The Phipps Mansion is a private residence on the National Register of Historic Places.
Belcaro Park is a beautiful Denver neighborhood created in the 1940’s and 1950s and is distinguished by its park-like setting. Mature tree-cover with tall spruce and elms, along with many other magnificent specimens, create an expansive tree canopy. in this unique enclave comprised of 192 homes. Large lots, expansive front yards and generous setbacks are also unique characteristics of the Belcaro Park setting. Belcaro Park continues to be a very desirable place to live due in part to the foresight of the original developers who established covenant restrictions for the neighborhood that have allowed property values to increase and the beauty of the neighborhood to endure.
The neighborhood is bordered on the North by the South side of Exposition Avenue, to the West by the East side of Steele Street, to the South by the North side of Tennessee and to the East by the East side of South Harrison Lane from Exposition to Kentucky and the West of of Harrison Street from Kentucky to Tennessee.
The Phipps Mansion situated on five and one half acres, is a well-known landmark within the neighborhood and was the Belcaro Park Community Tennis Court Center for many years. It was recently sold to a private owner but is still a pinnacle landmark of Belcaro Park.
Lawrence Phipps arrived in Denver in 1902 after making a fortune in steel. He intended to make his mark on the city as a humanitarian and politician. Phipps was elected to the US Senate in 1918 and served two terms. After leaving the Senate in 1930, Lawrence and his wife, Denver native Margaret Rogers, were ready to build a home. They decided to place the home on the open fields east of Bonnie Brae which their son used to pasture horses for the nearby Polo Club. Noted architects Fisher and Fisher, along with Charles Platt, designed the Belcaro mansion, which loosely means “BEAUTIFUL DEAR ONE” in Italian. The artistic landscaping was designed by Annette Hoyt Flanders. The project was undertaken with the hope of providing jobs during the Great Recession. The 33,000 square feet Georgian Mansion was completed in 1933 for $310,000. Lawrence told his wife that she could design the house however she pleased so long as it included a large dining room, a billiard room and a marble bathroom. Materials, antiques and art were sourced locally and imported from around the world. The tennis pavilion was a pet project of Margaret’s, who was an enthusiast of the game. A skilled player in her own right she brought in many of the world’s top players to play on the indoor courts and socialize with the Denver Elite.
In 1938, Phipps’ two sons built homes at 885 South Garfield St. and 801 South Adams St. The sons became the popular owners of the Denver Broncos in 1965.
In the 1940s Phipps’ real estate company platted and sold the land around the mansion as Belcaro Park. In 1953 the eastern section of the neighborhood was developed as Belcaro Shopping Center. Until then Colorado Blvd. was considered the end of the city.
After the death of her husband in 1958 Margaret became concerned about the future of the Belcaro Mansion, which her sons didn’t want. In 1960 she donated the tennis pavilion to the University of Denver and in 1964 she gifted the mansion to DU. The University preserved the estate as a conference center, retreat and public venue. The house was named “MARGARET ROGERS PHIPPS HOUSE”. In 1979, DU sold off part of the land to create an endowment to support the estate, retaining 5 ½ acres. The school hosted an annual Christmas party for Belcaro residents which was the neighborhood’s highlight of the year.
In 1997 President Clinton selected Denver to host the Summit of Eight (G8). As part of the two day event the Phipps Mansion rolled out the red carpet for a grand banquet attended by the 8 heads of state. In attendance were Messieurs Chrétien (Canada), Chirac (France), Kohl (Germany), Prodi (Italy), Hashimoto (Japan), Yeltsin (Russia), Blair (UK), and Clinton (USA). Security for the event was high and Belcaro Park was virtually closed down. Neighbors lined the street leading to the mansion to wave to the parade of dignitaries as they passed by.
In 2010 DU determined that the estate no longer served its core mission and sold the estate to a private party and it was returned to a private residence. The proceeds were added to the Phipps Scholarship Endowment.
Today the Mansion is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The gated property is not open to the public.
Information in this article includes excerpts from a variety of sources including Wikipedia and Phil Goodstein’s Haunts of Washington Park.