SUBSCRIBE NOW
GIVE A GIFT

DINING GUIDE

Select Cuisine --- American Asian Barbecue Breakfast Cajun/Southern Caribbean Contemporary Deli Ethiopian French Fusion Health Indian International Italian Latin American Mediterranean Mexican Middle Eastern Pizza Pub Seafood Southwestern Steak House Select Neighborhood --- Downtown Cherry Creek Central Denver Boulder Southeast Metro Southwest Metro Northwest Metro Northeast Metro

Advanced Search

TOP DOCTORS

Click here for our 2009 list, with 283 Denver doctors in 83 medical specialties. It's our biggest, most comprehensive Top Docs feature yet.

NEWSLETTERS

Sign up for 5280's weekly e-newsletters. Want the latest restaurant scoop? The latest happenings around town? Access to exclusive events and deals just for 5280 readers? Sign up today for our great 5280 email newsletters and you'll be in the know all week long.

TALK TO 5280

Tell us about it. Give us your restaurant feedback or submit your event for our online and printed calendar.

JOBS

Find out more.

Soul Survivor
A Denver couple captures the heart of a grand old neighborhood in a brand-new home.
By Rose Fredrick. Photography by Brendan Harrington
November 2005

Bill and Maya Trinen have a thing for old houses-painted Victorians, snug bungalows, Arts and Crafts-style homes. They believe those houses have character and, more important, soul. So last year when the opportunity arose to buy a dated ranch-style home on a rare triple lot in Observatory Park, they bought the place with the idea of creating a new-old home-one that was large and comfortable enough for a family, but that still had style elements that would fit the 100-plus-year-old sub-neighborhood of University Park.

Initially they considered updating the existing home but quickly realized that not only were the rooms too small, giving the house a chopped-up feel, but also the electrical and plumbing systems needed far too much work; it would be easier to start from scratch. So, while bulldozers cleared the lot, the couple set out on a quest to find all the elements for their perfect home. They knew that if they wanted to get everything they hoped for they would have to go into this project well prepared. They wandered through some 80 newly built homes and bought stacks of books and magazines, tearing out pages of fixtures, tiles, rooflines, porches, and anything else they liked until they'd compiled their own architectural guidebook. They even wrote a 10-page essay about their perfect home, which they shared with general contractor Alex Rogl and home designer Dennis Schlachter. "They had a decided idea of what they wanted-they really did their homework," Schlachter says, adding, "They had some big ideas."

Read the full story in the November 2005 issue of 5280 Magazine.

ADVERTISING