Landscape Information
Situated atop Logan Hill, this stately late-Georgian Revival mansion and its one-acre grounds were initially the family home of Colorado railroad developer Walter Cheesman. Designed in 1908 by architects Willis Marean and Albert Norton a year after Cheesman’s death, the 27-room red brick mansion eventually included a solarium, a rose garden with a central fountain, and a lily pool flanked by a pergola. In 1923 the property was sold to businessman Claude Boettcher who, along with his wife, resided there until death, he passing in 1957 and she a year later. Bequeathed to the Boettcher Foundation, the property was gifted to the State in 1959 and renovated for use as the Governor’s Mansion. The structure was restored in the 1980s by architect Edward White, Jr.
Jane Silverstein Ries and Barbara Young were commissioned to design the mansion’s gardens. Surrounded by a low, brick wall topped by a wrought iron fence draped with vines, the property is accessed through a formal front gate. Brick paths lined with evergreens, roses, and columbine access an ornate gazebo to the east of the mansion and the terraced, walled garden to the south. An Italianate balustrade encloses the upper terrace, framed in red sandstone and consisting of an elaborate fountain and rose garden. Stone benches encircle an alcove below, with a lion's head lavabo fed by the overflow from the fountain above. In 2005 landscape architects at Civitas and Lime Green Design developed the lower terrace: A semi-circular lawn is enclosed by a cascade fountain of locally-sourced rose granite while groupings of pinyon, juniper, and native grasses soften the hardscape. The Colorado Governor’s Mansion was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1969.
