The Edwards House
402 West Mountain Ave.

The Edwards House was built in 1904 for Alfred Augustus Edwards at a cost of $6,000. Alfred was involved in irrigation and served as president of the State Board of Agriculture, Larimer County treasurer, and city alderman. In 1883, Alfred married Phoebe Edson, the sister of Sarah Avery, and they had three children, James, Walter, and Ruth. Sarah’s husband, Franklin Avery, built the Avery House, which is directly to the east of the Edwards House. In 1898, Alfred bought a lot from the Avery family and in 1904, hired architect Montezuma Fuller to build a family home. The style of the Edwards House is a neoclassical, “Denver” foursquare that was popular at the turn of the century. A typical foursquare home was 63’ by 63’ with the main floor divided into four rooms. Some of the prominent features of neoclassical architecture are the arched windows in the Avery Room and on the west side above the stairway landing. The large windows on the south side are distinctive of foursquare homes and allowed more daylight into the living area, a stark change from the dimly lit Victorian homes of the previous decade. The front porch featured large columns and a hexagonal, pergola effect on the east side, which is a trademark of neoclassical homes.

The Edwards Family resided in the home until 1981, at which time Ruth Edwards sold it in less than a day to a group of investors. In 2014, the Edwards House completed an extensive renovation that transformed this quaint house into a luxurious boutique inn, fusing modern elegance and Victorian charm and protecting the historical significance of this local gem.

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