Redstone Castle
Year Listed: 2004
County: Pitkin County
Status: SAVED
Context: Residential/Industrial
Date Constructed: 1903
Significance:
When empires were built in a nationwide drive toward industrialism, John Cleveland Osgood constructed a forty-two-room castle which he christened Cleveholm Manor as a testament to his achievements. Osgood, one of the most prominent captains of industry in the United States during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, formed the Colorado Fuel Company, which eventually evolved into the Colorado Fuel & Iron Company (CF&I), becoming the sole coal supplier to regional railroads and furnishing high quality coking coal to precious metal smelters across the Rockies. He allied and fought with the likes of financier John W. “Bet-a-Million” Gates, railroad czars E.H. Harriman and George J. Gould, and oil tycoon and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller, who eventually seized control of CF&I. Cleveholm Manor is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Threat When Listed:
Seizure by IRS and sale, piece by piece
Since Listing:
Colorado Preservation, Inc., the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the Redstone Historical Society and other consulting parties worked with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to develop an acquisition agreement that would protect the castle from demolition and prevent the removal or change of its fixed interior contents. When the IRS auctioned the castle in the spring of 2005, a preservation easement protected the exterior of the main buildings, the interior of the major rooms, and twenty-two acres surrounding Redstone Castle. In addition, the 138 acres adjoining Redstone Castle was designated a Historic District by the county and is subject to review by the Redstone Historic Preservation Commission.
In 2006,the IRS and partners including Colorado Preservation, Inc., the Redstone Historical Society, the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the Colorado Historical Society received an award from the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation for the easement on the Castle.
Last Updated:
November 2006