The bandstand at Denver’s City Park has been a fixture for live music since the first form of the beloved structure was constructed in 1896. Since that time the size and shape of the bandstand changed multiple times, finally arriving on the familiar look of the most recent iteration in 1924. One morning in late March of this year all of that changed. A fire broke out at the bandstand on March 26, 2026, and caused severe damage to the structure, forcing the city to close the bandstand for the season, and look for a team of consultants to design a replacement structure.
Luckily for JVA’s Historic and Existing Structures Studio (HESS) group, Mundus Bishop, a long-time landscape architecture client and current on-call consultant for Denver Parks and Recreation, received the call and phoned in a few familiar faces for the replacement bandstand. JVA will be providing assessment and structural design services for the new structure, while another long-time friend of JVA, Nan Anderson (formerly of Anderson Hallas) will be taking on the architectural design scope.
Diving into the history of the bandstand exposes that the most recent structure was not the historic 1924 structure that was reported within news reports following the fire but was rebuilt in a similar style in 1984. It was again reconstructed in 1994 following an earlier fire and rehabilitated in 2008/2009. This gives the design team a bit more leeway on the aesthetic character of the replacement structure, to more closely align with the historic 1924 structure. The fire damaged bandstand is set for demolition later this fall, once the newly hatched swallows (a federally protected bird species which inhabit the underside of the bandstand) fledge their nests.
One bonus for the HESS team is an occasional boat ride! Celeste Carmignani and Jason Jeffries, along with a colleague from Mundus Bishop received unlimited access to the underside of the fire damaged bandstand via a small pontoon boat captained by yours truly. Not too bad for Celeste’s second day on the job!! Stay tuned for updates as the bandstand is replaced!