DENVER — For a sixth year, the Governor’s Mansion is being decorated for the holidays.
Professional decorators from the American Society of interior Designers have been selected to adorn each room on the main floor of the house with a scene unique to a time and place in Colorado’s history.
“In the Drawing Room, we’re looking at the early 1900’s and weaving in stories not only of Colorado history, but people who’ve lived in the residence,” Shaylisa Turner, Chair of the Governor’s Residence Preservation Fund, said.
The house was designed by Walter Cheesman who didn’t live to see it’s construction. In 1908, his daughter Gladys had the mansion built in her father’s honor and shortly after its construction, was married in the main room.
“We focus on bridal, we focused on progressive”, David Rote, lead designer of the Drawing Room, said.
Married to the event of Gladys Cheesman’s wedding is a celebration of the suffragettes that called Denver home.
Ornaments on the tree feature photographs of prominent women, including Emily Griffith, founder of the Opportunity School and Jean Gower, founder of the Dumb Friends League. Topping the tree is the actual tiara Gladys Cheesman wore at her wedding.
In the dining room, designers recreate the glitz and glamour of New Year’s Eve at the Broadmoor in Colorado Springs. Black and white décor dripping with pearls are indicative of the flapper decade. In contrast, the bar room is inspired by the hard scrabble life of 1940s Aspen.
Before it was a world renown resort town, Aspen was another struggling mining town.
The 10th Mountain Division, stationed just outside town, would ski in to the Hotel Jerome for R and R.
The bar features a letter typed by Charles Minot Dole outlining his plans to turn Aspen into a recreational ski resort. Public tours of the mansion run Dec. 6-9, then again Dec.13-16.