Denver Neighborhoods - Historic Country Club

With their recurrent horse racing up and down 14th Avenue becoming a civic menace, the Gentlemen's Driving Association purchased land in 1880 for a racecourse at Corona and 4th. Their “driving park for pleasure driving and speed” offered matinees two days a week, along with gala parties and extravagant clubhouse amenities. The club went bankrupt by 1882, but when the reorganized club repurchased the property for half its assessed value the next year, the newspapers suspected Denver's robber barons had pulled off an underhanded deal.

More plebeian amusement was soon available just west of Driving Park. When the waters of Cherry Creek were diverted in 1897, a small lake formed and Chutes Park opened. In addition to their water slides, scenic railway, vaudeville shows, casino, bicycle races, and fireworks, who could miss the weddings performed in a lion’s den or Professor Barnes’s rather unique herd of diving elks? As one reporter noted, “the elks seemed to enjoy the performance as much as [the spectators]. They trot contentedly to the top of the almost perpendicular runway, and, at a given signal, jump head foremost into a tank of water 60 feet below.” A spectacle indeed.

Amidst this pageantry, in 1902 a group of dedicated golfers bought the 240 acres of the old John Reithmann property to provide an exclusive country club. First came the nine-hole golf course and tennis courts, but residential units were built soon thereafter. Noting the location of both Denver and Madrid on the 40th parallel, early plans called for the creation of a “Spanish suburb.” Arched entryways, courtyards, loggias, wrought iron, peaked tile roofs, and lots of stucco still evoke this original design.

Residences were intentionally expensive. Covenants for Country Club, Driving Park, and Park Lane all specified minimum costs for homes. Large lots and deep setbacks all attested to an area of wealth, and Denver’s elite flocked to this gated community. The fact that both Mayor Speer and his cronies lived in the area and could order major reconstruction of Cherry Creek Drive (later Speer Boulevard) surely helped.

Unlike other neighborhoods which experienced decline and rebirth, Country Club remained elite and well-protected throughout the twentieth century. As such, its homes and spirit have been preserved. In 1990, the Denver Landmarks Commission approved the entire neighborhood for historic designation, making Country Club the largest neighborhood yet to attain historic status. So despite the loss of many turn-of-the-century amusements, the opulence and historic character of the neighborhood is poised to persevere well into the future.

Country Club Real Estate Prices for January 2008
(data from August 1, 2007 to January 31, 2008)

44 detached single family homes were sold with a median list price of $954,500. On average homes took 120 days to sell and sold for a median price of $924,000. Median price is a better measure of sold price than average, which is skewed by a few high-priced homes at the top end and low-priced homes at the bottom. Lowest sold price for detached single family homes was $155,000; highest sold price was $4,350,000. For condos and townhomes (attached family homes) the lowest sold price was $22,500 while the highest was $825,000. The median sold price was $34,000, and the average was $153,992.
 
The ratio of sold to list price was 93.08% for detached homes. The ratio of sold to original price was 58.79% [may be a typo in the original data, possibly skewing some of the data in this report], which means that sellers are still listing homes at too high a price The net sold (after seller concessions such as down payment or closing cost assistance, and the like) to original list price was 58.76%. To simplify, if a seller originally listed their home at $950,000, they realized $558,220 [caution:original data and my conclusion may be erroneous] from the sale.
 
By the time the seller finally reached a marketable price after having listing it too high, the sold to list ratio improved to 93.08%, and the net sold to list price was 93.03%.