The Colorado Governor's Residence at the Boettcher Mansion

First of all, before showing you the Colorado Governor's Residence at the Boettcher Mansion, decorated for Christmas, I'd like to thank you so much for all your wonderful "get well" wishes to me! Having the flu over Christmas was not fun, although we were finally able to have our family over the Sunday afterward for a delayed dinner celebration. I am almost completely recovered, I just have a slight residual cough and some fatigue. The flu has reached epidemic proportions in some areas, so I hope all reading this will stay well and remain so for the new year!  (All photos and photo collages in this post will enlarge for easier viewing if clicked on)

My husband and I visited the Colorado Governor's Mansion in mid-December, during the mansion's holiday open house tour hours. We visited once before a few years ago--click here to read that post-- and enjoyed the tour, so we decided to go again. The mansion was built as a private residence in 1908 by a prominent Denver family and has been available for use by the Governor since 1960, both as a home and for official Governor's functions.  More about the mansion's history can be read on this link.

As soon as we entered the main foyer/hallway the house's Christmas decorations were visible. Members of the American Society of Interior Designers were selected to deck the halls. 

Each room on the main floor of the mansion had a different holiday theme, and dress mannequins were placed either outside the room or inside it, depicting different aspects of the Colorado lifestyle. In the Intimate Governor's Room, the "Mountain Lifestyle was depicted.   You can see artist sketches of all the manikins in the Colorado Homes and Lifestyles Magazine spread shown above.

The other manikins were dressed as follows: (left) Grand Drawing Room: Urban Lifestyle, (middle top) Stately Library: Ranching Lifestyle, (middle, middle) Elegant State Dining Room: Artistic Lifestyle, (middle bottom) Palm Room's Main Area: Outdoor Lifestyle, (right) Palm Room, Well Room: Skiing Lifestyle.

The Governor's Intimate Room has a large bar area and a cozy fireplace sitting area.  The large Cutty Sark boat on the bar mantel was one of a collection of model ships by a prior owner, Claude Boettcher.

The Governor's Residence Preservation Fund restored this ship model, and this year's commemorative Christmas ornament,  the sixth in a series of different ornaments, was a brass reproduction of this ship.  This ornament, as well as the others in the commemorative series, can be purchased on this link, with proceeds going to the preservation fund.

Above and below: The Grand Drawing Room.

The Boettcher family had filled the mansion with treasures from around the world when they owned the house, and one of their finest additions was this Waterford crystal chandelier that hung in the White House ballroom in 1876 when President Grant presided over America's centennial celebration.  That happens to also be the year that Colorado was admitted to the Union.

The Elegant State Dining Room.

A docent showed us the different china patterns selected for the Governor's use through the years.

The Stately Library.  The carpet in this room depicts Colorado wildflowers

The beautiful light-filled Palm Room.  I liked how the Christmas tree in this room was decorated with vintage ski photos and ski and outdoor snow recreation ornaments.

As part of the tour, we walked to the back of the residence and visited the carriage house, which now contains meeting rooms plus displays about the history of the mansion.  Don't you love the blue poodle statues that Edna Boettcher collected?

The property around the mansion is not extensive but is filled with very mature trees and pines, including Colorado's state tree, the Colorado Blue Spruce. 

Although the Christmas tour season is over, the Colorado Governor's Residence is open for tours at other times during the year. Click here to see that schedule. It is located at 400  E 8th Avenue and Logan Street in Denver, Colorado.