The longtime home of former Denver Mayor Wellington Webb and his wife, former state Rep. Wilma J. Webb, is now an official landmark.
The City Council approved the designation after a hearing Monday night. The home, which is a couple blocks from City Park in the Whittier neighborhood, was built in 1902 in the style of which is known elsewhere as an American Foursquare. The Webbs purchased the home in 1971 and still live there now.
“History often remembers the speeches delivered in public, but history is sustained by the quiet moments that happen in homes like this one,” Councilwoman Shontel Lewis said before the vote.
She reflected on the Webbs’ role in Denver: “You didn’t simply make history, you expanded who believed they could make it — including me,” said Lewis, who is Black. “Imagine the conversations this home has witnessed,” she added. “The victories celebrated around the dinner table, the disappointments carried through the front door. The strategy sessions, phone calls — the moments when the burdens of leadership felt impossibly heavy.”
In 1991, Wellington Webb, then the city’s auditor and a former state lawmaker, became Denver’s first Black mayor. He served three terms in the mayor’s office.
Wilma Webb served in the Colorado legislature for six terms, focusing on advancing civil rights. She led the effort to establish a state holiday honoring the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., and she helped create the annual “Marade,” a blend of a march and a parade through Denver.
The Webbs attended the council meeting on Monday, showing their support for the designation. Wilma Webb spoke about when the couple first moved into the house.
“There was an ad in The Denver Post, and what it said was exactly this: ‘Old house for sale. Needs handyman,’ ” she said. “We’ve been there ever since.”
Historic Denver submitted the designation application to the city in May.
“In approving this for landmark designation, you’re saying that history lives here and history will always live here,” said John Deffenbaugh, the CEO of Historic Denver.
The nine council members present during the meeting approved the ordinance unanimously.
