Significance
The area known today as Scottish Village is significant as the last remaining fragment of Highland Park, a large Denver suburb planned and developed in 1874 by General William Jackson Palmer and Dr. William A. Bell, two of the most influential men in the early development and settlement of Colorado. In addition to its association with Palmer and Bell, Highland Park is important to the history of Denver for its contribution to the development of the northwest sector of the city. Highland Park is even more significant to Colorado' s history, however, as one of only three known examples of 19th century picturesque community planning in the Front Range, all of them associated with Dr. Bell and General Palmer, Moreover, of these three districts, only Denver' s Highland Park seems to have been deliberately modeled after the last word in romantic suburbs, to be a "villa park" like Chicago' s Riverside. In Highland Park, Palmer and Bell were intending to develop a unique suburb which incorporated the romantic ideal of rus in urbs, that is a rustic haven in the city. For various reasons, the villa park planned for Denver in the 1870s became, in the 1880s, a working class village in the city. Nevertheless, the area contained some of the most important public structures of the town of Highlands. While the major importance of the district is its contribution to the development of city planning, the architecture can also be said to have merit. The buildings illustrate a diversity of types and styles of dwellings, some which were erected as workers' housing, others are slightly larger and more ornate. Included are detached as well as attached units and show a full range of detailing. The properties are similar in scale and, for the most part, combine to present a unified historic character. (Although the south side of Caithness Place contains a majority of intrusions, they consist of inappropriately remodeled buildings with some modern intrusions that are of similar scale to the neighborhood.) The entire area has an overall unity provided by its historic street pattern. - NRHP Registration, December 19, 1984