History of the Mansion
The Mathews-Gotthelf Mansion is a two-story Second Empire style building and contributes to both the Curtis Park National Register Historic District and the Denver Landmark District, which is made up of over 500 homes. The Curtis Park neighborhood has a rich history, beginning with the introduction of the railroad into Denver. Curtis Park’s wide and tree-lined streets were an easy fit for the city’s first horse-drawn streetcar, making the neighborhood Denver’s initial streetcar suburb. The large homes of Curtis Park were all built between the 1880s and1890s. During this time, the prosperous merchants of the new city quickly developed the area, establishing a period of significance for the neighborhood and the Mathews-Gotthelf Mansion.
In 1880, James F. Mathews, a prosperous ore and bullion dealer, built the Mansion on the prominent corner lot at 26th and Champa Streets. The original house consisted of 5,000 square feet and occupied three lots. Mathews and his wife were socially prominent members of early Denver society. In 1890, Isaac Gotthelf purchased the house for $25,000. Gotthelf made his fortune from a mercantile in the San Luis Valley, cattle ranching, and banking interests. He was elected to the Colorado House of Representatives for the first General Assembly in 1876 and also served in the second General Assembly. Isaac Gotthelf died in 1910, and in 1915 his widow and four children sold the Mansion and moved back to the San Luis Valley. As early as the Silver Crash of 1893, the Curtis Park neighborhood began to deteriorate. Similarly, after 1915, the Mansion began to deteriorate as it cycled through various owners and was eventually divided into ten apartment units. Today the area is experiencing a renaissance, and dedicated residents are slowly restoring the neighborhood to its early grandeur. To aid the community’s revitalization efforts, and to prevent the loss of this significant historic resource, Colorado Preservation, Inc. purchased the house in 2007 with the intent to restore the Mansion to its period of significance (1880-1890s). Without this intervention, the building would have continued to fall into disrepair.
Project Description
Work completed to date has included removal of all exterior paint, restoration of exterior masonry, and reconstruction of the wood cornice and mansard slate roof. Community feedback so far has been positive and the project was recently awarded the “Best Rehab Project” by Denver’s Westword magazine in March 2009. We also held a volunteer work day in August 2010 to “deconstruct” some of the interior alterations, and then had the Mansion open for a very successful Doors Open Denver event that hosted nearly 400 visitors. Future work set to begin this early winter and spring includes the reconstruction of the original front porch and south side door overhang, reconstruction of the iron finials, rehabilitation of all windows and doors, removal of the north annex (built in 1920) and landscape improvements. We plan to hold additional volunteer/work opportunities at the Mansion this year that will likely coincide with fundraising and public awareness about the project.
Colorado Preservation Inc. purchased the Mathews-Gotthelf Mansion in 2007 with the intent to restore its exterior and resell it, and is available to assist a future owner with rehabilitating the Mansion’s interior for use as a single-family residence and/or office. Colorado Preservation, Inc. has also applied for Federal and State Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credits (see http://www.nps.gov/hps/tps/tax/incentives/index.htm) for the project, which depending on the final use of the property can yield up to 20% of the project’s total cost in tax credits. Because CPI formed a limited liability company (LLC) in conjunction with a private developer, there is an opportunity for another private entity to join the partnership to reap the benefits of these tax credits. It is our hope that this Mathews-Gotthelf Mansion multi-phase project will ultimately serve as a state model to illustrate how historic preservation, historic rehabilitation tax credit syndication, and a public/private partnership can make economic sense and revitalize historic neighborhoods such as Curtis Park.
Project Support
This project is supported by the State Historical Fund, the Curtis Park Neighbors, Historic Denver, Inc., the City and County of Denver, the Colorado Historical Foundation, and Colorado Preservation, Inc.
