Roland Wilson, one of Denver’s first apartment designers to include indoor pools and underground parking, died after a long illness on Oct. 22 at his Cherry Hills home. He was 83.
A service is planned at 10 a.m. Nov. 25 at Hope United Methodist Church, 5101 S. Dayton St.
Wilson, who designed 130 multi-story buildings, liked having control of the entire process, said his wife, Ginny Wilson. So he found land, bought it, brought in investors, designed the building and often retained part ownership.
She was an art major and did the interior decorating of the lobbies, game rooms and halls — usually following a different theme in each building — such as Italian, Russian or French.
Their first building was at 1300 Adams St. and they lived in the 18-unit building for two years. It is still there. “We learned what apartment managers go through,” Ginny Wilson said.
When they began designing in 1959, many singles were moving to Denver and demand was high for apartments, Ginny Wilson said.
There was a lot of land, she said, but her husband realized it would be better to have underground parking than on-street parking. Almost all their buildings have underground parking.
Party rooms, game rooms and indoor pools were also new at the time, and made the Wilson apartments highly popular.
A trademark was that all units had white balconies.
Wilson used pre-stressed concrete to cut down on sound, said his wife. “Most buildings were wood construction before that.”
“He changed the skyline of Denver,” said Stan Johnson, Wilson’s nephew who worked with him.
Wilson also designed apartment buildings in Iowa, Wyoming, New Mexico and Texas — a total of 6,000 units — his nephew said. But most of the Wilson work was in Denver and many of the buildings were in the southeast corridor. He also designed several multistory office buildings.
Roland A. Wilson was born in Denver on Aug. 1, 1926, and graduated from East High School. He earned his architecture degree at the University of Denver.
He married Virginia Martin on Jan. 18, 1958. In addition to his wife, he is survived by a daughter, Wendy Wilson of Bethlehem, Pa.; two sons, Kris Wilson of Asheville, N.C., and Eric Wilson of Deephaven, Minn.; his sister, Edla Johnson of Loveland; and 10 grandchildren.
Virginia Culver: 303-954-1223 or vculver@denverpost.com
