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Hiwan Homestead Museum

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1884–1914, John (Jock) Spence. 4208 S. Timbervale (NR)
  • Hiwan Homestead Museum (Hiwan Homestead Museum)

One of Colorado's prized mountain vernacular dwellings, this peeled log house with tall chimneys and octagonal two-story towers is the best surviving work of Evergreen's master builder, the Scottish carpenter Jock Spence. As ownership changed, Spence added on various specialized rooms with built-in bookcases, hutches, and a staircase of quarter logs. The last of the seventeen rooms was an octagonal tower for the study and private chapel of Winfred Douglas, an Episcopal priest who did much to promote rustic and Native American arts and crafts. The most striking room, the chapel, has a vaulted and beamed ceiling, hand-hewn logs, and much detailed workmanship by Spence. The builder's trademark, a carved stairstep design, can be found more than two hundred times throughout the complex. Eyebrow dormers, diamond-paned windows, log decks with hand-carved owls, and seventeen fireplaces add to the ambiance. In 1975 Jefferson County rescued the house from demolition by the developer of the surrounding Hiwan subdivision and opened it as a museum.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Thomas J. Noel
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Data

What's Nearby

Evergreen Lake Skating and Boat House
Keys on the Green Restaurant and Evergreen Golf Club
Jefferson County Public Library
Evergreen Episcopal Conference District (Stewart Hotel)
Bells of Granite Glen Museum

Citation

Thomas J. Noel, "Hiwan Homestead Museum", [Golden, Colorado], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/CO-01-JF51.

Print Source

Buildings of Colorado, Thomas J. Noel. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997, 165-165.

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