Recap: Before & After: Historic 11th Avenue Hostel
We offered a special Before & After tour package, exploring the historic 11th Avenue Hostel. Tour guide Sydney Ilg Malone, 11th Avenue Hostel Marketing Director, shared information about the site’s unique history, architecture, including current renovations and restoration, as well as the family that owns and operates it. DAF offered three tour packages in this Before & After format to give our participants the opportunity to fully experience this Denver Landmark. The before tour dates were:
- Wednesday • March 24 • 4:30pm
- Tuesday • March 30 • 4:30pm
- Saturday • April 3 • 10am
About the “Before” tour: A behind-the-scenes hard hat tour of one of Denver’s oldest hotels turned hostel. We explored how a Denver father/daughter duo is revamping a 118-year-old building and preparing it for the 21st century with unique private and shared accommodations for world travelers.
About the “After” tour: We explored the fully renovated yet uniquely historic 11th Avenue Hostel! Continually operated as a lodging facility since 1903, the Ilg Family purchased the building in 1988 and completed a full scale restoration in 2021. Designated as a historic landmark, the building represents the best of Denver: its beautiful architectural and historical past, along with its bright, multicultural future.
About the building: Constructed in two phases in 1903 and 1913, 11th Avenue Hotel (now 11th Avenue Hostel) is a lodging facility designed by renowned architect Frederick J. Sterner. Originally on the outskirts of downtown Denver, the brick building served the laymen and educators of the day. The building hosts 89 rooms and up to 150 guests on any given night.
About the tour guide: Sydney Ilg Malone and her father started dreaming of renovating their building in the early 2000s, and after many years of dreaming, scheming and planning, started the journey. Sydney is a marketer by trade, focused in the tourism and hospitality industry, and a lover of all things historic.
