2008 HOUSE TOUR
29th ANNUAL HOUSE TOUR
FEATURING
THE QUALITY HILL HISTORIC DISTRICT
WHEN: Sunday, October 19, 2008, from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
WHERE: Quality Hill Historic District plus the Governor’s Mansion
TICKETS: $10 in advance from students and King Soopers at 9th & Corona
$15 on tour day at the tour homes
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Quality Hill is a tiny historic district – only 3 1/2 city blocks - between 9th and 10th Avenues and Logan and Washington Streets. Five homes plus the school will be on tour.
The Taylor Mansion at 945 Pennsylvania Street received its Denver Landmark status in 1974. It is a house of arches and eights. Eight arches grace the wraparound front porch. Eight arches surround the octagonal foyer. The recurring theme of eight is also present in the second floor leaded glass windows.
The current owners, John Ehlers, Dayn Conrad and their son Conrad Ehlers, performed a complete renovation in 2001. Although the mansion had lost its original lighting fixtures and appointments, the prior tenants, Colorado Outward Bound, had left the architectural bones intact and its students had cleaned the woodwork as a service project. Today as in the past, the dining room, the customary centerpiece of an early Denver homes, delights with its original imported Delft tiles around the fireplace, built in sideboard, and architectural moldings on the ceiling. Ehlers and Conrad have spent a substantial amount in restoration, preservation and upgrades, for example: combining three rooms to create a custom Kitchen Distributors Kitchen; adding a top-to-bottom/inside-to-outside sound system; adding silver leaf to the original office molding; transforming the grounds and courtyard with a Lifescapes’ landscape makeover; and returning the third floor to its “Grand Ballroom” state.
The mansion’s first occupants, Frank and Lida Taylor, moved in upon its completion in 1900. Frank Taylor was a prominent mining engineer who made his fortune in the Colorado Rockies and then moved to Denver where he became a civic activist. He was a charter member of the Denver Museum of Natural History, the Chairman of the Board of St. Luke’s Hospital and a member of the Denver School Board, succeeding Lucius Hallett as President in 1926. Shortly thereafter, Taylor married Genevieve Hallett, when her divorce from Lucius was finalized. Both Hallett and Taylor were instrumental in securing the funding to build East High School, a project for which they were nearly unseated as some citizens felt that Capitol Hill got all the beautiful school buildings at the expense of the rest of the city.
Our tour also features the Governor’s Mansion (the Boettcher Mansion at 400 E. 8th Avenue) which is in the midst of its 10 year $10 million preservation campaign. On our tour you will be led through the mansion and carriage house by well-informed docents from the Colorado Historic Society.
We are also proud to present: 955 Pearl Street, featured on the Quality Hill Historic District 15th Anniversary Celebration Preservation tour; 1022 Pearl Street, a modern condo conversion of an historic home; and 776 Corona, a pristine Denver square very near our school.
Dora Moore School is always part of our tour, having won the 2004 Governor’s Award for Historic Preservation. The profits from this house tour will fund enrichment programs for the students and teachers and other “extras”.
For further information,please contact Cindy Wolf (720-256-8322 or cwolf@gates.com)