Pioneer Park (Aspen, Colorado)
Encyclopedia
Pioneer Park, also known as the Henry Webber House, is located on West Bleeker Street in Aspen
, Colorado, United States. It is a brick structure erected in the 1880s. In 1987 it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
.
Henry Webber, its builder, was a shoe merchant who grew wealthy from his mining investments during Aspen's original growth during the Colorado Silver Boom
. The house is said to be haunted
by the ghost of his wife Harriet, who died under controversial circumstances. It is the only intact house in the Second Empire architectural style
in the city, and remains a private residence. At one time it was owned by Walter Paepcke
, the Chicago businessman who led Aspen's mid-20th-century renaissance as a ski resort town.
) is a block to the south, and the commercial areas of downtown several blocks east. The terrain is flat, with Aspen Mountain
rising abruptly and steeply two blocks to the south.
The lot occupies the entire southern half of the block below the alley midway between it and West Hallam Street to the north. Its eastern section is a landscaped
area with mature trees and curving walkways. The house itself sits in the western portion of the property, near the middle of the frontage
.
It is a one-and-a-half-story brick structure, three bays
by two, topped by a shingle
d mansard roof
. Behind the main block is a smaller rear addition. A long rectangular section projects to the west from the rear addition, putting the house on the north and east of its swimming pool
. Along the front are an original iron fence and a line of tall mature mixed evergreen and deciduous
trees.
The south (front) facade
has two projecting bays
with double-hung one-over-one sash window
s flanking the main entrance, double wooden doors reached by low, wide semicircular brick steps. "Pioneer Park" is written on the glass transom
. Above it is a brick course
connecting all the brick arches above the windows and the transom; it is complemented by another course at the base.
Above the bracketed
cornice
the roof flares slightly. Three pediment
ed dormer windows with double-hung one-over-one sash pierce the steep face of the mansard roof on the upper story; the central one is additionally set in a projecting trapezoid
. Above the windows the nearly flat roof peaks in the center. On the east and west sides fenestration consists of three narrow windows on the sides with a wider window in the center, all with the same treatment as the front windows. There are only two dormers on those faces.
in 1880. At that time it was beginning to transform from a small collection of log cabins into a more permanent settlement due to the many lodes of silver being mined from the surrounding mountains. The couple started a business selling and repairing shoes and clothing. The Webbers also began investing in local mines.
Both businesses succeeded, making them wealthy, but Harriet Webber was unable to enjoy it. In 1881 she died of an overdose of strychnine
, then available over the counter
as a tranquilizer
. Her last words, "Henry will know", led to rumors that her death was either a suicide or murder brought on by a rumored extramarital affair
between him and her niece. In the end it was ruled accidental.
Webber became city treasurer in 1883. Harriet's ghost is said to haunt
the house he built two years later. Aspen's newly successful were building homes in a variety of Victorian
styles
in the city's West End. Webber, who also built downtown Aspen's Elks Building, used the Second Empire mode for his house, not a common choice at the time. It is the only one that remains intact in Aspen today, along with its original iron fence along the street.
Later Webber served a term as mayor of Aspen, elected despite revelations that he had abandoned a wife and family prior to marrying Harriet
. Shortly after that time, the Sherman Silver Purchase Act
was repealed and the city's economy began to contract. The decades afterward, as its population declined from over 10,000 to 500 by 1930, are called "the quiet years". Many buildings and houses from the boom years were abandoned and succumbed to fire and/or the effects of severe winters at high elevation in the Rocky Mountains
. The Pioneer Park house survived because it became the home of the Prechtls, local blacksmith
s.
In 1944 it was purchased by Walter Paepcke
, a Chicago businessman who, along with his wife Elizabeth, had seen the potential Aspen offered for the development of a ski resort
and financed the initial development of the Aspen Mountain
ski area. The Paepckes also began efforts to make Aspen a cultural center. They are regarded as the founders of modern Aspen as a result.
Paepcke painted the house pink while he owned it; since then it has been painted light tan. At some point after 1980 the additional wings on the building and the swimming pool were added. The trees along the street and the property line have also been allowed to mature, isolating and shading the house. There have been no other significant changes to the property.
Aspen, Colorado
The City of Aspen is a Home Rule Municipality that is the county seat and the most populous city of Pitkin County, Colorado, United States. The United States Census Bureau estimates that the city population was 5,804 in 2005...
