About

In the heart of North Cascade, nestled among the stories of the Cripple Creek boom, stands a captivating residence with a history as rich as its architectural details. This imposing two-and-a-half-story shingled dwelling, crowned by a cross-gable roof and dominating front gable, captures the essence of a bygone era.

Picture a home where the gable ends proudly showcase stucco and half-timber motifs adorned with corbel brackets. Slag glass and mineral specimens are said to be embedded in the stucco, adding a touch of mystery to its exterior. As your gaze ascends, the apex of the gables gently projects, sheltering windows that punctuate the façade like the chapters of a novel.

Step onto the front porch, a full-width hipped roof masterpiece, supported by columns atop pedestals. Here, the Queen Anne-style balustrade invites you to explore further. A paneled and glazed door, slightly off-center, beckons you inside. The interior, according to a 1994 survey, is a treasure trove of ornate woodwork, featuring carved wooden lions and corbels shaped like demon’s heads.

The south gable face mirrors the charm of the front, boasting stucco and half-timbering, paired windows, and brackets along its base. As you wander through, the rear unfolds with stucco and half-timbered gables, a hipped roof-shingled balcony with a Queen Anne balustrade, and a hipped roof-shingled bay that frames bands of windows like pages in a book.

The north wall, with its projecting gable and lattice-adorned windows, tells a story of its own. The survey notes alterations over time, such as an enclosed back porch and the addition of a window to the second floor. A 1994 form even mentions a “shed dormer” that has transformed into a balcony, suggesting a narrative of evolution.

But the tales embedded within these walls go beyond architecture. Built by Francis Daniel Pastorius, a key figure in the Colorado Springs community, the house witnessed the ebb and flow of prosperity during the Cripple Creek boom. Pastorius, described as “one of the leading citizens of Colorado Springs,” was not only a real estate magnate but also a horticulture enthusiast, founding the Colorado Springs Garden Club in 1924.

As you explore the grounds, imagine the secret garden accessible through an underground tunnel—a hidden sanctuary that once enchanted the city. Pastorius’ legacy continued as Victor William Hungerford, a distinguished lawyer and mayor of Colorado Springs, took residence in 1927. The house became a hub for civic leadership, a place where decisions were made that shaped the community.

Through the years, the house changed hands, each owner leaving a mark on its narrative. By 1951, the city directory hinted at vacancy, and later directories revealed new stewards. The property passed through the hands of Mrs. Evelyn Wilkins, Julia Duke, an artist and regional art collector, and John Hazlehurst, a member of the Colorado Springs City Council.

Today, the house stands as a testament to an era gone by, a living story with its architectural details serving as chapters, and its occupants weaving a tale of community development, prosperity, and civic leadership. The landscape, with its stone walls and hidden tunnels leading to secret gardens, echoes the commitment to beauty and horticulture that once defined the Colorado Springs Garden Club.

In this residence, every detail, from the stucco and half-timber motifs to the ornate woodwork within, whispers stories of the past. A house that witnessed the rise and fall of fortunes, the changing faces of its occupants, and the evolving landscape of North Cascade. A house that, perhaps, deserves a place in the National Register for its rich association with prominent figures and its architectural significance in the tapestry of history.

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Timeline

• 1901

  This house was built by Francis Daniel Pastorius, president of the Colorado Investment & Realty Company, and described as “one of the leading citizens of Colorado Springs,” who lived here with his wife Mary L. Pastorius. The family lived here with one son, Washington Pastorius, and three servants in 1910.

  On May 5, 1901, the Gazette Telegraph published an article about the beautification of the property around the home that reads:

  Transformation In the Creek Bottom

  If you haven’t anything else to do this morning before church put on your hat and take a little walk.

  Go to the Mesa road bridge over the Monument and stand there for a few moments.

  If you have something else to do put it off until after dinner and take this little walk anyway.

  If you are a Colorado Springs property holder and you have not kept your lawn and the trees about your place in as good condition as your neighbors would have liked, then by all means take this little walk and see what a change would come over the town if everyone would do a little work of the kind that is being done in that vicinity. When you look at the ground over in the vicinity of the Mesa road bridge and realize the transformation that has taken place there, just bear in mind this is further fact:

  It hasn’t cost very much money if Willamette avenue were to be extended westward from Cascade avenue across Monument creek to the right of way the Rio Grande railroad and Yampa street extended also to the railroad property, these two streets would bound on the south and north, a tract of land that bears little more resemblance today to the same tract of land two weeks ago than the average growing city of the west does to the “howling wilderness” which the same place was when the Fourth of July orator first saw it. Two weeks ago this section was covered, with an almost impenetrable entanglement of dead weeds, dead tree limbs, papers, and other rubbish that might be carried to a neglected spot by the winds of summers and as many winters and it would not have required any extreme degree of diligence on the part of a searching party to have located within the boundaries of this tract a tin can toward deliberately thrown there by some careless person. It was never set apart by the city as a dumping ground for rubbish but there was rubbish there and lots of it. If there had been posted along the Mesa road that crosses the tract from the Monument bridge to Cascade avenue, intersecting the latter at Willamette avenue, a few signs warning people that placing rubbish on this tract of land was a violation of a city ordinance, the tens of thousands of tourists who have driven over that road during the past few years would certainly have been justified to believing that the ordinance had been violated.

