Cherokee Castle and Ranch: An Architectural Curiosity
Cherokee Castle and Ranch: An Architectural Curiosity
Within a half-hour of downtown Denver, Colorado, the Cherokee Ranch and Castle is a world away. Built from native stone on the edge of a high plateau overlooking the Sidalia flatlands, the Cherokee Castle is a fascinating anomaly in this fast-paced modern world.
Frederick Flower was the first non-native to live on this land. He filed for a homestead in August 1894 and began constructing the first of several stone houses the following Spring. Fredierick, his wife, Amy and sister, Beatrice spent years building their castle-- the sixteen-inch-thick walls were made of locally-quarried rhyolite. Not exactly cozy, the thick rhyolite walls of what would come to be known as the Cherokee Castle provided a buffer against the harsh Colorado winters with their piercing winds.
In 1924 the Flower family sold Cherokee Ranch to Charles Alfred Johnson, a well-to-do Denver businessman. It was during his ownership that the castle really began to take shape. The original homesteaders could not have foreseen the directions Mr Johnson's taste would take. Designed with fabled architect Burnham Hoyt and made to replicate certain features of Scottish castles, Cherokee Ranch expanded to the astonishing construction it is today.
Some time later a Denver socialite with the adorable name of Tweet Kimball became owner and resident of the Cherokee Ranch and Castle. She will be remembered as the most careful of caretakers, establishing the Cherokee Ranch Foundation which provides for the perpetual preservation of the land and buildings as educational resources.
Tweet Kimball was an avid collector of hats, and at certain events at the Cherokee Ranch and Castle, her collection of millinery marvels is displayed. The Cherokee Ranch experience is more than worth the effort to find. As an achitectural curiosity, the Cherokee Castle stands alone.
