Historic Estes Park Inn Up for Grabs
Share News:
The beautiful Estes Park, Colo., is a great place to play — we all know that. But what if we told you that you could also own an entire inn that would provide both a personal playground and a revenue stream?
This week’s historical shelter is the Baldpate Inn. The Estes Park staple has 12 guest rooms in the main lodge, four cabins, the original homestead, and an outdoor event area.
And did we mention the views?
“The Homestead was completely renovated in 2015 and has huge potential as the ‘Presidential Suite,’” said listing agent Jonathan Danton at LIV Sotheby’s International Realty.
In addition to the lodging, the inn boasts award-winning dining and the world’s largest key collection. Guests can also hike, fish and play in the nearby Rocky Mountain National Park. The inn also has lake access, staff quarters, a library, caretaker house and 41 fireplaces.
According to local lore, the Baldpate Inn was the brainchild of the Mace family. After Ethel and Gordon Mace honeymooned in Estes Park in 1911, they decided to live there permanently. Not long after, Gordon’s photographer brothers, Charles and Stewart, joined them.
You can now see Charles and Stewart’s photography throughout the dining room at the inn.
The inn was built in 1917, reportedly from trees and stones from the property. They named the book after the inn in the Earl Derr Biggers novel, Seven Keys to Baldpate. The inspiration for the name also brought another tradition — guests bringing the Maces (and later the subsequent inn owners) interesting, collectible keys.
The first key came from Clarence Darrow, in 1923. Other keys in the collection include Edgar Allan Poe’s dorm room key, Stephen King’s key to the hotel room where he wrote The Shining, the Pentagon, Westminster Abbey, Mozart’s wine cellar, and Frankenstein’s castle.
All of the keys can now be found hanging in the Key Room at the Baldpate Inn, and the keys are cataloged in a database and curated. There is also an enchanting blog about the Key Room.
The inn is listed at $3.99 million.
THESE BREATH TAKING BEAUTIFUL SCENES REMIND ME OF GRAND LAKE WHERE MY PARENTS AND I SPENT A DELIGHTFUL VACATION IN 1951. DAD WAS champion swimmer and ,as soon as, we arrived at our cabin named Juliet, he changed clothes and went swimming in the river. I never saw anyone get out of water ,as fast , as he did. the water was so cold. hen we tried horseback riding for the first time. My horse Midnight stopped on a hill and DAD said to hit him. I replied that it would hurt him. So, Dad gave him a whack and off we went. we had a fire in our fireplace every night in July. Our cat and dog roamed freely. a principal and his teacher wife were squatters and that was how they obtained this beautiful land.
Oh my I, too, enjoyed a beautiful family vacation in Estes Park in the mid 1960’s. Beautiful memories, thanks for sharing yours.
As a follow-up, can you verify whether the Baldpate Inn in Estes Park eventually sold? I saw that it was up for auction at one time.