National Register Listing

Foster-Buell Estate

a.k.a. Buell Mansion;Sanmar;Alcynka Farm;5AH222

2700 E. Hampden Ave., Cherry Hills Village, CO

The Foster-Buell Estate, built in 1919-1920, is a beautiful example of the Colonial Revival style with Neoclassical ornamentation, applied to a mansion and its related secondary buildings. The Colonial Revival style is present in the form of the symmetrical side-gabled English bond brick mansion with brick wings, the tall brick end-wall chimneys, the gabled dormers, the multi-light windows with shutters, and the slate shingle roof. The side-gabled carriage/caretaker's house was designed to match the basic style of the mansion. The Neoclassical ornamentation is evident in the form of columns and pilasters, entablatures and dentils, flat-roofed sunroom wings with balustrades, and the two-story massive porch with squared columns.

Designed by Fisher & Fisher, one of Colorado's most prominent early 20th-century architectural firms, the mansion is a masterpiece of architectural design. Together with the skilled design work of prominent Denver landscape architect Saco De Boer, the Fishers created a country estate that exemplifies the elegance of an upper-class country home in a high plains setting, yet is distinctly reminiscent of plantation houses from the upper South. For these reasons, the property meets National Register Criterion in the area of architecture for its distinctive characteristics of a type or style of construction. In addition, the property meets the Criterion for its association with the body of work of noteworthy Colorado architects, William E. Fisher and Arthur Addison Fisher, and the body of work of Denver's master landscape architect, Saco R. DeBoer.

The Foster-Buell Estate is also historically significant due to its long association with two prominent Denver figures, specifically prominent banker and businessman Alexis C. Foster, and prominent architect, developer and philanthropist, Temple Hoyne Buell. The Estate was originally designed and constructed as a primary residence for the Foster family and was then acquired and occupied by the Buell family for many years. For this reason, the property meets National Register Criterion B due to its association with the lives of persons significant in our past.

Local significance of the building:
Architecture; Landscape Architecture; Economics

Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1998.

The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the Nation’s historic places worthy of preservation. Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America’s historic and archeological resources.