When artist Lawrence Argent died unexpectedly in October 2017, he left behind his famous art – the 40-foot blue bear pressing its paws against the glass of the Colorado Convention Center, for example. And an unfinished LoHi home project.
Now, nearly nine years later, that home is coming to market for the first time.
A LoHi duplex on the 3600 block of Lipan Street is Argentap final residential project, a home he designed with architect Steve Lubowicki for himself.
One of the properties, the original home, is 1,450 square feet with two bedrooms and three baths after adding a second floor. Itap listed for $950,000.
The home Argent helped design is 3,700 square feet with five bedrooms and five baths. Itap listed for $1.75 million.
The project began with a friendship. Lubowicki had known Argent for years. They first worked together to create Argentap Denver studio in the Santa Fe Art District.
So, when Argent decided to build a new home on Lipan Street, he turned to Lubowicki.
“Lawrence really gave us the program, as all clients do,” Lubowicki said. “Bedrooms, size, amenities. Then he stepped back.”
Together, they developed a concept anchored in the site’s existing fabric: a single-family home built in 1905, thick-walled and solid, onto which a new wood-and-concrete structure with exposed beams would connect and rise.
Argent wanted privacy and light. He wanted space to display art. He wanted a basement that didn’t feel like a basement.
And he envisioned a third-floor terrace as his own private domain, a rooftop sanctuary above the streetscape with a view of the Denver skyline.
He also wanted to create space for his two sons, talking at length with them about what they wanted in the home. One wanted a tub. The other wanted a shower.
“He saw this as one of his art projects,” Lubowicki said.
Work on the project started, adding a second floor to the initial home. The new home began to take shape. Argent ordered doors, windows, and a custom floating staircase from China.
Then, in the fall of 2017, he died of cardiac arrest at age 60.
The materials he ordered had already arrived.
Krista and Jeff Macco, who lived across the street, watched the project take shape. She is an entrepreneur and real estate investor.
“He was a lovely person,” Krista Macco said of Argent. “He was building the coolest house and he was the best neighbor.”
Construction began in 2016. Then, one day, the site fell silent, with no roof, windows boarded up, and the building left an unfinished shell.
Krista Macco was surprised, given how passionate Argent had been about the project.
Eventually, she learned of his death, attended Argentap funeral and met his family.
The Maccos decided to buy the property from the estate, determined to finish it as Argent had envisioned.
“We knew his vision and we love the neighborhood,” Krista Macco said.
They were confident they could make the project work by living in the new home and renting out the original.
When the Maccos moved in, they had two young sons; now, as their boys are getting older, they’re ready to pass the home on to new owners.
They’re listing the properties separately but envision one buyer for both.
The property is technically a duplex, but that word undersells it.
Each side has its own entrance, roofline, architectural massing and outdoor space. From the street, the homes look similar in size.
The two units share a wall but nothing else. There is no mirrored floor plan, no sense of the attached product that the term “duplex” usually conjures.
“Itap so different,” Krista Macco said. “Sometimes you forget itap a duplex.”
The larger unit, 3645, is the one Argent designed for himself. The more expansive, the more vertical.
The two-story entry features floor-to-ceiling slate. Slate also runs as a continuous spine along the exterior facade to the rooftop entertaining area. An oversized chandelier hangs at the center of the space, where a glass overlook from the second floor looks down into the entry.
The staircase is a floating composition of wood treads, steel posts and glass banisters.
The lower level with 10-foot ceilings, which Argent called his “anti-basement,” includes a wall of floor-to-ceiling south-facing windows that runs from the main living area down through the stairwell and into the lower floor, flooding the space with natural light and providing a visual connection to the floors above.
At the top of the house, the primary suite occupies an entire floor. Massive sliding doors open to a private terrace.
Skyline views extend in multiple directions. The spa bathroom is wrapped in slate, anchored by an oversized steam shower and a deep-soaking tub set beneath a skylight.
Listing agent Delroy Gill with LIV Sotheby’s International describes the homes simply. “That property is a one-of-one duplex based on layout, finishes, and what it has to offer.”
The home was built under grandfathered zoning allowances, so new construction in the neighborhood cannot reach the same scale.
“They could have cut corners and it wouldn’t have been the same home,” Gill said.
“They took the time to finish it in Lawrence Argentap honor.”
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