Wings of the Tropics, Butterfly Pavilion

The Butterfly Pavilion grew out of the Rocky Mountain Butterfly Consortium, a non-profit set up in 1990 to open a public butterfly house; 5280 magazine credits the entomologists Michael Weissmann and Richard Peigler as its co-founders. It opened on 15 July 1995 in Westminster, north of Denver, on an eleven-acre site provided by the city, and the institution regards it as the nation's first freestanding butterfly house.

In 1996 it joined the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District, the Denver-area cultural fund that still helps to finance it. In 1998 its administrative offices were turned into Water's Edge, an exhibit on tide-pool animals; in 2004 a 13,000-square-foot wing opened with four classrooms, offices and a new exhibit space; and in June 2007 the outdoor Dee Lidvall Discovery Garden was inaugurated.

In May 2017 the institution announced a move to Broomfield, about ten miles to the north-east. The project, in the Baseline community, went to OZ Architecture with Lake Flato as design consultant, for a building of 90,000 square feet according to the firm or 81,000 according to the local press, with a projected cost of 55 million dollars. In March 2025, its thirtieth-anniversary year, the Butterfly Pavilion shelved the plan, citing a changed economic climate; its board is looking for another site for a larger facility. In October 2026 the conservatory was still receiving visitors in Westminster.

Wings of the Tropics occupies the ground floor of the main building, a complex of 30,000 square feet according to Wikipedia and 31,000 according to the local press in 2025. The conservatory itself covers 7,200 square feet according to the institution and 7,000 according to Wikipedia, or 650 to 670 m². None of the sources consulted describes its structure or glazing, and the designer of the 1995 building is not named; the official site simply calls it a walk-through tropical conservatory.

Visitors enter through double doors. Winding paths run between tropical plants, past a waterfall and feeding stations where butterflies gather on sliced fruit. The temperature is held at 80 °F (27 °C) and the humidity at 80% all year. On one side, the Chrysalis Corner lets visitors watch butterflies emerging, and staff release the newly hatched insects throughout the day. In October part of the conservatory is handed over to the Spider Zone, where orb-weavers spin their webs with no glass or barrier between them and the public.

According to its concept plans, the abandoned Broomfield project would have included two large greenhouse enclosures and spaces evoking several biomes.

The institution speaks of more than 1,800 free-flying butterflies from over 200 species worldwide, although the quick-facts panel on the same website gives 1,600-plus, Uncover Colorado 1,600 and Wikipedia 1,200. Species named include the Blue Morpho, the Julia Longwing and the Painted Lady. Wikipedia and Uncover Colorado also mention more than 200 species of rainforest plants.

The butterflies arrive as chrysalides bought from sustainable farms in Central and South America, Africa and Southeast Asia: about 500 a week according to Wikipedia, 600 to 1,000 according to Uncover Colorado, which puts the value of these purchases to the farms at 80,000 dollars a year. In 2019 the institution also helped to set up a butterfly farm in Indonesia, where its staff train members of the community in Sumatra. Turtles, fish and other creatures of warm, humid habitats share the space. In March 2026 a temporary display brought six kinds of orchid into the conservatory, where visitors could watch the butterflies pollinate them.

The Butterfly Pavilion stands at 6252 West 104th Avenue in Westminster, just off Highway 36 and about fifteen minutes from downtown Denver; entry is by timed ticket and the conservatory is included in general admission. The official site suggests wearing bright colours and coming in the morning, when the butterflies are most active. A visit continues through Survival, home of Rosie the tarantula, the renovated and enlarged Water's Edge, the Legacies: Invertebrates of Mexico exhibit and the outdoor gardens planted for pollinators, in flower from May to October, with a half-mile nature trail along Big Dry Creek nearby. In October the Spider Zone moves into the conservatory.