizable silhouette on Denver’s skyline.
Colorado State Museum (1915) — His final project, a neoclassical temple built in Colorado Yule marble and Gunnison granite to match the Capitol across the street. Today it serves as an administrative building for the state legislature.
Central Presbyterian Church (1892) — A refined ecclesiastical design that complemented Denver’s growing cultural institutions.
Denver Dry Goods Company Building (1889) — One of Denver’s first major commercial retail buildings, helping define the character of 16th Street.
Ouray County Courthouse (1888) — One of his finest works outside Denver, bringing Edbrooke’s Romanesque sensibility to the San Juan Mountains.
More than thirty of Edbrooke’s buildings are currently listed on the National Register of Historic Places or contribute to significant local historic districts.