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Couple restores Quality Hill mansion to century-old glory

By Debra Melani, Special to the Rocky

Published October 17, 2008 at 3 p.m.

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The beautifully restored home of John Ehlers and Dayn Conrad will be on the Dora Moore PTSA House Tour.

Photo by Shawn Steigner / Virtual Tours

The beautifully restored home of John Ehlers and Dayn Conrad will be on the Dora Moore PTSA House Tour.

Exterior arches around the 8,900-square-foot Taylor mansion set the tone for the elegant arches in the foyer.

Photo by Shawn Steigner / Virtual Tours

Exterior arches around the 8,900-square-foot Taylor mansion set the tone for the elegant arches in the foyer.

Warm hues create a cozy feel in the living room.

Photo by Ellen Jaskol / Rocky Mountain News

Warm hues create a cozy feel in the living room.

The kitchen of the mansion will be a popular spot for visitors on the Dora Moore tour. The cheerful room is a popular spot for the family, too.

Photo by Ellen Jaskol / The Rocky

The kitchen of the mansion will be a popular spot for visitors on the Dora Moore tour. The cheerful room is a popular spot for the family, too.

The front porch is a favorite place to relax for John Ehlers, left, Dayn Conrad, right, and their son, Conrad Ehlers.

Photo by Ellen Jaskol / Rocky Mountain News

The front porch is a favorite place to relax for John Ehlers, left, Dayn Conrad, right, and their son, Conrad Ehlers.

The dining room is framed by one of the eight arches leading from the foyer. The elegant room, large enough for a crowd, was left mostly reminiscent of its past in a 2001 remodel.

Photo by Ellen Jaskol / Rocky Mountain News

The dining room is framed by one of the eight arches leading from the foyer. The elegant room, large enough for a crowd, was left mostly reminiscent of its past in a 2001 remodel.

The sweeping stairwell in the Taylor mansion winds from the first floor to the third floor, which features a ballroom.

Photo by Ellen Jaskol / Rocky Mountain News

The sweeping stairwell in the Taylor mansion winds from the first floor to the third floor, which features a ballroom.

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If the ancient Asian belief that the number eight brings good luck is true, one Denver family must be rolling in good fortune.

From the street, visitors to the home on Quality Hill are greeted by eight stone arches surrounding a large wrap- around porch. Above that, eight arched windows line the second-floor walls.

Once inside, the visitors enter an octagon-shaped foyer encircled by eight sweeping archways, an unusual architectural design that hooked current owners John Ehlers and Dayn Conrad.

"Being in this entryway is like being in the basement of an old church," said Ehlers, referring to the stone cathedrals of England built in the 1400s. "Underneath, they have all these different passageways, and you don't know where they all lead."

The first person to explore the 8,900-square-foot mansion was Frank Taylor, an internationally acclaimed mining engineer and prominent Denver citizen at the turn of the last century. He moved his family in as soon as the house was complete in 1900.

A blend of Romanesque and modified-mission architecture, the Taylor mansion was designated a historic landmark in 1974. It's a highlight of Sunday's 29th annual Dora Moore PTSA House Tour.

While someone else might waffle on which arch to choose first, Ehlers doesn't hesitate. He ushers a guest through the one that leads to the heart of the family's home.

The kitchen is bright and spacious. Its modern elements blend easily with subtle reminders of its historic past, quiet touches left throughout the house during a 2001 major remodel.

Wide lines of mortar streak through a red-brick wall, which sports a cracked brick here and there. Curves are cut along the backs of the custom maple cabinets, allowing them to mold to the misshapen surface. An original radiator from the still-working steam-heat system sits in a corner, just feet away from a built-in espresso machine.

"This is where the family gathers most," Ehlers said of the kitchen, which was once three rooms. The room is now generously lined with cabinets full of cookware, drawers stuffed with spices, a well-stocked wine cooler and four sinks.

"That one was Dayn's idea," Ehlers said, pointing to a far sink alongside a sunroom. "It's for soaking orchids," he said, revealing one of the pair's many interests.

A granite-topped kitchen island serves as a homework spot for the couple's adopted son, 9-year-old Conrad Ehlers. A chopping area borders one side of the island, where the dads prepare dinner while overseeing his work.

"And here is the command center," Ehlers said, turning to the oversize stove and opening the surrounding cabinets and drawers. "They're all compartmentalized," said Ehlers, a luxury-home real estate agent.

