Central Colorado Springs is an incredibly diverse region which includes some of the city's oldest settled and most historic neighborhoods as well as several new home and condominium developments in a variety of price ranges.

The downtown area is a vibrant and colorful mix of new and renovated commercial and office structures with stately turn of the century mansions set along broad, tree lined avenues, many of which were part of General Palmer's original plan for the city.

Old Colorado City, or the "West Side," is an area of extensive commercial and residential renovation. Dating from the 1850's, the area boomed in the late 19th century, when gold ore was hauled in for smelting from the mines in Cripple Creek and Victor, and it still retains a distinctive Old West flavor. West Side housing runs the gamut from the tiny "gingerbread" cottages, many of which have undergone elaborate restoration, to the strikingly contemporary passive solar structures that punctuate the foothills along the Front Range which the West side abuts.

Manitou Springs, a small, tourist-oriented village situated at the foot of Pikes Peak to the immediate west of the city, offers a similar Old West atmosphere with the added aspect of being nestled right in the foothills themselves. Many of the homes, clinging to the steep slopes of the mountain base, are fascinating for the engineering improvisation they display.

Some of the most impressive neighborhoods in the Colorado Springs neighborhoods in the Colorado Springs area can be found in the Central district. The North Cascade-Wood Avenue vicinity retains its prestige from the mining boom days. And Manitou Springs' Crystal Park area offers unique custom homes with the splendid mountainside views of Colorado Springs and the eastern plains.

Central Area Neighborhoods