Hagerman Mansion
610 N Cascade Avenue
Built 1885
Architect C.S. Wright
Contractor Whipple & Roby
Do you have stories, documents, or pictures of the Hagerman Mansion?
About
The style of this home is Victorian eclectic and the interiors contain splendid woodwork, which was crafted by W. S. Stratton in his carpentry years. The stepped stone parapets in front of the gable ends are called Flemish Gables. The stone used is peachblow sandstone, extracted from Hagerman’s quarry near Carbondale, on the Frying Pan River.
The stucco wings on each side of the mansion define later additions. The home is used as the Cascade Apartments building today. Listed in the National Register.
Timeline
1885
J. J. Hagerman, a peppery millionaire industrialist from Michigan, was another of the consumptives who arrived in Colorado Springs chasing the cure to tuberculosis, in 1884.
J.J. Hagerman built the exotic mansion as he was seeking financing for the construction of the Colorado Midland Railroad, the first standard gauge railroad to cross the Colorado Continental Divide. The home established Cascade Avenue as the most prestigious address in the fledgling city.
The original residence, defined by the two central gables, was designed by C. S. Wright of Colorado Springs.
1899
Two flat-roofed sandstone wings were added.
1922
Benjamin Lefkowsky purchased the Hagerman Mansion. An article was published in the Gazette Telegraph on July 22, 1922 that reads:
Hagerman House Sold; Owners to Open Art Studio
Historic Residence Just Bought by Mr. and Mrs. Lefkowsky.
Thru a deal consummated yesterday by the Price and McDonald Realty company, the Hagerman homestead at 610 North Cascade avenue was sold by A.V. Hunter to Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Lefkowsky, two artists, who will convert the historic residence into an art studio. The deed which was recorded yesterday afternoon bore $47 in revenue stamps showing that the sale price was at least $47.000.
Mr. Lefkowsky, who was formerly an officer in the Russian army, has just returned from a tour of three months in Europe where he took art lectures in the leading cities of France and England. Mrs. Lefkowsky is a pianist, having entered the conservatory of music at Cincinnati at the age of 10 years where she spent many years as a student, instructor and musician.
The Lefkowskys have traveled over the United States in their search for a permanent residence and finally decided upon Colorado Springs as the most suitable place for them both to follow their art.
The Hagerman house is a large stone dwelling which was built 25 years ago by the builder of the Midland railroad. It was occupied by the Hagerman family until about 12 years ago. During the World war Mr. Hunter, the owner, lent the building to the local Red Cross chapter for use as its headquarters and some of the most important war work done in the city was centered there.
1927
In 1927, the Russian émigré, Benjamin Lefkowsky, having owned the mansion for 5 years, constructed the wings to the north, west, and south, and converted it into 22 luxury apartments.
1928
On October 7, 1928, the Gazette & Telegraph published an article about the Hagerman Mansion being converted to apartments. It reads:
Once City’s FInest Home, Pioneer Building Is Made Into 22 Apartments by Lefkowsky
Something unique in apartments has been created with the completion of the extensive additions to the house of Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Lefkowsky, well-known artist and pianist, respectively. This is the old J.J. Hagerman home at 610 North Cascade Avenue, which was long considered the finest mansion in Colorado Springs. It is an imposing three-story stone structure, magnificently finished inside, each room in a different motif. Wings have been added to the north and south and an addition built on to the west. The library, drawing room, dining room, and bedrooms of the original building, each different, one in mahogany, etc., and the great oak-paneled and richly carved hall have been left intact. Each one of these, besides the hall, has been made the living room of an apartment suite. The kitchens, baths, and bedrooms of the apartments are in the new portions of the enlarged building. The arrangement is artistic throughout, a happy blending of the old wrought richness and dignity of the old has been sacrificed; yet every modern convenience in apartment building is offered.
It has required a year to do the work. The plans were made and the work supervised by Mr. and Mrs. Lefkowsky themselves, who both to some extent, laid aside their respective arts for the time being in order to devote their attention and esthetic talents to making a work of art of his apartment house. In order to do so Mr. Lefkowsky declined an opportunity to make a reproduction of “The Dance” by Soralla y Bastida, which hangs in the Hispano museum in New York, for the new Proctor theater there.
This new apartment house has been named the Russ-Amer (pronounced with the accent on the last syllable of “Amer”), and in this name there is a romance. Before Mr. and Mrs. Lefkowsky, she an American and he a Russian, were married and while engaged, they came to Colorado Springs, and while driving about the city he remarked that this house, which had long stood vacant, reminded him of an old Russian castle, and that he wished they might sometime have it for a studio. After their marriage, they went to California and other parts of the country, where they had it in mind possibly to set up a studio and make their home. They ended by coming back to this city and purchasing the house that they had admired years before. It was made a studio. Then they began developing the neighborhood of it with houses and apartment buildings, nine being built on property they owned and seven by them, each distinctly original, and after that turned their attention to the remaking of this old mansion into the latest and most beautiful thing in the way of an immense apartment building.
