Well-kempt mansions dot Montview Boulevard in Denver’s Park Hill neighborhood, but the two-story Italianate house at the corner of Elm Street stands out. It’s surrounded by metal fencing, and the property’s rusty wrought-iron gate and overgrown lawn signal the property’s decay.
When Denver couple Mark and Marianne Rinehart purchased the 90-year-old house for $2.5 million in September 2022, they envisioned their “forever home,” with a large yard for their two young sons to romp around. But, then, they consulted builders about the house’s condition.
The couple applied for a demolition permit in August since, based on the estimates, “it was just going to cost an astronomical amount of money to restore the house,” Mark Rinehart said. Building something new made more sense to them.
With that decision, the Rinehart family launched themselves into the crosshairs of a community kerfuffle that led three neighbors, backed by Historic Denver, to file an owner-opposed landmark application last fall to halt the house’s destruction. The ordeal, which Rinehart characterized as “a David vs. Goliath situation,” came to an end Tuesday — with a decision in the couple’s favor by the Denver Landmark Preservation Commission.
The commission voted 6-0 against designating the house at 5013 E. Montview Blvd. a historic landmark; three others recused themselves. Because the voting commissioners stood against it, the case will not advance to Denver City Council, and the city will issue a demolition permit to the Rineharts.
“I can’t even begin to tell you how much stress this has caused our family over the last four and a half months,” Rinehart said in an interview. “To have that behind us — honestly, it’s such a relief.”
Theirs was the latest “hostile” designation case to roil a Denver neighborhood. Past attempts to designate properties as landmarks over the owners’ opposition have rarely been successful — saving a West Highland church and, last year, a City Park West mansion from demolition. But several more have made it past the commission to the council before meeting rejection.
On Tuesday afternoon, Park Hill residents gathered alongside commissioners at the Wellington E. Webb Municipal Office Building in downtown Denver.
The Rineharts and the landmark designation applicants argued their separate cases. In the family’s view, their South Park Hill property didn’t qualify as a historic home in a neighborhood that isn’t a historic landmark district, and its renovation would lead to financial hardship.
Applicants Trish Leary and Margaret Roberts countered that a renovation wouldn’t be as expensive as a rebuild. Drawing on the city’s landmark criteria, they argued that the house’s previous owners contributed to Denver history and that the loss of the property would “alter the integrity of the overall boulevard.”
The entrance of the house owned by the Rinehart family in Park Hill at 5013 E. Montview Blvd. in Denver, photographed on Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2024. (Photo by Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post)
The living room of the house owned by the Rinehart family in Park Hill at 5013 E. Montview Blvd. in Denver, photographed on Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2024. (Photo by Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post)
One of four bedrooms in the house owned by the Rinehart family in Park Hill at 5013 E. Montview Blvd. in Denver, photographed on Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2024. (Photo by Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post)
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Landmark staff sides with family
The city staff report presented to the Landmark Preservation Commission recommended denial of the application. The report said the applicants failed to make a case for the property’s direct and substantial association with a recognized, influential person or for it serving as a significant example of the work of a recognized architect or master builder.
Nearly 20 members of the public spoke online or in person. They largely supported the plans of the family, who have lived in Park Hill for over a decade.
“Amongst a row of beautiful houses along Montview, it is a decrepit house that is blocked almost entirely by large trees,” Park Hill resident Evan Lee said.
John Deffenbaugh, president and CEO of Historic Denver, said his nonprofit group got involved because of the community’s interest in finding a compromise.
“Its demolition will still be a loss,” he wrote about the house in an emailed statement. “The building has historical significance and adds to the context of Montview Boulevard and Park Hill.”
Historic Denver’s leaders want to work with the city to better educate property owners with development plans about demolition eligibility and the landmark designation process in Denver.
He acknowledged that “the processes can take people by surprise, as occurred in this case, and that does not support a positive outcome for anyone.”
Still, Deffenbaugh expressed hope for continued public dialogue, “so we will not lose more and more of the historic assets that make Park Hill such a unique and vibrant neighborhood.”
“You certainly can’t please everyone”
The Rineharts currently reside near the Montview property in a fully restored Park Hill home.
They decided early on that they were willing to take a financial loss to buy it. The 4,500-square-foot house is located near their church and their sons’ school, and “properties like that don’t come on the market very often,” Mark Rinehart said.
But they didn’t realize how large that tab would grow.
To date, the Rineharts say they have invested nearly $2.8 million into the property, including the purchase price, $55,000 for architects, $40,000 for contractors, $11,000 for asbestos abatement and more. That amount doesn’t include the expenses racked up to fight the landmark preservation application, including attorney’s fees.
During the mediation process between the family and the applicants, the Rineharts posted the property on Zillow for $2.73 million in December. The thinking was they would potentially sell it to a preservation-minded buyer. Mark Rinehart led three showings himself.
“At that point, the stress was so overwhelming that we would have just walked away,” he said.
Constructed in 1934 by east Denver builder Douglas M. Sugg, the 5-bedroom, 4.5-bathroom house, built in simplified Italian Renaissance Revival style, sits on a 0.4-acre lot. Denver movie theatre mogul Harry Eugene Huffman and his spouse, Christina Mae, originally resided in the house for four years before moving to a mansion — dubbed “Shangri La” — still standing at 13 Leetsdale Dr.
Eventually, Universal Tractor Company owner Alston Madden McCarty and his wife, Ann Elaine Murray McCarty, bought the property in 1959 and lived there with their family for more than six decades.
Their son, Murray McCarty, wrote a letter in support of the demolition.
“It is now time for Mark and Marianne to build their forever home on this beautiful property and our wish for them is that they may enjoy many years as they raise their family at 5013 Montview Blvd.,” McCarty’s Oct. 11 letter said.
Today, the house is off the real estate market. After demolition, the Rineharts plan to “build a house that looked like it had been in Park Hill for 100 years — but, more importantly, could last for 200 years,” Mark Rinehart said.
He and his wife are still considering design options. They plan to construct a traditional brick house, its color yet to be determined.
“I hope that the neighborhood likes what we do,” he said. “But as we’ve learned in this process, you certainly can’t please everyone.”
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