Lennox House

Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, August 17, 2024

1. Lennox House Marker

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From the National Register Nomination prepared by R. Laurie Simmons and Thomas H. Simmons, 5/21/1999:
Lennox House is a substantial, two-and-a-half-story residence located on a corner lot on North Nevada Avenue on the campus of Colorado College. The Mission Revival style of the house is displayed in large curvilinear parapets, smooth stucco walls, rosa (quatrefoil) and arched windows, a red tile roof, exposed rafter tails, and arcaded porches.

Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, August 17, 2024

2. Lennox House Marker

The marker is mounted at eye-level on the left side of the front/west entrance.

The asymmetrical composition is superimposed on a rectangular plan and provides lively visual interest through a variety of projecting and recessed porches, coping and wall courses, decorative windows, contrasting textures, and grouped arches. The red tile roof covering provides strong contrast to the smooth white wall surface.
Lennox House is associated with the development of north Colorado Springs attendant to the Cripple Creek mining boom, having been built as a private residence in 1900 by William Lennox, a prominent Colorado Springs businessman and Cripple Creek mine owner. An early investor in Cripple Creek mines, Lennox became a millionaire when that district became the leading producer of gold in the nation. As befitting his status as one of the leading citizens of Colorado Springs, Lennox decided to build a magnificent new home in an area across from the campus of Colorado College where other Cripple Creek millionaires were erecting mansions.
William Lennox passed away in Colorado Springs in August 1936. The Lennox House was given to Colorado College through his estate. After Colorado College received Lennox House, it spent

Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, August 17, 2024

3. Lennox House (west/front elevation)

From the National Register Nomination:  The west facade is dominated by an off-center, projecting gabled bay fronted by a massive curvilinear roof parapet elaborated with coping. This parapet covers the principal east-west gable of the house. The face of the parapet is pierced by a central rosa window. Two second story segmental arched windows centered beneath the rosa window are deeply recessed. Adjacent to the wing wall is a recessed, arcaded porch. An intersecting side gable to the south has an inset, second-story, shed roof balcony with exposed rafter tails. The south wall of the balcony features a rosa window, and segmental arched windows with tracery face the balcony, as do double doors surmounted by a segmental arch.

$40,000 on remodeling and renovating the residence to turn it into a student center. It subsequently played a significant role in the institution's history, serving as the Student Union from 1937 to 1959. In 1959, the Student Center moved to the newly finished Rastall Center. The Board of Trustees then approved a plan to remodel Lennox House for use as a fraternity house by Beta Theta Pi. During the summers, the building was known as "German House," and was utilized by an intensive foreign language program. In the fall of 1989, the building was converted from a fraternity house to a coed dormitory and was known again as "Lennox House."
The building is significant as representative of the Mission Revival style and as representative of the work of Denver architect Frederick J. Sterner. Sterner was popular with upper class citizens of Colorado Springs and listed among his clients Dr. William A. Bell and Gen. William J. Palmer, founders of Colorado Springs, as well as other prominent residents of the city.

Excerpt: Added to the Colorado College campus in 1936, it served as the Student

Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, August 17, 2024

4. Lennox House (northwest elevation)

From the National Register Nomination:  The north wall of the house has a small, central curvilinear parapet fronting a gabled dormer flanked by two small, hipped roof dormers with tile roofing. On the second story beneath the parapet is a conical roof curved bay window with multiple diamond-pane casement windows with transoms. A porte cochere with arched openings and curvilinear roof projects outward on the first story beneath the curved bay window.

Union from 1937 to 1959. It was added to the Colorado State Register of Historic Properties on August 11, 1999, and to the National Register of Historic Places on October 21, 1999.

Excerpt: Mining millionaire, businessman, and longtime Colorado College trustee William Lennox used some of his mining wealth to build this residence across from the developing college campus. Constructed in 1900 for the then-significant sum of $50,000, the house was described by the Colorado Springs Gazette as "magnificent." The newspaper observed, "People who have seen the plans and are able to speak with authority on such things do not hesitate to say that there is no residence in Colorado Springs at the present time either completed or in course of construction that will be the equal of Mr. Lennox's home."

After receiving Lennox House, the college engaged local architect Edward L. Bunts and spent $40,000 remodeling and renovating the residence for use as a student center. The new facility opened in September 1937 with a tea for students and faculty, followed by a dance with orchestral music. Before acquisition of the house, booths at Murray's Drugs in the Plaza Hotel functioned as an informal center of student social life. Lennox House fulfilled the need for a central location for students to gather outside their dormitories and provided a college setting for meals, recreation, and social gatherings.

Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, August 17, 2024

5. Lennox House (southwest elevation)

From the National Register Nomination:  The south wall of the residence is symmetrical. Curvilinear roof parapets with coping are found at each end of the south wall, separated by a low curvilinear parapet wall. Both parapets feature a central rosa window. The second story of the south wall has a central recessed balcony with an arcade of three round arches. The balcony is sheltered by a hipped roof with exposed rafter tails and tile roof covering. Flanking the central balcony are segmental arched windows with tracery in the upper sashes and two-part lower sections. The first story of the south wall has a central, projecting, hipped roof porch with widely overhanging eaves, shaped exposed rafter tails, and red tile roofing. The porch has round arched openings, a solid stuccoed balustrade which extends to become curvilinear stair walls on the east and west, and rectangular piers. The porch steps are composed of tooled stone and the porch floor is clad with tile.