Arthur House

Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, August 17, 2024

1. Arthur House Marker

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From the National Register Nomination prepared by Elaine Freed, 6/1979:
Edgeplain, also known as the Bass House and Arthur House, is a two-and-a-half-story sandstone residence located in the northeastern quadrant of the Colorado College campus. The first owners of the 1881 house, Lyman and Frances Bass, christened the dwelling, which then stood at the edge of the undeveloped prairie. Lyman Kidder Bass, U.S. Congressman from New York who came to Colorado for his health,

Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, August 17, 2024

2. Arthur House Marker

The marker is mounted at eye-level on the right side of the front/east entrance.
From the National Register Nomination:  Facing the porch is an off-center entrance with a paneled and glazed wood door and a paneled and glazed sidelight with stained glass, both surmounted by a multi-light transom. The door is framed by a stone surround, and there is a tooled stone threshold.

was born in 1836 in Alden, New York.

The house has a stone foundation and a stone water table surmounted by remarkable, highly ornamental stone walls consisting of rectangular blocks of multi-hued (white, tan, brown, red, and pink) sandstone of varied width and height laid in broken rangework with tinted mortar and displaying a variety of rusticated dressings, including pecked, vermiculated, rock-faced, frosted, and others. The house has a complex roof with multiple gables, and tall stone chimneys. Tudor Revival detailing is found in the gable faces clad with stucco and half-timbering. Many of the windows have Queen Anne style upper sashes with plate glass surrounded by small panes of glass; window lintels and sills are sawed and tooled sandstone. The asymmetrical facade features a two-story pavilion with an entrance porch on the first story and an enclosed sunroom on the second. There is a projecting gabled bay divided by a stone chimney on the rear, a two-story rectangular bay window at the southwest corner, and a bay topped by a shaped parapet and with a two-story bay window on the south.

Edgeplain is significant for its association with Chester Alan Arthur II, who owned the house from 1901 until 1922. Arthur, the son of President Chester Alan Arthur, suffered from respiratory problems and became one of the many wealthy Easterners who moved to Colorado Springs for their health. Improving rapidly in the Colorado climate, Arthur decided to make the English-inspired town nicknamed "Little London" his permanent home. Known as "the Prince of Washington" during his father's presidential tenure, Arthur was a gentleman of leisure who enjoyed elite social events, sports, and international travel. Arthur and his wife Myra purchased Edgeplain in 1901. Under Arthur's ownership Edgeplain became "one of the outstanding meeting places of the social leaders of Colorado Springs and Denver."

The house is also significant as an example of the work of Colorado Springs architects Walter Farquar Douglas and Thompson Duncan Hetherington, whose partnership extended from 1896 to 1914. The original designer of Edgeplain in 1880-81 was A.C. Willard, but, after the Arthurs purchased the house in 1901, the house was substantially enlarged and remodeled following plans drafted by Douglas and Hetherington. The remodeling utilized the same sandstone and masonry finishes as the original construction, while adding half-timbered gables and a shaped parapet. Due to the substantial nature of the expansion and alterations undertaken at this time, the house is considered to be representative of the work of Douglas and Hetherington.

Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, August 17, 2024

3. Arthur House (southeast elevation)

From the National Register Nomination:  The irregularly shaped house faces east, and the facade has a projecting two-and-a-half-story gabled roof pavilion at the south end. On the first story, the projecting pavilion features an open entry porch with center entrance, stone piers with cushion capitals, and a stone balustrade with red sandstone cap. Continuous label molding extends above the wide apertures of the porch on the front, north, and south. There are stone and concrete steps flanked by low stone pillars with red stone caps. The second story of the pavilion is a sunroom, which features an arcade of three basket-handle arch diamond-pane windows set in a slightly projecting wood surround with short pilasters, keystones, moldings, and applied ornamental shields. The pediment has decorative stucco and half-timbering and central paired eight-over-eight-light double-hung sash windows and shelters the windows of the sunroom.

Excerpt:  Local architect A.C. Willard designed this unusual stone house for Lyman K. and Frances Bass in 1881. The house was built for $15,000. As one of the first houses built in the vicinity of the college, Edgeplain became an immediate landmark on the landscape. Despite its isolated location, the house included rich paneling, tiled fireplaces, and expensive "jeweled glass" designed by artist John LaFarge. Bass and his wife opened their home to the elite of Colorado Springs. Several people owned the house between Bass's death and its purchase in 1901 by Chester Alan Arthur II (the son of U.S. President Chester Alan Arthur) and his wife, Myra. Alan Arthur became deeply involved in the social life of the Pikes Peak region, forming friendships with some of the city's most prominent citizens. In 1922, the Arthurs sold the house for $20,000 (plus $10,000 for the furnishings) to Joseph and Fannie Abraham, who planned to spend summers in the city. Joseph Abraham, an Oklahoma businessman, had interests in real estate, glass manufacturing, and the oil and cotton industries. The Phi Delta Theta fraternity occupied the house during 1926-27.

Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, August 17, 2024

4. Arthur House (south elevation)

From the National Register Nomination:  The south wall of the house features a central, slightly projecting, shaped parapet elaborated with red stone coping rising above a canted bay window with the same fenestration as the bay window at the southwest corner. The windows of the first story of the bay have transoms with decorative glass. The top of the bay window forms the base of a small balcony with a stone balustrade with red stone cap and metal railing. Three inset openings in the parapet wall facing the balcony have a shared red stone lintel topped by label molding and include diamond-pane windows flanking a door with diamond-pane light. The face of the parapet is composed of red and white stone with a decorative finish. There is a small, narrow, pointed arch niche on the parapet face. Wrapping around from the south side of the projecting gabled wing at the rear and across the south wall of the house is a low stone wall that encloses a terrace.

In 1929, John R. and Charlotte Shaver of Montana acquired Edgeplain. John Shaver, a founder of the Golden Rule department store at Grants Pass, Oregon, eventually operated a 45-store chain of the businesses in Montana, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, North Dakota, and Minnesota. John Shaver retired in 1943, but the couple continued to reside in the house until their deaths in 1960. Briefly used as a three-unit apartment house, Edgeplain became part of Colorado College in 1962 in a purchase from the Shavers’ daughters.

Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, August 17, 2024

5. Arthur House (southwest elevation)

From the National Register Nomination:  At the south end of the west wall is a cross-gable with a Queen Anne style window on each story at the north end. The cross-gable has stucco and half-timbering on the gable face, one window with multi-light casements, and a door facing a metal fire escape leading to the ground at the south end. At the southwest corner is a two-story bay window crowned by a pediment faced with pebble dash stucco. The southeast and northwest walls of the bay window have one Queen Anne style window on each story. The windows of the first story are topped by narrow leaded glass transoms. The southwest wall has paired windows of the same design as the southeast and northwest walls.

The vista of mountains to the west is dominated by Pike's Peak, which the Bass family observed from the southwest bay window and by its appearance learned to predict the coming weather.

Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, August 17, 2024

6. Arthur House (northeast elevation)