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FrontRangeLiving.com -> Architecture -> Byers-Evans House
 BYERS-EVANS HOUSE MUSEUM:
A TALE OF TWO FAMILIES
By Dianne Zuckerman
As a city develops and taller structures loom over a private dwelling that
once knew less imposing neighbors, the smaller building usually looks out of
place. But the Byers-Evans House Museum, a historic 19th century house at 1310
Bannock St., still seems at home in the heart of downtown Denver.
Now owned by the Colorado Historical Society (CHS), the house is open to the
public for guided tours, which offer a rewarding look at life in early Denver.
The two-story, claret-colored brick residence, built in Italianate style with a
flat roof and a decorative cornice, remains an important link to the men and
women who once lived there and left a strong imprint on the city that grew up
around them.
 William Newton Byers, who built the house in 1883 and resided there six years
with his wife, Elizabeth, was the progressive founder of Denver’s first
newspaper, the Rocky Mountain News, first published in 1859 and still in print.
William Gray Evans, who with his wife, Cornelia, bought the house in 1889 and
raised four children there, was the son of Gov. John Evans, Colorado’s
influential second territorial governor who worked with Byers on ventures that
included founding the Colorado Seminary, which became the University of Denver.
For a century - until Margaret Evans Davis, William’s last living child,
died in 1981 and the house was given to CHS - members of the Byers and Evans
families were among Denver’s most prominent and visionary residents. Their
names live on in the city as well as a pair of nearby mountain peaks. Look into
the history of Denver’s most important institutions, from libraries, museums
and parks to its hospitals, businesses and transportation systems, and Byers and
Evans are among the founding names and greatest contributors.
"They were here to build a city," says Vicki Morton, museum
assistant at the Byers-Evans House. "We’re trying to convey home and
family and the importance of these two families to the progress and development
of Denver."
 Start your tour by watching the helpful 25-minute film that gives a good
overview of both clans and their pioneering backgrounds. Historic photographs
and a lively narration introduce visitors to the various members of each family.
Energetic William and Elizabeth soon became friends and allies with the
equally hard-working Gov. John and Margaret, for the two couples shared common
goals and a commitment to their new community. The men joined forces to support
efforts such as building a railroad spur line to Cheyenne, Wyo., so Denver wasn’t
left to wither when the Union Pacific turned its tracks north of Colorado.
Meanwhile, Elizabeth and Margaret rolled up their Victorian sleeves to raise
their children in the challenging new territory, and also became involved in
church, school and charity work.
The Evans had three children, Evan, Anne and William, whose purchase of the
Byers’ house further cemented the families’ relationship. Because of the
Evans family’s long association with the property, the film focuses on the
succeeding Evans generations, including the numerous activities and talents of
William and Cornelia’s offspring: Josephine, Katharine, John and Margaret.
While John and Margaret each married and moved away, after Margaret’s husband
died, she rejoined her two unmarried sisters and all three lived the rest of
their lives in the Bannock Street home.
 Because one family occupied the site for so long, "There was a very high
degree of integrity of the house," says Georgianna Contiguglia, who was
curator of the restoration project after CHS took possession of the property.
"All the collections were there, and they hadn’t done an awful lot to the
house in recent years - which from a curatorial point of view is a godsend,
because it means that there is original material."
Following an initial inventory of the house and its contents, CHS raised
funds to cover the cost of the $1 million-plus project. Most of the actual
restoration work, based on expertise provided by historic preservationists Kathy
Hoeft and Gary Long, took place in 1988 and ‘89. The house opened to the
public in 1990.
 As curator, Georgianna catalogued and researched artifacts and helped
develop the interpretation for the house, which has been restored to reflect the
period of 1912-24. Construction and restoration work ranged from putting on a
new roof to designing appropriate window treatments, replicating original
wallpaper to reupholstering furnishings with fabrics appropriate to the selected
period.
"It was such a great project from the beginning," notes Georgianna,
currently president of CHS. "We loved doing the research on the families
and all the interior finishes."
This attention to detail can be seen throughout the house. Unlike many
historic dwellings, where you only get a peek into roped-off areas, here docents
lead visitors through more than a dozen rooms, each filled with family
memorabilia.
The tour of the home that William Evans once referred to as "the nicest
place on Earth" begins in the large library, which has two fireplaces
graced with portraits of Gov. John and Margaret Evans. The library is part of an
addition completed around 1900, when Margaret and her adult daughter, Anne, came
to live on Bannock Street following the former governor’s death in 1897.
William, who was president of Denver Tramway Co., built the library to hold
his father’s collection of leather-bound books, and also added several
upstairs rooms so his mother and sister could have their own quarters.