, Colorado, United States. It is a brick structure erected in the 1880s. In 1987 it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
.
Henry Webber, its builder, was a shoe merchant who grew wealthy from his mining investments during Aspen's original growth during the Colorado Silver Boom
Colorado Silver Boom
The Colorado Silver Boom was a dramatic expansionist period of silver mining activity in the U.S. state of Colorado in the late 19th century. The boom started in 1879 with the discovery of silver at Leadville...
. The house is said to be haunted
Haunted house
A haunted house is a house or other building often perceived as being inhabited by disembodied spirits of the deceased who may have been former residents or were familiar with the property...
by the ghost of his wife Harriet, who died under controversial circumstances. It is the only intact house in the Second Empire architectural style
Architectural style
Architectural styles classify architecture in terms of the use of form, techniques, materials, time period, region and other stylistic influences. It overlaps with, and emerges from the study of the evolution and history of architecture...
in the city, and remains a private residence. At one time it was owned by Walter Paepcke
Walter Paepcke
Walter Paepcke was a U.S. industrialist and philanthropist prominent in the middle-20th century.-Biography:A longtime executive of the Chicago-based Container Corporation of America, Paepcke is best noted for his founding of the Aspen Institute and the Aspen Skiing Company in the early 1950s, both...
, the Chicago businessman who led Aspen's mid-20th-century renaissance as a ski resort town.
Building and grounds
The house is located on the north side of West Bleeker between North Third and North Fourth streets in Aspen's residential West End. Main Street (State Highway 82Colorado State Highway 82
State Highway 82 is an 85.29 mile long state highway in the U.S. state of Colorado.-Route description:SH 82 provides the principal transportation artery of the Roaring Fork Valley on the Colorado Western Slope, running from Interstate 70 at Glenwood Springs southeast past Carbondale, Basalt...
) is a block to the south, and the commercial areas of downtown several blocks east. The terrain is flat, with Aspen Mountain
Aspen Mountain (Colorado)
Aspen Mountain is a mountain in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado in the United States. One of the foothills of the Elk Mountains, it is located just south of the town of Aspen, which is situated at the foot of the mountain at the southeast end of the valley of the Roaring Fork River in Pitkin County...
rising abruptly and steeply two blocks to the south.
The lot occupies the entire southern half of the block below the alley midway between it and West Hallam Street to the north. Its eastern section is a landscaped
Landscaping
Landscaping refers to any activity that modifies the visible features of an area of land, including:# living elements, such as flora or fauna; or what is commonly referred to as gardening, the art and craft of growing plants with a goal of creating a beautiful environment within the landscape.#...
area with mature trees and curving walkways. The house itself sits in the western portion of the property, near the middle of the frontage
Frontage
Frontage is the full length of a plot of land or a building measured alongside the road on to which the plot or building fronts. This is considered especially important for certain types of commercial and retail real estate, in applying zoning bylaws and property tax...
.
It is a one-and-a-half-story brick structure, three bays
Bay (architecture)
A bay is a unit of form in architecture. This unit is defined as the zone between the outer edges of an engaged column, pilaster, or post; or within a window frame, doorframe, or vertical 'bas relief' wall form.-Defining elements:...
by two, topped by a shingle
Shingle
Shingle can refer to:*A flat covering element for a roof, including**Shake , a wooden shingle that is made from split logs**Roof shingle, a roof covering consisting of individual overlapping elements...
d mansard roof
Mansard roof
A mansard or mansard roof is a four-sided gambrel-style hip roof characterized by two slopes on each of its sides with the lower slope at a steeper angle than the upper that is punctured by dormer windows. The roof creates an additional floor of habitable space, such as a garret...
. Behind the main block is a smaller rear addition. A long rectangular section projects to the west from the rear addition, putting the house on the north and east of its swimming pool
Swimming pool
A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, or simply a pool, is a container filled with water intended for swimming or water-based recreation. There are many standard sizes; the largest is the Olympic-size swimming pool...
. Along the front are an original iron fence and a line of tall mature mixed evergreen and deciduous
Deciduous
Deciduous means "falling off at maturity" or "tending to fall off", and is typically used in reference to trees or shrubs that lose their leaves seasonally, and to the shedding of other plant structures such as petals after flowering or fruit when ripe...
trees.
