The Colorado Governor's Mansion, also known as the Cheesman-Boettcher Mansion, is a

historic History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

U.S. mansion in

Denver, Colorado Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

. It is located at 400 East 8th Avenue. On December 3, 1969, it was added to the U.S.

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

. It is open free-of-charge for scheduled tours, and also hosts special public events.

History

This building is located in Denver on the southeast corner of 8th Avenue and Logan Street. The exact address is 400 E. 8th Avenue. The Governor's Mansion is also known as the Cheesman-Evans-Boettcher Mansion for its former owners. The building was built in 1908 after a design by Denver architects Willis A. Marean and Albert J. Norton. The house was originally built as a residence for the widow and the daughter of Denver real estate tycoon Walter Scott Cheesman. The mansion was designed to accommodate two families. On November 8, 1908, Cheesman's daughter, Gladys, married John Evans II, the grandson of John Evans, the second territorial governor of

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...

. The widowed mother and young couple lived together until the birth of the Evans' first child, after which they relocated. On January 2, 1923, Alice Foster Sanger Cheesman died. Claude K. Boettcher purchased the mansion on February 23, 1923. Boettcher was the head of a financial empire that eventually included sugar, livestock, cement,

potash Potash () includes various mined and manufactured salts that contain potassium in water-soluble form.

, steel,

securities A security is a tradable financial asset. The term commonly refers to any form of financial instrument, but its legal definition varies by jurisdiction. In some countries and languages people commonly use the term "security" to refer to any for ...

utilities A public utility company (usually just utility) is an organization that maintains the infrastructure for a public service (often also providing a service using that infrastructure). Public utilities are subject to forms of public control and ...

, and

transportation Transport (in British English), or transportation (in American English), is the intentional movement of humans, animals, and goods from one location to another. Modes of transport include air, land (rail and road), water, cable, pipeline, ...

. Boettcher was famous for his lavish parties which included President

Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...

in 1952. Boettcher died on June 9, 1957, and his wife in 1958. The house was inherited by the Boettcher Foundation. The foundation offered the house to the State of

as an Executive Residence. The building needed a great deal of work, and its fate remained uncertain for nine months in 1959 as three agencies of the State rejected the offer. On the last day of 1959, Governor Stephen McNichols accepted the building as a gift to the state. From then until January, 2011, it has been the residence of Governors Stephen L. R. McNichols, John Love, John D.Vanderhoof, Richard D. Lamm, Roy R. Romer, William Owens, and William Ritter. The building was restored in the 1980s under the direction of Edward D. White Jr. Upon taking office in January 2011, Governor

John Hickenlooper John Wright Hickenlooper Jr. (; born February 7, 1952) is an American politician serving as the junior United States senator from Colorado since 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 42nd governor of Colorado from 2011 to 20 ...

and his family decided to maintain their private residence in Denver instead of moving to the Governor's Mansion, though Hickenlooper did move into the mansion on a part-time basis after he separated from his wife in 2012. Hickenlooper's successor,

Jared Polis Jared Schutz Polis (; born May 12, 1975) is an American politician, entrepreneur, businessman, and philanthropist, serving as the 43rd governor of Colorado since January 2019. He served one term on the Colorado State Board of Education from 20 ...

, also chose to only live in the mansion on a part-time basis, staying there during legislative sessions while retaining his home in Boulder as his primary residence.

Architecture

The Cheesman-Evans-Boettcher Mansion is a formal, late

Georgian Revival Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1714 and 1830. It is named after the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover— George I, George II, Ge ...

house. The building is surrounded by a wrought iron fence with cannonball finials on the brick posts. The walls of the mansion are red brick. There is a white wooden frosting under a hipped roof with prominent gabled dormers. The cornice is pedimented and dentiled. The west side portico has massive, two-story fluted

Ionic columns The Ionic order is one of the three canonic orders of classical architecture, the other two being the Doric and the Corinthian. There are two lesser orders: the Tuscan (a plainer Doric), and the rich variant of Corinthian called the composite ...

. There is a dramatic entry way with grouped columns that support a porch which becomes a balustraded second-story balcony. The semicircular sunroom was added by suggestion of Mrs. Cheesman in 1915, and it overlooks a small park now known as "Governor's Park".Thomas J. Noel ''Buildings of Colorado'' New York, Oxford University Press, 669 p. pp. 75-76 It was built in 1908. with

References

External links

Governor's Residence at the Boettcher Mansion
{{Authority control Colorado State Register of Historic Properties Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Colorado Colonial Revival architecture in Colorado Houses completed in 1908 National Register of Historic Places in Denver Governors' mansions in the United States Houses in Denver Museums in Denver Historic house museums in Colorado Government buildings in Colorado 1908 establishments in Colorado Governor of Colorado