HENRY S. PERSSE PLACE
Roxborough State Park
Littleton, Colorado
National Register of Historic Places
Stone House

Exterior Restoration and Structural Remediation
1995

1400 SF
Cost: $52,000

Interior Restoration
1997
Projected Cost: $48,000

The Henry S. Persse Place Stone House is one of the few remaining structures on the Persse Place property
that is now a part of Roxborough State Park located southwest of Denver. The site, developed between
1901 and 1910, originally included the house, barns, and guest cottages. Built-in 1903, the Stone House
underwent exterior restoration, reconstruction, and structural re
-mediation as part of a multiphase plan for the site.
BlueSky Studio was hired by the Colorado State Division of Parks and Outdoor Recreation
to provide technical expertise for the structural stabilization, weatherproofing, ADA compliance, and reconstruction of
the porch and kitchen. Funding for this project was supplied by a grant from the Colorado Historical
Society. Utilizing information gath
ered from a study of the site commissioned in the late 1980s and
painstaking research of debris left at the site, the building’s details were recreated and modified where
necessary to meet current code requirements.
Before restoration began, the one stor y kitchen and roofed porch had collapsed. The ravages of time had
taken their toll on most of the wood and stone that remained. Careful research and analysis yielded a
compatible source for replacement stone and specifications for rebuilding and repointing mortar. Lateral
bracing was added to the structure and hidden in the rafter spaces. New roofing technology was
implemented to mitigate fire spread and ice dams, allowing the look of cedar shingles to appear as original