WELBY —For Melissa LaRusso and her family of third- and fourth-generation Welby settlers, restoring the historic and mysterious Welby Manor at 77th Avenue and York Street is a labor of love.
The pink, brick, two-story house has been dormant for decades. It has passed through a large and unknown number of owners since its construction in 1890.
“When we bought the property, we knew the house was really a cornerstone of Welby,” LaRusso said. “It’s been here forever, and anyone who knows this area at all always thinks of the old house on York Street, but they don’t really know anything about it.”
LaRusso, her parents, her husband, her brother and her sister are part of the Center Land Company, a commercial land development business started by LaRusso’s grandparents in the 1950s. In June 2014, Center Land bought Welby Manor and about 11 acres of abandoned farmland surrounding it.
Very little is known about the original owners of Welby Manor, but LaRusso and members of the (formed in 2012) are working to piece the past together with the hope of someday turning the house into a history museum for the town.
“Right now, it’s a bit of a mystery,” said foundation member Robin O’Dorisio. “We discovered that this area was actually Arapahoe County during the time that the house was built. We’re still trying to dig back into the original history, but we’re also trying to find folks who can share as much information as possible on it.”
The rest of the site will be the , a campus of four, 30,000-square-foot industrial and distribution warehouse buildings being built now, and currently up for lease. The first two buildings are slated for completion in May.
But the heart of the project is the restoration of the Welby Manor.
“Among these brand new modern buildings that we’re creating, we still want to showcase this house, which is right there in front,” LaRusso said. “There’s a really great sense of community in the area and we want to portray that in the house by keeping it as the centerpiece.”
According to the Welby Heritage Foundation, the 120-year-old neighborhood in unincorporated Adams County was developed by the railroad company around the turn of the century. In 1909, the town was named Welby after Arthur E. Welby, the first vice president of the Denver, Laramie and Northwestern Railroad Company.
Welby was settled by Italian immigrants and farmers and was a major agricultural area in the west up until 1960, serving as the largest vegetable production area in Adams County. Today, the community spans about four square miles north of Interstate 76, east of Interstate 25, and south of 88th Avenue, west of the South Platte River.
Center Land began working on restoration of the manor a few weeks ago. Construction crews are repairing the crown molding on the roof and removing a wooden shed that was tacked on to the original kitchen years ago. Interior work is currently dependent on grant funding and donations and is not scheduled for another two years.
In May 2014, the Adams County Board of Commissioners adopted a that details the needed improvements and areas of growth that the community of 15,000 can support.
“The proposed (Welby Business Park) is in line with the subarea plan in that it aims to revitalize the community by adding new jobs with industrial uses,” said Abel Montoya, Adams County director of long-range and strategic planning. “It’s also planning to honor the history of Welby by restoring the historic building into a community center.”
The total cost of the manor renovation is not specifically tabulated, but Montoya said that it is possible for the county to explore some funding resources.
LaRusso said: “The manor is the heart of Welby, and we want to keep that there as the foundation and also use it to bring the community back and honor the community that’s passed.”
Megan Mitchell: 303-909-8463, mmitchell@denverpost.com or @Mmitchelldp
To share information about the welby manor, contact melissa larusso at 303-912-1461 or melissa@centerco.com.