The many rooms, highlighted by fine appointments, reflect the Evans family’s
status and comfortable financial condition. In keeping with social customs of
the period, the house has two separate parlors.
 "This was for guests, where they would have tea," docent Amy Zimmer
says, leading the tour group into the more formal parlor. The room’s most
notable feature - and the one decorating touch that dates back to the 19th
century - is a painted ceiling. During renovation, the original hand-painted
ceiling was discovered, discolored from the early use of gas fixtures. To avoid
painting over the original, the design was copied onto canvas and placed just
below the first ceiling.
The formal parlor also contains the only pieces that once belonged to the
Byers family, an ornate, silver-plated clock and two urns. The items are
exhibited on the mantle of a fireplace framed with Minton tiles, made in
England, that depict stories from "Aesop’s Fables" and the legend of
King Arthur.
By contrast, the second, homier parlor feels more like what today would be
called a family room. Toy soldiers and a stereoscope recall popular leisure
activities of the time. The family’s literary interests, on display in
well-filled bookshelves, ranged from a biography of Thomas Edison to works by
Charles Dickens and Alexander Hamilton. The room reflects the taste of a family
that had traveled extensively through Europe, such as the Piranisi prints of
classical Greek scenes.
Cultural interests also are a focal point in the large front living room,
which features a gramophone set to spin "The Last Time I Saw Paris"
and a grand piano once played by daughter Margaret, who studied in France.
 Nearby is the tasteful dining room, set off by rose and green wallpaper,
leaded glass windows and a wall-mounted plate rail used to display decorative
pieces. The large table holds eight place settings in black, gold and white
Haviland china. "Mrs. Gov. Evans purchased it," Vicki says, "and each piece, in gold lettering, has her name and the date -
1888 - on the back."
The spacious kitchen, with its blue, white and mustard-yellow wallpaper, is
one of the most appealing parts of the house. The room is brightened by a high
skylight with a chain that let the servants dispel cooking odors and smoke from
the burly, black cast-iron stove.
While the house was updated at one point with more modern appliances, the
family had saved their original stove and tall wooden icebox, which used 25 to
50 pounds of ice, delivered daily. The room is filled with a bonanza of antique
pieces, from an unusual looking toaster with open grills to blue-striped
crockery and a large collection of pans hanging in the adjacent pantry.
A stately stairway leads to the attractive living quarters on the second
floor, which also could be accessed by an elevator. In contrast to the lower
level, filled primarily with dark woods and somber colors common to the period,
the top floor is brighter, thanks to light coming in from several plant-filled,
enclosed porches.
The upper level decor includes a master bedroom sporting bright,
poppy-patterned wallpaper, marble-top furniture, a carved bed with a lovely
half-canopy and a walk-in closet that was a rarity for the era.
Additional bedrooms include one used by daughter Josephine, a talented
craftswoman whose original loom and leatherworking tools are on display. One of
her prize-winning leatherwork designs, inscribed "Paris 1910," can be
seen in the upstairs sitting room.
Among a number of other rooms, including a bath with a claw foot tub, the
most charming - and certainly the most modern in feel - is a separate sitting
room William added on for his sister Anne, an accomplished artist whose works in
the home include a portrait of Gov. Evans, painted shortly before he died.
 Anne was an early collector of Native American and Hispanic pottery, basketry
and watercolors, and the airy, open room has a warm, regional look, from its
"Southwestern yellow" walls to the stucco fireplace. Because Anne gave
her own extensive collection to the Denver Art Museum - which appropriately
enough, now rises directly behind the Byers-Evans property - current
representative pieces in her room come from the CHS collection.
It’s the stories about women like Anne, whose achievements also included
helping to restore the Central City Opera House and save what had become a dying
ghost town, that add to the attraction of the Byers-Evans House Museum.
"The one thing that is really quite remarkable is the lives of the women
who lived in that house," Georgianna says. "You begin to get
a real sense of the personalities and the interests of the people in there. And
for me, that was really the most fun, because it brought that history to life,
brought those people to life. And I hope that’s what the house will do for
people who visit it."
The Byers-Evans House Museum is open 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesdays through
Sundays. Admission is $5 adults, $4 seniors, $3 ages 6-12 and free for
children under 6. Free to members of the Colorado Historical Society. For information about guided tours and special events, call
303-620-4933 or check the Web site: http://www.coloradohistory.org/hist_sites/Byers_Evans/byers_evans.htm
Photo credits: All interior photos and photo of Georgianna
Contiguglia courtesy of the Colorado Historical Society.
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