The south (front) facade
Facade
A facade or façade is generally one exterior side of a building, usually, but not always, the front. The word comes from the French language, literally meaning "frontage" or "face"....
has two projecting bays
Bay window
A bay window is a window space projecting outward from the main walls of a building and forming a bay in a room, either square or polygonal in plan. The angles most commonly used on the inside corners of the bay are 90, 135 and 150 degrees. Bay windows are often associated with Victorian architecture...
with double-hung one-over-one sash window
Sash window
A sash window or hung sash window is made of one or more movable panels or "sashes" that form a frame to hold panes of glass, which are often separated from other panes by narrow muntins...
s flanking the main entrance, double wooden doors reached by low, wide semicircular brick steps. "Pioneer Park" is written on the glass transom
Transom (architectural)
In architecture, a transom is the term given to a transverse beam or bar in a frame, or to the crosspiece separating a door or the like from a window or fanlight above it. Transom is also the customary U.S. word used for a transom light, the window over this crosspiece...
. Above it is a brick course
Course (architecture)
A course is a continuous horizontal layer of similarly-sized building material one unit high, usually in a wall. The term is almost always used in conjunction with unit masonry such as brick, cut stone, or concrete masonry units .-Styles:...
connecting all the brick arches above the windows and the transom; it is complemented by another course at the base.
Above the bracketed
Bracket (architecture)
A bracket is an architectural member made of wood, stone, or metal that overhangs a wall to support or carry weight. It may also support a statue, the spring of an arch, a beam, or a shelf. Brackets are often in the form of scrolls, and can be carved, cast, or molded. They can be entirely...
cornice
Cornice
Cornice molding is generally any horizontal decorative molding that crowns any building or furniture element: the cornice over a door or window, for instance, or the cornice around the edge of a pedestal. A simple cornice may be formed just with a crown molding.The function of the projecting...
the roof flares slightly. Three pediment
Pediment
A pediment is a classical architectural element consisting of the triangular section found above the horizontal structure , typically supported by columns. The gable end of the pediment is surrounded by the cornice moulding...
ed dormer windows with double-hung one-over-one sash pierce the steep face of the mansard roof on the upper story; the central one is additionally set in a projecting trapezoid
Trapezoid
In Euclidean geometry, a convex quadrilateral with one pair of parallel sides is referred to as a trapezoid in American English and as a trapezium in English outside North America. A trapezoid with vertices ABCD is denoted...
. Above the windows the nearly flat roof peaks in the center. On the east and west sides fenestration consists of three narrow windows on the sides with a wider window in the center, all with the same treatment as the front windows. There are only two dormers on those faces.
History
Henry Webber arrived in Aspen with his wife Harriet from the EastEastern United States
The Eastern United States, the American East, or simply the East is traditionally defined as the states east of the Mississippi River. The first two tiers of states west of the Mississippi have traditionally been considered part of the West, but can be included in the East today; usually in...
in 1880. At that time it was beginning to transform from a small collection of log cabins into a more permanent settlement due to the many lodes of silver being mined from the surrounding mountains. The couple started a business selling and repairing shoes and clothing. The Webbers also began investing in local mines.
Both businesses succeeded, making them wealthy, but Harriet Webber was unable to enjoy it. In 1881 she died of an overdose of strychnine
Strychnine
Strychnine is a highly toxic , colorless crystalline alkaloid used as a pesticide, particularly for killing small vertebrates such as birds and rodents. Strychnine causes muscular convulsions and eventually death through asphyxia or sheer exhaustion...
, then available over the counter
Over-the-counter drug
Over-the-counter drugs are medicines that may be sold directly to a consumer without a prescription from a healthcare professional, as compared to prescription drugs, which may be sold only to consumers possessing a valid prescription...
as a tranquilizer
Tranquilizer
A tranquilizer, or tranquilliser , is a drug that induces tranquility in an individual.The term "tranquilizer" is imprecise, and is usually qualified, or replaced with more precise terms:...
