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Healy House and Dexter Cabin Museum

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1878; 1879. 912 Harrison Ave.
  • Healy House and Dexter Cabin Museum (Thomas J. Noel)

Smelter tycoon August R. Meyer built the older of these houses, the white clapboard Healy House ( LK01.1), enhanced by an Italianate bracketed and balustraded porch, shutters, pedimented lintels, and a bay window. After conversion to a boarding house in the 1890s, it received a third-story addition. Leadville schoolmarm Nellie A. Healy inherited the house in 1912 and provided rooms for her fellow teachers. Since 1947 the Colorado Historical Society has operated it as a house museum, remarkable for its top-of-the-town site and its interior. Exquisite Victorian furnishings demonstrate how quickly settlers in successful mining communities acquired comforts, luxuries, and bric-a-brac.

The Dexter Cabin ( LK01.2), moved to the grounds from 110 West 3rd Street in 1947, is a two-room, hewn log cabin with a corbeled brick chimney and lavish interior. James Viola Dexter, a wealthy mine owner and dilettante, installed floors of black walnut and white oak, a Lincrusta-Walton anaglypta wall covering, and an orgy of Victorian artifacts.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Thomas J. Noel
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Data

What's Nearby

Heritage Museum (Carnegie Library)
Taylor House
Englebach-Furman House
City Hall (Post Office)
National Mining Hall of Fame and Museum (Lake County High School)

Citation

Thomas J. Noel, "Healy House and Dexter Cabin Museum", [Leadville, Colorado], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/CO-01-LK01.

Print Source

Buildings of Colorado, Thomas J. Noel. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997, 361-361.

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