There are in it 22 apartments, some furnished and some unfurnished. Ten of these apartments have the living rooms in the main part of the building, just as they were constructed 35 years ago, in an era of careful and magnificent building. The other rooms of them, as stated, extend out into the wings. Then there are other apartments in the ends of these wings, to which there are separated entrances in each wing. All of the apartments have kitchens and many of them have individual back outside entrances.
The furniture in all of the apartments that are furnished is in keeping with the individual style of decoration.
“Mr. and Mrs. Lefkowsky came here from Beaumont, Tex. He came to America from Samaroff, in the north of Russia, in 1914, and Mrs. Lefkowsky says she could not speak English when they were married, so that she immediately went into a business partnership with him, having to do the talking for him. They have since continued to work together and have done more building of the unusual type than any individual or company has done in Colorado Springs in recent years.
Mrs. Lefkowsky is a graduate of the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music and is active in her musical work as well as in the business in which she is associated with her husband.
1931
A plan to convert the Hagerman mansion into apartments was announced in the Gazette Telegraph on March 1, 1931. The article reads:
Plan Early Start on New Apartment
An early start on the new $150,000 Lefkowsky apartment house on the site of the Lowe property in the 600 block on North Cascade avenue, which is now being razed, is assured. Plans for the foundations have been completed by Charles E. Thomas, the architect, and he already engaged in perfecting the working plans for the superstructure of the building, which will be of the brick and stucco type.
It is one of many such private projects to get started. Others include the Reinhard brothers’ service station, a permit for which will be taken out probably Monday and the Clark block in the west Colorado Springs the plan for which includes several store buildings, filling and grease stations.
1960
A Gazette Telegraph article was published about Lefkowsky selling the mansion to Norm Smith on September 18, 1960. It reads:
Russ-American Property Sold To Norm Smith for $500,000
SOLD BY LEFKOWSKYS – Seen in this photo, taken from the air, Russ-Amer Apartments, left, and Russ-Amer Arms, sold by Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Lefkowsky to Norman Smith, former owner of the Norm Smith Angus Ranch at Larkspurt. Russ-Amer Apartments is the one-time home of James J. Hagerman, railroad builder and mining man, and was bought in 1922 by Lefkowsky. Photo credit Gazette Telegraph.
A beautifully maintained objet d’art familiar to Colorado Springs residents has been sold for an amount in excess of $500,000.
Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Lefkowsky have sold the Russ-Amer Arms and Apartments to Norman Smith, former owner of Norm Smith Angus Ranch in Larkspur. The price does not include, however, the furniture and furnishings, which Smith has purchased in a separate transaction. Nor is the Lefkowsky’s private collection of antiques included in either transaction.
The entire Russ-Amer establishment includes 60 apartment units.
The property and buildings are located in the entire 600 block of North Cascade Avenue on the west side of the street. The older original structure known as Russ-Amer Apartments was built as a home by James J. Hagerman in 1885.
Hagerman came to Colorado in October 1884, after making a fortune in Michigan iron. He and his associates built the Colorado Midland Railroad, which operated from Colorado Springs into western Colorado from 1888 to 1918. He also became active in gold mining in the Cripple Creek and Aspen districts.
The structure, which is one of the leading show places in Colorado Springs, was purchased by Benjamin Lefkowsky in 1922 for the purpose of creating an international art studio. When his plans did not materialize Lefkowsky converted the home into exquisitely ornate apartments and added two new wings to the old structure.
Also at that time, the carriage house was converted into apartments. The carriage house has since been sold and is now known as Park Terrace Apartments.
The original wood work and cabinetry which was created for Hagerman by Winfield Scott Stratton is still maintained at Russ-Amer. The old structure, an antique in its own right, boasts 18 original fireplaces, wrought iron chandeliers, parquet inlaid floor and numerous other furnishings designed especially for Hagerman in 1885.
A most outstanding feature of the older building is the stained glass window on the second floor landing.
The exterior of the building is of Larimar stone and sand stone.
Lefkowsky was born in Russia and since coming to the United States in 1929 has become a naturalized American citizen, thus the name, “Russ-Amer.”
“Mr. Smith plans to carry on the outstanding reputation Russ-Amer has developed over the years,” said Mrs. Lefkowsky.
In 1939, Lefkowsky designed and built the newer building north of the old Hagerman residence, Russ-Amer Arms. The decor of the second building is in accordance with the old English style of its predecessor next door.
Fred Tarbell of Van Schaack Co. Denver handled the Smith-Lefkowsky transaction. Smith bought the “internationally known” Norm Smith Angus Ranch in 1934.
