A wrought iron fence with cannonball finials on the brick posts guards the formal, late Georgian Revival house of Alice Cheesman, widow of the real estate and water tycoon who founded what is now the Denver Water Department. Her daughter, Gladys, and son-in-law, John Evans II, also lived briefly in the mansion before it was sold in 1926 to Claude Boettcher. After his death the Boettcher family donated it in 1958 as the governor's residence.
Deep red brick walls are almost lost amid rich white wooden frosting under a hipped roof with prominent gabled dormers. The pedimented, dentiled cornice provides a strong shadow line. Massive, two-story fluted Ionic columns guard the west side portico. The pompous entry has grouped columns supporting a porch that becomes a balustraded second-story balcony. Pilasters echo