  There is no road in the vicinity of Colorado Springs that is more traveled by tourists in their drives between the points of interest than this one. Nearly every tourist who comes wants to see Manitou and the Garden of the Gods and most of them go to Glen Eyrie. If the drive is from Manitou through the Garden and Glen Eyrie and there to Colorado Springs the trip to Colorado Springs is made via the Mesa road, if Manitou is the end of the drive instead of the beginning, then the Mesa road is the first road over which the tourist party rides.

  The Mesa road bridge over the Monument can be reached from Cascade avenue by three thoroughfares. The Mesa road cut-off from Cascade runs down the hill from Willamette avenue passing the Lowe and Studder residence on the west and the Pastorius home on the east. Dale street extends down the hill west of Cascade avenue, passing the Beach and Chisholm places and Cache La Poudre street also leads to the Mesa bridge descending the hill between the Wolcott observatory of Colorado college on the north and the residence of Henry Russell Wray on the south. For years the drive to or from the Monument bridge by either of these thoroughfares has been one that the resident of Colorado Springs would try to forget immediately upon completing it and if he happened to be accompanied by a visitor from elsewhere he did the best he could to interest his friend in the mountains until this stretch of road had been passed. But not so now or hereafter.

  At the cost of considerable muscle but of comparatively little money there has been a transformation wrought in this place. Fifty acres of ground have been cleaned. The papers have been burned and the weeds have been horned. The ground has been raked and cleaned and the dead limbs and evidences of neglect have been removed from the trees and disposed of. The hillsides have been smoothed, the hammocks have been taken off and the holes have been filled. Tall willows and cottonwoods that have always been an eye-sore are now an ornament. Ditch-boxes that were filled with dirt have been cleared and extended and ditch-boxes have been put in where formerly the rains cut their courses at will. The work has been done by the Colorado Springs company, owners of the property, and they are planning to make still further improvements. Grass seed will be sown over the entire tract and shrubs will be planted where they will add to the attractiveness of the place. Where there are no trees, willows, or cottonwoods will be set out in order that there may be a uniformity in this respect. There is nothing elaborate about this. It is simply making a cared-for place out of what has heretofore been a neglected one and it something that every property holder in Colorado Springs whose home is not in the condition that it should be in ought to do.

  With the Colorado college campus a pretty stretch of green, which it will be within a short time, the city property south of the Antlers hotel added to the Antlers and the Mesa road creek bottom a clean and cared-for spot. Colorado Springs will be fifty per cent more beautiful and pleasing to the traveling public and to the resident of the city than ever before.

  If every owner of a home site in Colorado Springs would put a little muscle and perhaps a little money into the improvement of the appearance of his property the percentage of improvement in the city as a whole would be too.

  The improvements in the creek bottom have not been the only improvements made in this vicinity that are going to make the place a great deal more attractive than before. The Seusder place is being improved by the sodding of a broad expanse of the hillside, and the Pastorius place is being improved by the building of a retaining wall that is little less than a battlement in proportions. In fact there are three walls of stone to protect the Pastorius property from the weather that is paced above the other the lowest being along the Mesa road and the highest on the level of Cascade avenue. The property in front of the residence of Henry Russell Wray also is being improved by being made largest the ground to be terraced and otherwise improved.

• 1926

  Mr. Pastorius died at home in 1926 after an illness of several weeks. Funeral services were held at the residence.

  Since Mr. Pastorius was a founder of the Colorado Springs Garden Club, the garden is very important to the history of landscape architecture in the city; it was cited as a showplace of the region in 1926.

• 1927

  Mrs. Francis D. (Mary L.) Pastorius married lawyer Victor William Hungerford in 1927, and they continued to live here. Mr. Hungerford was affiliated with the prominent law firm of Sherwin & Hungerford, vice president of the Colorado Investment & Realty Co., and served as mayor of Colorado Springs.

• 1949

  Mr. Hungerford died here from a heart ailment in 1949.

• 1951

  By 1951 the city directory indicated that the house was vacant.

• 1960

  The 1960 and 1965 city directories listed the owner as Mrs. Evelyn Wilkins. Julia Duke became a later owner of the house and was an artist and collector of regional art.

• 1962

  1962 Sanborn map indicates a 30′ high retaining wall at the rear, with a “grotto” below. The footprint of the house did not change from the 1907 Sanborn map to the 1962 Sanborn map.

• 1994

  John Hazlehurst was the next owner of the property and was a member of the Colorado Springs City Council. He filled out a survey form for the house in 1994.

  The 1994 survey form indicated the following alterations:

  Back porch enclosed.
  Window added 2nd floor east façade, presumably the oval window.
  T.B. porch added west façade third floor circa 1905.
  A shed dormer on the west which has been replaced by a balcony.
  An underground tunnel to the garden at the rear 100′ x 100′ and a 15′ drop off.

Additional Resources

• 720 N Cascade Ave Research – a collection of documents compiled during the Historic Uptown Neighborhood’s historic preservation efforts.
• Colorado Springs walking tours – North Parkside area by The Gazette