Historic Denver Welcomes You
Narrated by Museum Director Andrea Malcomb
For audio click here:
We’ve spent 50 years preserving the places that matter in Denver, including our first save – the Molly Brown House Museum. We hope you agree that historic places and the stories they tell are relevant to us all today, and as we build the future together.
This 1889 house, made of Castle Rock Rhyolite and Manitou Sandstone, sits on the ancestral home and grazing lands of the Ute, Arapaho and Cheyenne Nations. The home and its furnishings is the perfect backdrop to hear the story of a woman you may know as “Molly” Brown, but the true story of Margaret Tobin Brown reveals a leader and activist whose lasting legacy shows the impact each of us can have when a community rallies around a common cause.
Art Leisenring at the House of Lions c. 1970
There is another person in this house’s history who also left behind a legacy. In the late 1960s, Art Leisenring owned this home, known then as the House of Lions. When it came time for Art to move on, he worried that if he put 1340 Pennsylvania up for sale, it would be torn down like other houses on the block. In a grassroots effort, he gathered other community members and together they founded Historic Denver, Inc. to save and restore the Molly Brown House.
Today, as a leading preservation organization, we still advocate on behalf of the diverse places and spaces around the city because we know that historic places and the histories they reveal can inspire us to take collective action today and ensure a better future for all - a vison shared, no doubt, by Art Leisenring and Margaret Brown.
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Thank you for supporting Historic Denver and I hope you enjoy your tour. The voices you’ll hear today belong to our passionate and dedicated Volunteer Museum Tour Guides!
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