New Life for Landmark: School reborn as retirement community

New Life for Landmark

School reborn as retirement community

By Renate Robey, Denver Post Staff Writer

BOULDER - Sister Mary Theodore O'Connor came to Boulder in 1890, barely 20 years old and dying of tuberculosis.

After breathing the clean air, she was convinced it had healing qualities and she dreamed of building a Catholic school near the Flatirons.

Singlehandedly, she oversaw construction of the $30,000 massive stone building in 1892.

A week before Mount St. Gertrude's Academy opened, Sister Mary Theodore died.

But more than 100 years later, the building still is "magical."

Restoration project praised

Today, the building is being reborn as an upscale retirement community that has stayed true to its historical roots. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is part of the Historic Boulder holiday home tour that will take place Saturday and Sunday.

Local historians have praised the building as an example of preserving the history of the structure while making it functional for future generations.

"It's a magical building," said Sarah Massey-Warren, spokeswoman for Historic Boulder. "They've come in and restored with with integrity."

The Academy project, at 970 Aurora Ave., is in the University Hill area. Sister Mary Theodore's project was built when there was little else there.

Sister Mary had come from Dubuque, Iowa. She was sent to Colorado to see her brother before she died from consumption, as tuberculosis was called then. Her brother, who was a doctor for the railroads in Denver, suggested she visit Boulder.

After she decided to build the school there, she look all the bids and was in charge of the construction, unusual for a young woman of that period. She insisted the school be high-tech: It had the 17th phone installed in the city.

Workers see builder's ghost

After Sister Mary died, her body lay in honor in the school for a week, even though the glass in the windows had not yet been installed.

Sister Mary's ghost is said to still watch over the building. During the renovation, two construction workers, who did not know of the stories of the ghost, said they saw a woman in black watching their work. Other employees reported hearing footsteps or a cool breeze in the Conservatory, a building added to the site in 1921.

The building operated as a private girls school until 1969.

"It was a very lively place," said Cassie Pyle, 63. Pyle spent five years at the boarding school there during World War II. She applauded the way the building has been restored.

In fact, Pyle is moving back to the Academy with her husband. "It will be interesting to see what it's like the second time around."

It was the determination of Sister Mary Theodore that got the building constructed. It was the determination of a group of investors that saved it 100 years later.

After the school closed, the property was bought by the University of Colorado. The university used it for offices, and dance and music classes. However, in 1980, arson destroyed part of the building. It stood vacant until the current renovation began.

But the road to restoration was difficult. While the building sat decaying, the university tried to sell it, but deals fell though. There was talk of tearing the building down.

Neighbors go to court

Neighbors bitterly opposed initial redevelopment plans and the protests eventually ended up in court before a compromise was reached.

CU eventually leased the site to The Academy Group, the investors who decided to renovate the building into the retirement community.

When they began, there were 75 raccoons living in the facility, windows were broken or boarded up, and there were holes in the floor.

The group has made an estimated $15 million in improvements to the site, renovating the original buildings and adding others. The chapel has been restored, and two of the small confessionals were retained.

The retirement community features nine newly constructed bungalows that range up to 1,700 square feet. The apartments range from 873 square feet to 1,578 square feet. The initial membership fee is $40,000. Several units have monthly fees of more than $4,700.

"Our group has a long-term perspective and a fairly remarkable level of patience," said Gary Berg, one of the partners in the project. "We think we've got something that's really special."

Caption 1: Top, Mount St. Gertrude's Academy in 1892, standing in what is now Boulder's University Hill area; above, the same building today. The old Catholic school has been restored as part of an upscale retirement community.

Caption 2: Martha Boyer, a resident of the Academy in Boulder, reads in her living room. Historians have praised the renovation of the century-old Academy building which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.