In Denver, Colo., stands a Victorian mansion as unconventional as its most famous resident. It’s called the Molly Brown House, after the "unsinkable" heroine of stage and screen. In real life, she was an outspoken philanthropist and social activist. She and her husband, J. J. Brown, who made their fortune in gold in Leadville, Colo., bought the house in 1894 from the bankrupt owners of silver mines.
Built in 1889, the three-story, eclectic stone palace combines classic Queen Anne and Richardsonian Romanesque with refined neoclassical style. The dramatic exterior plays off the contrast between rugged rhyolite stone and smooth red sandstone. Massive stained glass windows, ornamental wood panels, and curved brackets add to its opulent look. Cutting-edge innovations like electricity, indoor plumbing, steam heat, and telephones made it a technological marvel of its time.
Although Molly Brown owned the house until 1932, she spent much of her time traveling. Through the years the home was used as a governor’s mansion, rental house, rooming house, gentleman’s boarding house and home for wayward girls. By the 1960s, severely rundown and facing demolition, it was saved through the grassroots effort of Historic Denver, Inc., a local restoration group.
Today, thanks in part to a partnership between the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Save America’s Treasures, and HGTV, this "unsinkable" old treasure is being restored to its original splendor as the popular Molly Brown House Museum.
Sites in the 2004-2005 Restore America: A Salute to Preservation campaign.
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