"We're both chefs," he said, adding that the kitchen is also a caterer's dream, with a butler area and dumbwaiter that stops at both upper floors.

The rolling hills and stucco abodes of a Tuscan village border the ceiling of an eat-in kitchen area, a mural hand-painted by local artist Judy Cole. Dayn Conrad found Cole while searching for an illustrator for his most recent project, a diversity-themed children's book called Iris and Her Amazing Garden.

Cole had her decorative hand in another room behind an arched door: the formal dining area. Left largely reminiscent of its past, the room's focal point is an elegant dining table that sits atop a glossy wood floor. A crystal chandelier dangles from the ceiling of octagonal tiles, each intricately stenciled in blue.

Architectural themes of octagons and arches continue throughout the house. An original painting pops out in the traditional dining room, a partially nude woman floating amid colorful masks.

"It's kind of quirky, kind of dreamy," said Conrad, a longtime Denver hair stylist and president of a bath and body line called Amlavi.

Art prevails in another gem behind an arch: The living room.

A baby grand piano in the corner and sweeping silk drapes add elegance, while a wood-burning fireplace, pumpkin-colored walls and dimmed lighting generate a warm, cozy feel.

"We didn't want it to be so ostentatious guests didn't feel comfortable," said Conrad, sitting on the arm of a Djuna-designed loveseat upholstered in hues of pumpkin and green. "We really wanted the colors to dance and please."

A strikingly diverse choice of artwork in the room speaks of the couple's tastes and their traveling past.

"We picked that up in St. Thomas for $4 and framed it," Ehlers said, nodding toward a simple print of two women sitting on a stone bench.

"That one's from France; that one was a sailing trip," he said, his eyes moving from one wall to the next.

Ehlers walks past an arch that serves as an art niche and through another archway, which leads to an office. "This is the only room not sound integrated," he said, referring to a whole-house sound system that also pipes music to a patio.

An archway next to the office leads to a carriage entrance, where a high stoop meets a side door. Here, early-20th-century guests could move from carriage to house without touching ground, Ehlers said.

As he winds up a sweeping staircase that beckons from another archway, Ehlers points out beveled stained-glass windows and one of four 1920s-themed paintings that dot the house. He and Conrad had the paintings set in original window frames from the carriage house.

Upstairs, oversize arched windows line the wall of young Conrad's room.

In the nearby master suite, a four-poster bed is tucked into a cubby that once was his-and-hers walk-in closets. A new 12-by-14-foot walk-in closet took the place of the old servants' quarters, and the suite's crown jewel - a luxury bath - was widened by demolishing the nanny's quarters.

In the bath, a large, three-head shower doubles as a steam room, and a round 100-gallon jetted tub is centered beneath a crystal chandelier.

On the third floor, which served as a ballroom for Denver's upscale citizens a century ago, a glass-topped table is surrounded by leather furniture and centered on a contemporary rug of golds and reds.

"We went for a sort of Art Deco look," Conrad said, glancing around the room with a large dance area, granite-topped bar with leather stools and movie screen. "We've had 110 people up here at once dancing, and the floor didn't move."

Conrad says the fine architectural detail makes the home stand out from modern houses.

"It's a lost art," he said, recounting the first time he and Ehlers walked through the house, then an office building, and saw how much of the historic beauty was already destroyed.

They decided they had to save it.

"We put our hearts and souls and basically everything we had into it," Conrad said. "This house needed to be a home again."

Details

* What: Denver Square home in the Quality Hill Historic District

* Built: 1900

* Size: Nine bedrooms, seven baths with walk-out basement and carriage house apartments, 8,900 square feet

* Purchase price: $750,000 in 2001 before major remodel; most recently listed at $3.25 million

If you go:

* What: 29th Annual Dora Moore PTSA House Tour, featuring homes in the Quality Hill Historic District and the Governor's Mansion.

* When: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday

* Benefits: Dora Moore School

* Tickets: $10 in advance, $15 on tour day. Available at King Soopers on East Ninth Avenue and Corona Street and from Dora Moore students.

* Information: moore.dpsk12.org/housetour, 720-256-8322

Comments

  • October 18, 2008

    12:18 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    cyns writes:

    This home is amazingly beautiful and I have had the pleasure to go inside. It is well worth the time to see the history and beauty of time gone by. They did an excellent job bringing it "home".

  • October 18, 2008

    2:34 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    coloradonative1 writes:

    Thanks for sharing your beautiful home, great decor, lovely and comfy.