LOOKING FORWARD TO 2021
Stanley Home gets ready for public viewing By Wendy Rigby Trail-Gazette
The view from the front porch of the old Stanley home at 415 W. Wonderview Ave. is one of the finest in Estes Park. Longs Peak towers over the valley below and is the center of a beautiful panorama of the mountains and the trees. Standing there, it is easy to imagine why F.O. Stanley and his wife, Flora, chose this spot for their summer house. On May 1, 2021, the home — built in 1904 in the NeoGeorgian style –will open to the public as the Stanley Home Museum and Education Center. “We approached the owners of the home in August of 2016,” Tom Shamburg, treasurer of the Historic Stanley Home Foundation said. “They had been trying to sell the home. A number of us thought that it was a nobrainer that it needed to be a house museum.” A three-and-a-half year process began with organizing the foundation, getting town approval, securing tax exemption status and running a capital campaign to buy the home. The cost was $1,723,000 for the house and the 4.4 acres surrounding it. The foundation took over the property in January of 2020. “This is an exceptional opportunity,” Shamburg stated. “Stanley was one of the most prominent residents of Estes Park. He was a renaissance man. He came and saw the potential of this area. He was an entrepreneur. He
Wendy Rigby / Estes Park Trail-Gazette
On May 1, 2021, the home will open to the public as the Stanley Home Museum and Education Center.
built a hotel. He donated 58 acres of land for what is now Stanley Park. He was instrumental in working with Enos Mills and getting Rocky Mountain named a national park.” The Stanleys first came to Estes Park for F.O.’s health. He had tuberculosis, weighed only 118 pounds and was given about six months to live. He felt really good after the first summer and the couple decided this was going to be their summer location year after year. They spent the winter months on the East Coast. “The house looked very similar to what it looks like
14 • LIVE WELL ESTES | FALL EDITION
now,” noted JoAnn Batey, president of the Historic Stanley Home Foundation.”All of the porches that were enclosed were open back then. They didn’t have heat other than the fireplace.” The front of the home is a bright mustard yellow color that was prevalent at the time the house was constructed. The Stanley Hotel was originally painted the same color. A carriage house sits next to the main home. “F.O. would drive his Stanley Steamer in,” Batey explained. “He would use his turntable and crank it around so that he never had to back
out. He was a violin maker and he would perform his woodworking in the carriage house. He did enjoy pool so he also had his billiard table in there.” F.O. Stanley passed away in 1940. The house passed through several different owners after that. When the Historic Stanley Home Foundation purchased the home, the last owners left all of their furnishings. “We decided we really wanted to make it a period home,” Batey explained. “So we took all of that furniture and sold it. Then we put an ad out into the community See HOME, pg. 23
