John Rebchook is a former Rocky Mountain News reporter with more than 30 years of experience in writing and communications... 
This historic home is on the market for $2.5 million.
Jacques Benedict, who landed in Denver in 1909, is hailed as one of the area’s most prominent architects in Colorado for his body of work that includes about 30 landmark homes, churches, libraries and academic institutions. And the Renaissance French Country style home at East 7th Avenue and Marion Street, is considered one of his crown jewels.
This is how Denver historian Tom Noel described the 87-year-old home in the book, Denver Landmarks and Historic Districts: “This chateau-style townhouse is one of the finest of many splendid homes in the East Seventh Avenue Historic District. A tiled roof with rounded dormers caps the two story stuccoed masonry walls above a brick base. Brick trim accentuates tall, narrow window bays. A two story semicircular conservatory bay overlooks the walled backyard garden. This chateau (is) masterfully designed for its site. A semicircular observatory on the south overlooks a walled garden. Benedict’s designs reflected his training at the Ecole des Beau-Arts in Paris.”
The 4,795-square-foot home, with three bedrooms and five bathrooms, can be yours for $2.5 million. Of the almost 8,500 homes listed for sale in Denver, only about 30 of them are priced at more than $2.5 million, according to COHomefinder.com statistics.
Buyer likely to be architectural history buff
Both owners Jane Nettleton, and her husband, Bob, and the listing broker, Christina de Barrros of RE/MAX Masters, believe whoever buys the home will share their passion for Denver historical homes, and most likely, Benedict. Bob is the principal of Nicholas Custom Homes.
Architect, historian team
Jane Nettleton admires the skylight she added to the bathroom.
“Bob is an architect by training and I am a historian by training,” said Jane, on a recent tour of their home. “We were familiar with Jacques Benedict when we bought the home, but now we know a great deal more about him. He was quite the flamboyant character. He had a slew of friends, and many of them became clients. Let me put it this way: He was quite the man about town.”
She and her husband bought the home from John Huggins in 2007. Huggins had been the economic development director for Denver, before he made his fortune in Silicon Valley. This served as the main house for Huggins, who also owned the Sleeper or Sculptured House, on Genesee Mountain in Jefferson County, which he primarily he used for fund-raisers and occasional weekend-getaways. Huggins also has since sold the Sleeper home, which is now in foreclosure.
One of a kind
Jane said what makes this home especially significant is that she believes it is the only chateau-style home designed by Benedict in Denver.
The Nettletons are only the seventh owners of the home since it was built in 1923, according to research by Realtor de Barrio. “We’ve only had the home on the market for a week, but we’ve already had several showings,” she said. One prospective buyer used to live in the neighborhood and is eager to return, she said.
Half-million renovation
The Nettletons have just put the final touches touches on a $500,000-renovation.
“This is a labor of love,” said Jane, who acted as the interior designer on the project, while her husband is the general contractor. “There will be no profit at all, if any. Well, there may be some profit, but it’s certainly not like the olden days, when you might make a nice profit off of a renovation.”
Paramount to their renovation is to honor Benedict’s original design, but add some contemporary, and even energy efficient features. While the radiators had been ripped out years ago, they installed a new boiler system that is 95 percent efficient, for example. She said they spared no expensive to get it just right.
“What we really wanted to do is bring it back to its original glory,” Jane said.
They’ve taken out some walls and expanded the size of some rooms. For example, they took out an exercise area in the second floor and expanded it into a magical, sitting room, filled with light. “I call this our bonus room,” Jane said.
Owner Jane Nettleton sands in the bonus room.
And they replaced a plain skylight over the second-floor bathroom, with a custom stain-glass skylight, where light streams through the yellow, white and green designs. “This is where contemporary and historic intersect,” Jane said, standing under the skylight.
Natural light throughout
Indeed, this home’s interior is illuminated by natural light better than some other Benedict-designed homes that she has toured, de Barros said. “Some of them are kind of dark in the inside,” she said. The backyard, with a fountain installed by the owners, also is bigger than many would think, because the home is so long, seeming to stretch down 7th Avenue, like Carlos Gonzalez of the Colorado Rockies would for a fly ball in Coors Field.
Jane also added a staircase at the back of the home that leads to her husband’s office, and installed an iron grate over a room in the basement. “Every home should have a dungeon,” Jane joked. And the backyard, where they’ve installed a fountain, is bigger than one might expect, she said.
Dungeon entrance. Just kidding.
Jane Nettelton stands next to the fountain they installed in the backyard.
This basement bathroom was added. Another bedroom could also be added in the basement.
Nina O’Kelley, a broker with Kentwood City Properties, hasn’t been in the house, but has sold a number of homes in that area and nearby neighborhoods, such as Country Club and the Morgan Hill Historic District.
“I haven’t been in this particular house yet,” O’Kelley said. “I am a bit surprised that a house that size only has three bedrooms, though.”
Jane said that issue has been raised by others, too. If someone wanted another room, Bob’s office could easily be turned into a bedroom, or the attic could be converted into a room, she said. A bedroom could also be added in the basement, especially since they’ve added a bathroom to the basement.
Jane and her husband plan to stay in the neighborhood after the sale.
‘We love this house and we love the history of the house,” she said. “We hope to do several more renovations of homes in this neighborhood.”
Contact John Rebchook at JRCHOOK@gmail.com or 303-945-6865.
