Sphinxes guard the entry of the pink rhyolite mansion built for James John Hagerman, who spent a fortune he made in Michigan iron mills to construct the Colorado Midland Railroad from Colorado Springs to Grand Junction. Flemish gables crown Tudor-arched windows and dormers in this three-story house, whose grounds once occupied the entire block.

During the 1920s Benjamin Lefkowsky purchased the estate and added L-shaped stuccoed wings to both sides of the house. On the north side, he built a similarly massed Decoesque apartment house. He also converted the carriage house to residential units. By incorporating similar design elements and scale, Lefkowsky accomplished the change without destroying the mansion's character.