Image © Red Square
Stand at the corner of 17th and Wynkoop streets, in front of Denver’s Union Station, with its iconic red-neon “Travel by Train” sign and monumental windows, and you can almost imagine the depot’s glory days in the 1930s, when as many as 80 trains a day stopped here. Today, the 1914 Beaux-Arts-style station is surrounded by chain-link fencing as it undergoes a $48 million restoration. When it reopens next year, the building will continue to serve train passengers — Amtrak’s California Zephyr stops twice daily — but it will also include a 110-room boutique hotel, restaurants, shops, and offices.