. Her last words, "Henry will know", led to rumors that her death was either a suicide or murder brought on by a rumored extramarital affair
Infidelity
In many intimate relationships in many cultures there is usually an express or implied expectation of exclusivity, especially in sexual matters. Infidelity most commonly refers to a breach of the expectation of sexual exclusivity.Infidelity can occur in relation to physical intimacy and/or...
between him and her niece. In the end it was ruled accidental.
Webber became city treasurer in 1883. Harriet's ghost is said to haunt
Haunted house
A haunted house is a house or other building often perceived as being inhabited by disembodied spirits of the deceased who may have been former residents or were familiar with the property...
the house he built two years later. Aspen's newly successful were building homes in a variety of Victorian
Victorian architecture
The term Victorian architecture refers collectively to several architectural styles employed predominantly during the middle and late 19th century. The period that it indicates may slightly overlap the actual reign, 20 June 1837 – 22 January 1901, of Queen Victoria. This represents the British and...
styles
Architectural style
Architectural styles classify architecture in terms of the use of form, techniques, materials, time period, region and other stylistic influences. It overlaps with, and emerges from the study of the evolution and history of architecture...
in the city's West End. Webber, who also built downtown Aspen's Elks Building, used the Second Empire mode for his house, not a common choice at the time. It is the only one that remains intact in Aspen today, along with its original iron fence along the street.
Later Webber served a term as mayor of Aspen, elected despite revelations that he had abandoned a wife and family prior to marrying Harriet
Bigamy
In cultures that practice marital monogamy, bigamy is the act of entering into a marriage with one person while still legally married to another. Bigamy is a crime in most western countries, and when it occurs in this context often neither the first nor second spouse is aware of the other...
. Shortly after that time, the Sherman Silver Purchase Act
Sherman Silver Purchase Act
The Sherman Silver Purchase Act was enacted on July 14, 1890 as a United States federal law. It was named after its author, Senator John Sherman, an Ohio Republican, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee...
was repealed and the city's economy began to contract. The decades afterward, as its population declined from over 10,000 to 500 by 1930, are called "the quiet years". Many buildings and houses from the boom years were abandoned and succumbed to fire and/or the effects of severe winters at high elevation in the Rocky Mountains
Rocky Mountains
The Rocky Mountains are a major mountain range in western North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch more than from the northernmost part of British Columbia, in western Canada, to New Mexico, in the southwestern United States...
. The Pioneer Park house survived because it became the home of the Prechtls, local blacksmith
Blacksmith
A blacksmith is a person who creates objects from wrought iron or steel by forging the metal; that is, by using tools to hammer, bend, and cut...
s.
In 1944 it was purchased by Walter Paepcke
Walter Paepcke
Walter Paepcke was a U.S. industrialist and philanthropist prominent in the middle-20th century.-Biography:A longtime executive of the Chicago-based Container Corporation of America, Paepcke is best noted for his founding of the Aspen Institute and the Aspen Skiing Company in the early 1950s, both...
, a Chicago businessman who, along with his wife Elizabeth, had seen the potential Aspen offered for the development of a ski resort
Ski resort
A ski resort is a resort developed for skiing and other winter sports. In Europe a ski resort is a town or village in a ski area - a mountainous area, where there are ski trails and supporting services such as hotels and other accommodation, restaurants, equipment rental and a ski lift system...
and financed the initial development of the Aspen Mountain
Aspen Mountain (ski area)
Aspen Mountain is a ski area located in Pitkin County, Colorado, just outside and above the city of Aspen. It is situated on the north flank of Aspen Mountain and the higher Bell Mountain at an elevation of 11,212 ft just to the south of Aspen Mountain...
ski area. The Paepckes also began efforts to make Aspen a cultural center. They are regarded as the founders of modern Aspen as a result.
Paepcke painted the house pink while he owned it; since then it has been painted light tan. At some point after 1980 the additional wings on the building and the swimming pool were added. The trees along the street and the property line have also been allowed to mature, isolating and shading the house. There have been no other significant changes to the property.
See also
- List of reportedly haunted locations in the United States
- National Register of Historic Places listings in Pitkin County, ColoradoNational Register of Historic Places listings in Pitkin County, ColoradoThis is a list of the National Register of Historic Places listings in Pitkin County, Colorado.This is intended to be a complete list of the properties and districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Pitkin County, Colorado, United States...
Paranormal television featuring an episode at Pioneer Park
- Sons of the Paranormal