Living in a castle isn’t always a fairytale. When we first saw the Richthofen castle, we fell in love with the architecture, the stone foundation, and the mysterious aura of the place. We had recently renovated another historical home in Capitol Hill and felt fully equipped to take on this iconic residence, to care for it, and to restore it to its former glory.
And yet, the project has been a lot of work. There were lots of underlying issues that were destabilizing the house. The roof leaked and the boiler didn’t work, the gardens needed to be refurbished, the water pumps were beyond outdated. The house became a labor of love, but a lot of labor nonetheless. So why are we still happily taking this project on, year after year?
For us, it’s the history of the castle that brings so much joy to our lives. Every detail in the home, from the hundred-year-old iceboxes in the kitchen to the tiny locks on the butler’s pantry closets gives us a sense of living in (and being surrounded by) important Denver history.
We look at the parquet floors and think about the Hendrie and Grant families who built the living room during their famous renovations. We visit our Red Baron bar and remember the Priddy’s. We uncover a few bathroom ceilings and find the very stairs the Baron von Richthofen used whenever he wanted to survey his land.
Living with all of those stories, while creating our own alongside them gives our lives more interest, more meaning, and a lot more fun. And when we chat with our neighbors (we adore Montclair!) and they share their own memories of the castle with us, that makes all of our work even more worthwhile.
Who needs fairytales when you have real-life magic like that?
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