The former owners of Russ-Amer plan to spend a year in Europe before returning to Colorado Springs, according to Mrs. Lefkowsky.
1988
A Gazette Telegraph article was published on March 6, 1988, that summarizes the property’s history. It reads:
Hagerman Mansion has history of dreams
By Deborah Belgum/Gazette Telegraph
“Lions” guard the entrance to the Hagerman Mansion on Cascade Avenue. The mansion is now the Cascade Park Apartments. Photo credit Tom Kimmell/Gazette Telegraph.
A strange marriage between a millionaire’s mansion and an apartment complex sits just a few blocks north of downtown Colorado Springs.
Hagerman Mansion was constructed by mining millionaire and railroad magnate J.J. Hagerman in 1885 at 610 N. Cascade. Cascade Park Apartments were built onto the mansion in the 1920s.
Hagerman, a tiny man who weighed only 120 pounds, was one of the wealthiest residents in Colorado Springs in the 1880s. He made his first fortune in Milwaukee ironworks. But tuberculosis forced the fragile man to move first to Europe and then Colorado Springs, where he expected to die.
However, the dry air of Colorado not only revived his health, it fired his energy.
He soon began a number of lucrative business deals. One was construction of the Colorado Midland Railroad from Colorado Springs to Aspen – the first standard-gauge railroad to cross the Rocky Mountains.
He became the principal stockholder in the Molly Gibson mine in Aspen, as well as the owner of several gold and coal mines in Cripple Creek, Leadville and Aspen.
And, like his business deals, Hagerman’s mansion was colossal.
It was an imposing three-story stone house with 22 rooms. At the time of construction, it was valued at $30,000.
Expensive wood paneling by carpenter Winfield Scott Straton, who later became a mining millionaire himself, lined the walls.
Hand-carved mantels, built-in sideboards, maple paneling and stained-glass windows are still in the mansion/apartment.
Hagerman was a restless man with a vituperative personality. He was irrascible at times, railing both at his business colleagues and enemies. Shortly after his arrival in Colorado Springs, he described the town “as being as dead as Julius Caesar.”
He sold the Colorado Midland Railroad in 1890 and moved to New Mexico and started an unprofitable irrigation and land venture in the Pecos Valley. The unprofitable venture eventually drained his finances.
Hagerman sold the family mansion to A.H. Maas of Minneapolis sometime in the late 1800s.
After the mansion had been left vacant for 12 years, Maas sold it for $150,000 in 1911 to Asa Briggs, also of Minneapolis.
Not much is known about the mansion’s history between 1911 to 1922, when it was sold for around $47,000 to a Russian immigrant who had served in the Hussars, the elite cavalry troop of the Czar.
Benjamin Lefkowsky left the Soviet Union in early 1917, right before the Russian Revolution.
After living for a time in Texas, Lefkowsky and his American-born wife moved to Colorado Springs to buy the Hagerman Mansion.
They had seen the enormous, vacant house on an earlier trip through Colorado. It reminded Lefkowsky of an old Russian castle.
Lefkowsky, who as a businessman and artist, used part of the mansion as a studio for his artistic endeavors. He wanted to convert the mansion into an international art studio, but his plans fell through.
So, he converted the mansion into 10 separate apartments.
He also constructed several apartment buildings on five acres of land in the Cascade Avenue area.
In 1928, Lefkowsky and his wife finished adding two wings to the north and south of the mansion, giving the complex 12 more apartments.
The complex was called the Russ-Amer Apartment Building – for the owners’ Russian and American heritage.
Three years later, Lefkowsky announced that he would build a separate $150,000 hotel/apartment building just north of Hagerman Mansion.
The new five-story building was to have a dining room for 125 people.
His plans, however, were modified, and the building was reduced to three stories with 30 apartments.
But the Depression slowed construction, and the new building wasn’t finished until 1939.
On the front of the apartment is an emblem of the Russian crown underneath the American eagle.
And in the basement is an old dining room, now called a ball room, with murals depicting scenes of Czarist Russia.
Benjamin Lefkowsky sold the apartment complex in 1960 to Norman Smith for $500,000. The new owner changed the name to Cascade Park Apartments.
It is now owned by Cascade Park Apartments, a partnership.
1984
On September 20, 1984, the Hagerman Mansion was entered into the National Register of Historic Places by the United States Department of the Interior National Park Service. View the NPS Nomination Form below.
Additional Resources
- 610 N Cascade Ave Research – a collection of documents compiled during the Historic Uptown Neighborhood’s historic preservation efforts.
- An odd little neighborhood | Caboose Cobwebs by the Gazette
- Hagerman Mansion has history of dreams by the Gazette Telegraph
- National Registrar – Nomination Form
- Wikipedia
- Colorado Encyclopedia
- History Colorado
- National Park Service Gallery – images circa 1984 from the application for historic designation
Leave a comment