A present from the past

Land handed down from grandparents gives firm foundation to fantasy of custom home

By Jay Dedrick, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published October 1, 2005 at midnight

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On a warm August morning in the foothills north of Boulder, land that once belonged to Hazel and Ralph Underwager is being baptized in the tears of their grandson.

Christopher Herr is on this land today doing what his grandparents could not: breaking ground on a house. Bought for $3,600 in the fall of 1963, the 3 acres were meant to be the site of the home that the retired Illinois couple would move to in 1969. Ralph died in 1968, and the dream died with him.

But their dream of a house on this picturesque parcel is being reimagined by Christopher and his wife, Tina Galgon-Herr. Joined in a circle by about 25 friends and family members, the couple stand in what will eventually be the kitchen, the heart of their home.

"God — in whatever form you'd choose to believe — we give thanks for this day," Christopher says, his head bowed, eyes shut tight. He pauses to choke back tears. "Thank God for making it possible. Amen."

Their hands clutching a shovel, Tina and Christopher each press a foot onto the blade and drive it into the ground. The smell of wild sage crushed underfoot wafts upward. Smiles chase away tears as Christopher and Tina begin serving champagne and mimosas to loved ones.

"Cheers — to great beginnings," Christopher says while lifting a champagne glass. "May it be as trouble-free as possible."

There will, of course, be problems.

After all, this is a custom house.

Being built on a steep hillside.

During a Colorado winter.

Christopher anticipates some trouble, but he's in a rare position to have significant influence over how the trouble is resolved. He's not just a future occupant — he's one of the home's designers.

Ready to spread out

Vigorously upholding Boulder's active image, Christopher and Tina spend plenty of time outdoors — mountain biking, hiking, running. And like a lot of couples just starting out, they don't have all that much room indoors.

The Boulder condo they own measures 600 square feet.

"If you've got 10 seconds," Christopher tells a visitor to the dwelling in the summer of 2004, "we'll give you the tour." With his dream house on the verge of growing into reality, it's a tour he hopes to discontinue in a few months.

Your first steps through the front door put you next to the dining room table, which sits at the intersection of the living room and kitchen. The doors to the lone bathroom and bedroom are a few feet away.

They moved in Dec. 21, 2001, Christopher will tell you. His knack for precision shows in his lightning-quick recall of important dates.

"He's the analytical one," Tina says.

"She," says Christopher, "is the intuitive one."

Ask when he and Tina met, and he doesn't hesitate: June 7, 1997. That was at the wedding of a mutual friend, just a couple of years after Christopher had informed Boulder County that he might want to put a house on his family's land sometime. Before visions of a house could materialize, there was the matter of falling in love.

Kindred spirits, miles apart

"It was extreme lust followed by long-distance romance," Christopher says of their early time together. Big emphasis on long-distance: Christopher was living in Florida; Tina, in Alaska.

"I was really fascinated by Tina. She was edgy in a good way, unlike any woman I had met before. She had a little mystery and intrigue."

One of their first dates was spent shopping for outdoor gear at REI. "She was very do-it-herself minded," Christopher says. "She would tell me about these big hikes and mountain bike rides she would take by herself. She wasn't a soft woman.

"To this day, she beats me to the top whenever we go for a hike. I'm faster than her on a mountain bike, but she's faster than me on a hike."

Tina remembers that both of them were coming out of lengthy relationships.

"Before I met him, I was just up for flirting that weekend of the wedding," she says. "It was pretty much love at first sight for me. As corny as it sounds, it was his smile that got to me. We got talking about hiking and biking. I just liked his beingness."

Several months after they'd met, with Christopher living in his hometown of Fort Collins, Tina hunted for a nursing job in Colorado to be close to him. She landed in Colorado Springs, and eventually followed Christopher to Boulder, where he took a job with the architecture firm Garth Braun Associates.

Christopher and Tina moved in together in September 1998, taking a rental house in Left Hand Canyon. They married June 30, 2001.

"We've always liked to cook together," Christopher says. "That first house we were in had a big kitchen, and I've always thought our new house would have that."

Having what it takes

Incredible patience and an appetite for hard work are prerequisites for building a custom home. Christopher and Tina's life experience suggests they have what it takes.

Tina, 36, was born and raised in Ephrata, Pa. She earned her nursing degree at Pittsburgh's Duquesne University and has worked in the field for 13 years. As a traveling nurse, she spent time in Alaska, Virginia and Arizona.

A nurse in the intensive care unit at Boulder Community Hospital for six years, she cares for patients coping with trauma, heart disease and others whose condition can change rapidly and dramatically.

"Each day I go to work I never know what my day will look like," she says. "I walk into the unknown.

"The most challenging part about being an ICU nurse is having to tell families that we are doing everything possible to help their loved one, and they still remain critically ill and the prognosis is poor."

Still, she loves her work, taking satisfaction in doing the little things that bring comfort to patients and families coping with trauma, whether it's holding a hand or offering words of encouragement.

A Fort Collins native, Christopher, 35, attended Arizona State University and graduated from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. He studied French horn, and puts the training to use as a member of the Longmont Symphony.

With not only an ear for sound but an eye for aesthetics, he began studying acoustic architectural design in graduate school at the University of Florida. Having earned his master's degree in architecture, he expected to apply his specialty studies to the design of sound quality at concert halls, churches, recording studios and other venues.

Instead, he soon found himself drawn to the bigger picture of architecture, and met a kindred spirit in Brad Tomecek. An internship brought Christopher home to Colorado, and Boulder is where the two buddies have established their own architecture firm, Studio H:T.

Brad has an architect's license; Christopher, a draftsman, still is testing for his, and expects to earn it before his house is finished. The partners and friends act as equals on the design of the house.

Because it's the house Christopher will live in, though, it's only natural that this building will be a unique reflection of his vision.

"It's so personal," Brad says. "There's more pressure on Christopher knowing it's his.

"We want to get it right the first time."

Getting it right will come at a cost — both financial and emotional.

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