A number of years ago, Stan Peckham, then book editor of the Denver Post, finagled an invitation for me to a party at Chateau Weckbaugh, one of Denver’s fashionable old mansions, located just south of the Denver Country Club. It was owned by Eleanor Weckbaugh, a formidable if somewhat ditsy socialite, who filled the house with priceless antiques and paintings, including a Renoir. She was known for keeping her white Christmas trees up until Valentine’s Day, then decorating them with red hearts.
Apparently, I wasn’t the only one who knew I was out of place at Ellie’s soirée. As we gathered in the Art Deco theater in the basement, a woman I thought had been dead for years poked me on the shoulder and indicated my Laura Ashley dress, which I’d bought on sale. “My dear, I haven’t seen red velvet like that since the Metropolitan Opera in ’06,” she said. Then she paused dramatically and added, “Of course, the quality was much better back then.”
For interlopers like me, there is now “Mansions of Denver,” a much more comfortable way of visiting Denver’s historic homes. Thanks to James Bretz, we can roam the halls of the most elegant of the city’s abodes at our leisure, and with nary a putdown.
Denver’s first mansions were built in the midst of what is now downtown Denver, but as the city grew, they were quickly torn down for office buildings. The Byers-Evans house adjacent to the Denver Art Museum is one of the few of those early-day structures that remain.
By 1880, Denver’s elite were eyeing Capitol Hill, and mansions went up along three principal streets – Colfax, Grant and Sherman. Many of the houses stood for nearly three-quarters of a century.
Fannie Boettcher lived in her mansion at 1201 Grant St. for 60 years, from the time it was built about 1890, through her divorce from Charles Boettcher (who moved into his Brown Palace Hotel), almost until her death at 97 in 1952. (The Claude K. Boettcher Mansion at East Eighth Avenue and Logan Street, purchased by her son, is now the governor’s mansion.) Fannie’s next-door neighbor at 1200 Sherman St., Mrs. William Fullerton, died in her house at age 90. The two homes were torn down to make way for an office building.
That, of course, was the fate of most of the mansions along what was once called Millionaires’ Row – Grant Street – and the adjacent blocks. But some remain. The Edwin B. Hendrie House at 930 Washington St. was once the home of Isabel Springer, whose feuding paramours shot it out in the Brown Palace in one of Denver’s most sensational murders. Mrs. Crawford Hill, leader of Denver’s Sacred 36 and Molly Brown’s nemesis, lived at 150 10th Ave. (now law offices) where her paramour’s picture was more prominently displayed than that of the cuckolded Mr. Hill. And, of course, Molly Brown’s home is a museum.
The mansion that Lena Stoiber built on the west side of Cheesman Park still is a private home. Lena’s husband died before the house was completed. Her next husband went down on the Titanic, although the rumor persisted in Denver that the henpecked man actually survived, but, seizing the opportunity, simply disappeared. She sold the home to Verner Z. Reed. Reed built one of Denver’s most elegant homes on Circle Drive, which is in private hands today. Another private home is the international-style Shangri-La just off Leetsdale Drive, built by theater magnate Harry Huffman to look like the house in the 1930s movie of that name. And, of course, Chateau Weckbaugh still stands.
Those were some of the lucky survivors. The stone castle-like Bethel home at East Colfax Avenue and Marion Street, once owned by Lawrence C. Phipps, was torn down when Colfax became busy, and occupants didn’t like the sounds and smells of commerce. The demolition of the Moffat Mansion at 808 Grant St. sparked Denver’s historic preservation movement.
Author Bretz grew up in one of Denver’s mansions, the Isaac Bushong home at 2036 E. 17th Ave., now law offices, and he writes about the city’s old houses and their occupants with affection. He’s not the first to tackle the subject. Edith Eudora Kohl wrote a newspaper series about old houses years ago that was compiled into a book, beloved by anybody who likes Denver architecture.
But a generation of Denverites has grown up or moved here since the Kohl book was in print, and it’s time for a fresh look at the old mansions.
Bretz writes about many houses other authors have overlooked. He also includes maps showing where the homes stood or still stand, as well as both new and historic photos. “Mansions of Denver” is a nostalgic look at the fine old homes that have been torn down. But it’s also a list of the mansions we’re lucky enough to have retained and a guide to visiting them.
Sandra Dallas is a Denver novelist who also writes a monthly column on new regional nonfiction releases.
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Mansions of Denver
The Vintage Years 1870-1938
By James Bretz
Pruett, 207 pages, $24.95
