A Capitol Hill mansion that once housed generations of aspiring butlers is being converted into the city’s first permanently affordable housing co-operative.
“The irony's not lost on us,” said Lincoln Miller, the executive director for Boulder Housing Coalition, which purchased the property. “We really appreciate that and that is part of why we're calling this the People's Mansion.”
Since 1990, the mansion housed the Starkey International Institute for Household Management, where people trained to become butlers for the ultra-rich.
A quick tour of the People’s Mansion
The 10-bed, 7-bath mansion on Logan Street sticks out like a sore thumb.
Sitting just two blocks from the state capitol, it’s the only building in the area that maintains a distinct, Georgian-era architecture. The mansion even received a historic landmark designation from the city in 1997.
Inside, it reflects the lifestyle of those the students wanted to serve. Upon entering, two rooms greet you. On the left, a library boasts a wide array of books and a grand piano. On the right, a “living room” features two couches that look more for show than for comfort.
There’s a staircase designated specifically for butler use only, as well as a wine cellar downstairs.
The Boulder Housing Coalition’s $2.8 million purchase of the property came with all of the furniture used by the Starkey school. While the co-op nonprofit plans to keep some of the furniture, it’ll likely hold an estate sale to get rid of some things they don’t need — including the hundreds of class photos depicting every single graduate of the program since 1990.
The nonprofit envisions the mansion housing up to 22 people. Before that can happen, the nonprofit plans to do some renovations, like building more walls to turn the mansion’s 10 bedrooms into 19 and installing fire suppression systems.
More than just affordable rent, co-ops are an alternative to traditional housing
After the renovations are complete, Sarah Wells, the board president for the Boulder Housing Coalition, said she expects a bustling, collaborative community not unlike those found in the nonprofit’s four other houses in Boulder.
Rooms will be occupied by low-and-medium income individuals. Rent will be capped at a price affordable to people making 30 to 80 percent of Denver’s median income, as defined by the Colorado Housing and Finance Authority.
“A lot of that is teachers, government workers, nurses are still in that range,” Wells said. “So lots of people that contribute to the functionality and the cultural beauty of a city.”
Living in a 20-plus person co-op isn’t just about affordability, she notes.
Wells, who lives in the Queen City Cooperative, said those who apply need to be cognizant that they’re consciously choosing to be in close proximity to 19 other people.
“I think part of what is beautiful about nonprofit cooperatives and the co-op Queen City where we live is people are choosing to live collectively,” she said. “So it's not necessarily the only place you can afford, it's a choice of people living together.”
Barak Bullock, who currently lives in one of the Boulder Housing Coalition’s Boulder houses, said he’s considering applying to the People’s Mansion when it opens in a few months.
“There's one part of my brain that's just so enamored with the idea of living here, and then there's another side of my brain, which is like, dude, this is going to be so much work,” he said. “Imagine sweeping all these floors and mopping all these floors and keeping this place clean week after week. It's an enormous amount of work.”
A city grant helped the Boulder Housing Coalition purchase the mansion
The Boulder Housing Cooperative wanted to take advantage of the moment Mayor Mike Johnston created through his persistent calls for more affordable housing in the city.
The nonprofit applied for a $1 million grant from the Denver Department of Housing Stability (HOST). The grant, approved by city council in November, was awarded to the coalition under the condition that the rooms stay permanently affordable to applicants.
In addition to the HOST grant, Miller said they received low-interest loans from the Colorado Housing Accelerator and Mercy Housing to aid with the purchase.
“Without that support and the fact that it's historic, which opened up other grants, we wouldn't have been able to provide this affordable housing here,” he said.
A new state law could make way for more housing co-operatives
Earlier this year, Gov. Jared Polis signed an occupancy limit ban into law.
Under the new law, local municipalities can no longer set an across-the-board cap on how many unrelated people can live together. In Denver, the occupancy limit allowed up to five unrelated adults to live together before the new state law struck it down.
Cities can still set occupancy limits, but they must justify them with health and safety concerns.
With the new state law, Miller said he’s seen an appetite to expand the rental co-op model to other Front Range cities.
“It's a model that creates community and can work in urban areas like Denver,” he said.
“So it could work in every city in the front range for sure. But there are management challenges with spreading yourself across all of the front range, and we have to carefully consider those.”
And as for whether the Boulder Housing Coalition will change its name now that it's expanded outside of Boulder?
“We've talked about it. We got Better Housing Coalition or ‘bolder,’” he said.
