Highlands Ranch Mansion
Coordinates: 39°32′11.08″N 104°58′11.75″W / 39.5364111°N 104.9699306°W
The Highlands Ranch Mansion is one of the most architecturally unique structures in Colorado. The Mansion offers over 27,000 square feet (2,500 m2) of living space and at one time contained more than 14 bedrooms and 11 bathrooms. The Mansion is open year-round to the public for guided or self-guided tours on most Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9 am to 2 pm. Owned and operated by the Highlands Ranch Metro District, that Mansion sits on a 250-acre ranch in the center of Highlands Ranch. Guests enjoy 5 fireplaces, a large living room, two ballrooms, a dining room, a library, a card room, a butler’s pantry, two kitchens, a bowling alley and a gorgeous gazebo, all with majestic views of the Front Range and downtown Denver.
The Mansion was built over a number of years. S. Allen Long, a retired senator from Ohio, homesteaded the property, building a small stone house on the far east side of today's mansion, which he called Rotherwood after a favorite childhood farm. John W. Springer, a wealthy man with ties to politics, banking, and law, owned the ranch from 1897-1913. He sold the Mansion to his father-in-law, Col. William Hughes, who renamed the property "Sunland Ranch". Springer's daughter, Annie Clifton Springer Hughes, inherited the home after Col. Hughes passed in July 1918. It is unknown how much of the mansion the Springer/Hughes family built, but photos from the 1920s indicate that the footprint of the current building existed by 1926.
Waite Phillips purchased Sunland Ranch from Annie Springer and her husband Lafayette Hughes (no relation to Colonel William Hughes) in 1920 and used it as a breeding location for high grade horses and cattle. He consolidated the ranch with other nearby land purchases to create a prodigious spread called Phillips Highland Ranch (no S) named after the Highland Hereford cattle he raised here. Waite conducted a renovation at the former Springer/Hughes home which included the addition of a western wing. A whimsical photograph taken of Waite’s son, Elliott Waite “Chope,” sitting atop a pony in the middle of the living room reveals a unique view into family life at Phillips Highland Ranch. Waite owned the ranch for six years before commitments in Oklahoma forced him to sell it in 1926.
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