The Phipps Mansion in Belcaro Park "Denver's Grandest Residence," the 54-room Late Georgian revival mansion built by Sen. Lawrence Phipps, a steel magnate and philanthropist, stands at the heart of Belcaro Park, a lovely, leafy neighborhood of sprawling 1950s ranch-style houses and modern, custom homes. Phipps, never known for modesty, called his palatial home "Belcaro," which in Italian means "beautiful, dear one." He later gave the name to his development company that platted and eventually sold residential lots surrounding his eight-acre estate. (Phipps who had retired from Carnegie Steel at the age of 39 with a net worth of $15 million had became a prominent philanthropist and investor in Denver before serving in the U.S. Senate from 1919 to 1931.Phipps completed his cherished "Belcaro" and the nearby glass-roofed tennis house in 1933 for about $310,000. Designed by the famed Denver architectural firm of Fisher & Fisher and New York architect Charles Platt, the Phipps mansion quickly earned the moniker "Denver's Grandest Residence." Labor was cheap--about 50 cents an hour--during the Great Depression, but as author Phil Goodstein recounts in "South Denver Saga," Phipps spared no expense in furnishing his 27,000-square-foot manse with travertine marble floors, 400-year-old pine paneling shipped from England, a bas-relief plaster ceiling depicting the War of the Roses, mahogany chairs built from the beams of a 16th Century Santo Domingo hacienda, Flemish tapestries, paintings and a built-in pipe organ. After his death, Phipps's widow donated the mansion and grounds to the University of Denver, which maintains the estate as a conference center and popular venue for weddings and private parties.
Completed in 1932, the Tennis Pavilion is proported to be the very first indoor tennis facility built west of the Mississippi River
The Phipps Mansion in Belcaro Park "Denver's Grandest Residence," the 54-room Late Georgian revival mansion built by Sen. Lawrence Phipps, a steel magnate and philanthropist, stands at the heart of Belcaro Park, a lovely, leafy neighborhood of sprawling 1950s ranch-style houses and modern, custom homes. Phipps, never known for modesty, called his palatial home "Belcaro," which in Italian means "beautiful, dear one." He later gave the name to his development company that platted and eventually sold residential lots surrounding his eight-acre estate. (Phipps who had retired from Carnegie Steel at the age of 39 with a net worth of $15 million had became a prominent philanthropist and investor in Denver before serving in the U.S. Senate from 1919 to 1931.Phipps completed his cherished "Belcaro" and the nearby glass-roofed tennis house in 1933 for about $310,000. Designed by the famed Denver architectural firm of Fisher & Fisher and New York architect Charles Platt, the Phipps mansion quickly earned the moniker "Denver's Grandest Residence." Labor was cheap--about 50 cents an hour--during the Great Depression, but as author Phil Goodstein recounts in "South Denver Saga," Phipps spared no expense in furnishing his 27,000-square-foot manse with travertine marble floors, 400-year-old pine paneling shipped from England, a bas-relief plaster ceiling depicting the War of the Roses, mahogany chairs built from the beams of a 16th Century Santo Domingo hacienda, Flemish tapestries, paintings and a built-in pipe organ. After his death, Phipps's widow donated the mansion and grounds to the University of Denver, which maintains the estate as a conference center and popular venue for weddings and private parties.
Completed in 1932, the Tennis Pavilion is proported to be the very first indoor tennis facility built west of the Mississippi River
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