In the fantasy literature of T.A. Barron, Fincayra is a “place of many wonders” between heaven and Earth.
It’s also, as it turns out, a sprawling estate in Telluride. The description might also apply to two other notable Colorado homes – one in Durango and one in Boulder.
Two of the homes recently were put up for sale, and one recently sold.
Today, The Denver Post takes you inside each.
“Has it all”
A $5.6 million mansion near Durango “has it all,” said Debra Parmenter, the Durango real estate agent charged with selling it.
The snow-dusted San Juan Mountains provide the backdrop, while the Animas River snakes nearby. The entryway’s marble mosaic floor was crafted in Italy, and the garage doors were custom-made.
The three-bedroom, 6,600-square-foot home sits on 35 acres of secluded forest, offering a picturesque Colorado setting.
“If someone were to close their eyes and imagine the West, this would be it,” said Parmenter, a 26-year real estate veteran.
The home is attracting attention from mostly affluent East Coasters looking for a Western retreat. Edna Kennedy, the home’s builder and owner, put it up for sale in the summer. Formerly a public-relations executive in Atlanta, Kennedy operated an exotic animal farm in Santa Fe for 13 years before moving to Durango.
The 9-year-old home includes an elevator, a remodeled two-bedroom guest house and a private lake stocked for fishing.
– Will Shanley
“Simple and clean”
Thomas D. and Mary K. Martin of Austin, Texas, are asking $16.9 million for a 28-acre Telluride estate they bought in 1999.
Originally built in 1994 for Los Angeles real estate magnate Erika Glazer, “Fincayra” includes a 14,000-square-foot main house, two guest houses, stables and a platform tennis court. In all, the home has 13 bedrooms, 11 full baths and two half baths. The Martins spent about $3 million renovating the home, for which they paid $7.55 million in 2000. The project was overseen by Aspen architect Michael Fuller. The original furniture was donated to shelters for battered women in Colorado, Utah and New Mexico, and the home was gutted.
“The design is rustic-modern – Zenlike,” said Peter Kivlin, who is marketing the property. “It’s simple and clean, and you maintain some of the mountain feel with the beams and pine floors.”
– Margaret Jackson
“It had a story”
Bradford J. Armstrong recently moved his family less than a block to the William V. Casey House, a newly renovated historic home in Boulder built in 1892.
Armstrong, who lived in his previous home for 10 years, is founder of the Bamboo Fund, created in 2003 to provide grants for social-justice organizing groups in the Denver metro area.
“We now have two children and were looking to move, and we love the neighborhood,” he said. “We weren’t looking to have a big remodeling project on our plate.”
Armstrong paid $1.595 million for the house, which Sebastian de Atucha spent two years and $750,000 rehabbing.
The original 1,754-square-foot five-bedroom, one-bath home was expanded to become a 3,286-square-foot, four-bedroom, 4 1/2-bath home. De Atucha added a two-car garage with a 324-square-foot studio and bath.
“It had a story that seemed worth spending the time and effort to restore it,” said de Atucha, who lived in the house with his wife, interior designer Kristina Baker, for a year during construction. “I was trying to make money, but from a money-making perspective, it wasn’t a huge success.”
A registered city of Boulder landmark, the Queen Anne home belonged to William Casey, an educator who served as the city’s superintendent of schools from 1894 to 1934. Casey lived in the house until his death in 1944.
– Margaret Jackson
