Database of the Annual Denver Area Parade of Homes, 1953-1963

From introduction: "The following information came from newspaper advertisements and articles related to the annual Denver area residential real estate promotion, the Parade of Homes. Local homebuilders, through the Denver Association of Home Builders, first sponsored this major marketing event in 1953 and it continues to be a major promotional effort. The years 1953 through 1963 are the focus of this study. The database is intended to assist those seeking to gain a better understanding of Post-World War II residential architectural styles and types. The eleven-year span of the database provides an opportunity to observe changes over time. The multi-year participation of many builders permits comparisons between individual builders across the period. Many homebuilders are represented, but not all firms participated in the Parade of Homes. Builders offered a wide variety of residential styles and types. However, residential development in Denver during this period may differ considerably from other communities, particularly Colorado’s small towns. The database should only be used as a starting point for learning about Post-World War II architectural styles and residential development. Local historic contexts must be developed to understand regional and community variations. While reasonable efforts were made to gather sufficient information to populate the database, available time and resources did not permit exhaustive research. Few of the developments in the database were field checked. Some may be reasonably intact while others are likely to exhibit significant architectural change. In most years, the Parade of Homes show models were located in homebuilder developments scattered across the Denver metropolitan area. The featured builders constructed houses adjacent to the models as part of their residential developments. In 1958, the Parade of Homes format changed significantly. All of the show homes in that year were built along a single street in one residential development (Park East in Aurora). While this allowed visitors to view and compare the models of several different developers in a single location, the format is less useful for modern researchers. Adjacent subdivisions were seldom built by the featured developers. The number of featured builders was also considerably smaller than in previous years." Funding was provided in part by a Historic Preservation Fund grant administered by the Colorado State Historic Preservation Office and the State, Tribal, and Local Plans and Grants Division, National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior.

Database of the Annual Denver Area Parade of Homes, 1953-1963

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