Parlor House
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Old Homestead Museum (Parlor House)
1896. 353 E. Myers Ave.
This restored brothel has a prominent bay window, complemented by a small, roofed porch, that lends demure elegance to an ordinary brick house. Adamesque swags, garlands, and tassels adorn the bay, front porch, and pressed metal cornice. The rooms are furnished with period antiques. The Homestead is now a museum with tours conducted by costumed guides.
Teller County's finest whorehouse had, according to the 1900 manuscript census, a resident cook, a housekeeper, two chambermaids, two butlers, and a musician. Five female “boarders” had rooms upstairs, with one room for viewing only. The downstairs features a fancy sitting room, two parlors, a dining room, and a kitchen. This is the last remnant of the notorious Myers Avenue red-light district, a five-block strip of some fifty gambling houses, saloons, sporting houses, and brothels. At 320 East Myers are the stone ruins of the Grand Opera House.
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