Behind This Unassuming Façade Is Denver's Chicest New Boutique Hotel

As a city, Denver is all about confluence. The High Plains meet the Rocky Mountains, the great outdoors meets a bustling city, and modernity meets the Wild West—especially when it comes to architecture. Distill that down to a microcosm, and you've got Life House, Lower Highlands, Denver's newest and chicest boutique hotel, which just opened this month.

Located in the trendy neighborhood of Lower Highlands, or LoHi, the hotel embraces its site; here, ultra-modern new builds meet classic Victorian homes from the days of Westward Expansion. On the outside, the hotel is rather unassuming, with a simple, boxy façade. But inside, it's bursting with personality.

Designed with Denver's Victorian Industrial past in mind, the hotel's public spaces, including tapas-style restaurant and cocktail bar, Wildflower, are bedecked with plush jewel-toned textiles, from velvet to floral upholstery, but it also draws in classic American frontier touches, like cacti, leather furniture, and Navajo-pattern throw pillows. Together these styles create an opulent, eclectic look that feels perfectly Coloradoan.

The decor scheme continues into Life House, Lower Highland's 17 guest rooms, split between king suites and bunk rooms (the bunks have full-size beds), which can be combined for families. Amenities include Le Labo toiletries, Revival linens, and a custom in-room fragrance with bergamot, fig, vetiver, and cedar notes.

“Every one of our Houses is uniquely rooted to its locale, and Lower Highlands is no different,” Rami Zeidan, founder and CEO of Life House, said in a statement. “We partnered with a local couple who owned the property and collaborated brilliantly to create a beautiful hotel that timelessly pays homage to the organic evolution that the neighborhood has already been experiencing while sharing a touch of new energy to travelers and locals alike.”

In tune with the tech-forward Life House brand, which currently has two properties in Miami and one in Nantucket, the hotel offers a contactless check-in process via an app; it also has a proprietary social network for guests to connect with one another, as well as with locals in the area.