Life House, Lower Highlands Hotel

Denver, USA

A stylish snapshot of Wild West romanticism in Denver, USA, that’s been brought bang up to date for the modern traveller, combining embracive Victoriana and every creature comfort.

From the outside, you’d be forgiven for mistaking this boutique pad for someone’s home. Albeit a very modern one, with its clean lines and clever architectural notes. It’s an unassuming frontage of concrete and metal that gives little away. That is, until you glimpse the moody-toned banquettes through the ground-floor window. Set in Denver’s cool Lower Highlands neighbourhood – LoHi, to those in the know – the property sits on a bluff above the city itself. Today, the area’s home to a roll call of great bars and restaurants, galleries and craft breweries. But its storied past is something the 16-room Life House channels with aplomb.

Denver was a rugged mining town in the 1860s, and the hotel reflects the free-spirited nature of the frontier, with a honed sense of the Victorian industrialism of the Highlands that went hand-in-hand with the pioneer expansion into the Old Wild West. It’s a design narrative influenced by 19th-century travel adventures that grounds the hotel firmly in place – think Deadwood meets The Gilded Age and you’ll get the idea. Transporting guests to another time, designer Lei Xing took transnational cues in crafting the homestead-style space. Custom wallpaper heroing Colorado’s layered landscape is a nod to the mass production sparked by William Morris on the other side of the pond, and a mural speaks to local wildflowers and fin-de-siècle elegance. Bunk rooms – ideal for families – channel the onset of the Pullman sleeper trains that steamed their way from the east. It’s bold, balanced and cosseting, with velvet drapes, soft lighting, intricate Western patterns, floral tropes, gutsy colourways, cabinets of curiosities and vintage furniture.

Drawing locals and visitors alike, Wildflower restaurant plays on the Italian pioneers who called the area home, with a stand-out menu of Italian-American classics that showcase local and foraged produce. The on-site bar has also gained a reputation for its excellent Old Fashioneds, natural wines and local craft beers. An excellent weekender to bookend ski trips to Aspen and Vail. Doubles from £118. lifehousehotels.com

Words by Blossom Green