As CBS Colorado reported in September 2025, Tony and Robin Kohake own a deteriorating home in Washington Park and wanted to tear it down and build a replacement home. A landmark designation application was filed, pausing the project and leading to a city mediation process before work could proceed. It took until September 2025, and a 3-3 vote by Denver's Landmark Preservation Commission, for the designation to be denied and their plans to move forward.
Here is the part that matters if you are shopping in Wash Park right now: their house was never inside a mapped historic district. Nobody had designated it a landmark. A non-owner application can initiate a review under Denver's rules, as CHUN Denver explains. Meanwhile, since late 2024 the city has made it dramatically easier to add an accessory dwelling unit to almost any residential lot in Denver, as Colorado Community Media reported. Both considerations are relevant to anyone buying an older home here with renovation, a pop-top, or an ADU in mind.
The 800 South Franklin case in context
The Kohakes' case sits within a longer neighborhood discussion about updating or replacing older homes and preserving them. The Washington Park East Neighborhood Association traces its own founding back to 1999, when a group calling itself Progress and Preservation Together formed specifically in response to a wave of pop-tops and full scrapes in the neighborhood. Westword covered the same tension under the headline "Pop-top Flop" back in 1998. This is not a new debate. What changed recently is the incentive to renovate rather than sell and walk away, which makes the risk more relevant to more buyers than it used to be.
What actually changed in December 2024
In December 2024, Denver's City Council passed a citywide zoning amendment allowing accessory dwelling units in every residential zone district in the city. Councilmember Chris Hinds, one of the sponsors, said the reform would remove the need to navigate Denver's zoning code just to build a unit that used to require a lengthy rezoning process on a lot-by-lot basis. Combined with an earlier removal of the owner-occupancy requirement, as PropertyZoned notes, the practical effect was significant: for the first time, a Wash Park homeowner did not need special permission from the city just to be eligible to add a backyard unit. Eligibility, citywide, became the default.
That is a real change, and it matters for a neighborhood where a detached ADU can plausibly add $1,200 to $2,000 a month in rental income to a property that already sits in one of Denver's most competitive submarkets. But eligibility is not the same thing as approval.
ADU eligibility and landmark review are separate
Denver's citywide ADU reform governs whether ADUs are allowed by zoning. It does not touch a separate, older layer of review that applies to individually landmarked properties and mapped historic districts, where any exterior work requiring a building permit still needs a Certificate of Appropriateness from the Landmark Preservation Commission. Historic Denver's own guidance on this is direct: additional design review in a historic district or on an individual landmark applies to exterior changes, full stop, regardless of what the base zoning code allows.
One point for buyers to understand is how applications work. Under Denver's landmark ordinance, a non-owner-initiated designation application only needs to come from a minimum of three Denver residents or property owners, the city's planning manager, or a City Council member. An owner does not need to want landmark status for the process to start. Washington Park's housing stock, built almost entirely between 1905 and 1940 in Craftsman, Tudor revival, Colonial revival, and Dutch Colonial styles.
Where renovation plans and landmark review overlap
This is not evenly distributed across the neighborhood, and the price tiers make that visible.
| Segment | Typical 2026 range | Landmark and ADU exposure |
|---|---|---|
| Condos and attached townhomes | roughly $532,000 to $850,000 based on early-to-mid 2026 listing data | Minimal. |
| Classic interior-block bungalow, built 1905 to 1940 | roughly $1.1 million to $1.4 million | Highest exposure. |
| Park perimeter properties | roughly $1.6 million to $2.5 million and up | Often already renovated or built new under prior review; less renovation-driven buying activity. |
| New construction | median around $2 million | The review process, if any applied, is already resolved before the home hits the market. |
A buyer considering a $1.1 million to $1.4 million classic bungalow and planning to renovate, pop the top, or add an ADU may want to account for landmark review in the purchase calculation; the metro-wide median close price was $605,000 as of April 2026. The price difference may make planned improvements part of a buyer's calculation. Landmark review is another factor to consider when evaluating a renovation plan.
A due-diligence list that has nothing to do with square footage
Before writing an offer on a Wash Park property with renovation plans attached, work through this:
- Check Denver's official Historic Landmarks and Districts map for the specific address, not just the general neighborhood.
- Ask the listing agent directly whether a demolition permit application, or any prior landmark designation application, has ever been filed on the property.
- Call Denver's Landmark Preservation staff before you get attached to a renovation plan. A short consultation can tell you if a project is likely to face resistance before you spend money on architectural drawings.
- Walk the block and look at how nearby pop-tops were designed; they can provide context about renovation patterns.
- Ask whether the block has an active registered neighborhood organization or informal preservation group. Denver's RNO directory lists the contact for any neighborhood, and a call is worth the ten minutes.
These checks can add context to a renovation plan and may affect how you evaluate an offer.
What this means if Wash Park is one of several neighborhoods on your list
If you are comparing Washington Park against other Denver neighborhoods purely on the strength of the new ADU rules, the comparison is incomplete unless you are also comparing exposure to Denver's landmark process. The potential for landmark review may differ in neighborhoods with newer or less historic housing stock. Wash Park offers the park, walkability to Historic South Gaylord Street, and a school assignment that includes Steele Elementary; its older housing stock is also relevant to renovation plans.
For buyers considering a renovation, evaluate the project separately from the purchase and treat "ADUs are legal here now" as a starting point for due diligence.
A few straight answers
Does Denver's citywide ADU law override Washington Park's historic protections? No. The 2024 zoning amendment governs whether an ADU is allowed by use and dimension. It does not exempt individually landmarked properties or mapped historic districts from separate design review by the Landmark Preservation Commission.
Can an unlandmarked property face designation review? Yes. Denver allows non-owner-initiated designation applications, filed by as few as three residents or property owners.
Is there a way to know before I make an offer? Yes. Denver's Landmark Preservation staff will confirm a property's current status.
Wash Park rewards buyers who do the homework a standard inspection does not cover. If you are weighing a bungalow purchase against the renovation or ADU plan that makes the price work, Alex Reber can walk the specific block with you, check the address against Denver's landmark records, and help you underwrite the project before you are under contract, not after. Let's Connect.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.