User:Oddharmonic/Brook Forest Inn

The Brook Forest Inn is a small resort and restaurant combining the Swiss Chalet and Tudor Revival styles in Evergreen, Colorado. Since its opening and through the height of its popularity in the 1940s and 1950s, the Brook Forest Inn played a vital role in resort tourism along the Front Range. With the exception of brief periods, the Brook Forest Inn has continuously operated as an Inn and restaurant since May 17, 1919.

History
In 1909, Austrian immigrant Edwin F. Welz and his wife, Swiss immigrant Marie A. (Jenney) Welz, filed papers to take over an abandoned homestead claim that had a cabin signed with a board inscribed "Brook Forest". Marie, the couple's son Edwin H., and Marie's sister took up residence in the cabin. Edwin F. Welz joined them as he could to help repair and expand the cabin and homestead, eventually selling his other interests and moving to the homestead full-time after his sister-in-law left the homestead. The couple built a guest cottage around 1915 and began renting it out. The Welzes continued improving the homestead, remodeling the Inn and then began adding cottages every few years.

Expansion and development
In 1919 Edwin Welz consulted an unnamed architect for plans to build the Swiss Chalet cottage and possibly other buildings all to incorporate a Swiss influence in the architecture. In January 1921, the Colorado Transcript reported Edwin began construction of a 19-room hotel. This was the first large addition to the simple cabin and contained the Swiss-influenced architecture and decorative features, yet portions of the original Rustic cabin were retained.

The Inn and restaurant business grew and the need to have a post office closer than traveling the winding road to Evergreen became apparent. Edwin applied for and received the commission to act as postmaster of the newly created post office October 11, 1921, and was listed as its own town named Brook Forest, Colorado. This post continued until February 15, 1949.

The year 1927 marked the end of another major remodel and addition to the Inn. The north gabled projection received an additional one and one-half stories clad in shiplap. The first floor of this area became a large dining room. Contractors wrapped the Inn's entire first floor in white quartz rock and added a single story addition to the southeast and the west elevations built of white quartz rock. The rock and design of the castellated parapet on the southeast one story addition provided a Tudor Revival influence.

The Welzes had additional cottages, cabins, outbuildings, and structures constructed during the 1920s and 1930s. These included a 1930 cottage named Jenney for Marie's maiden name, the Daly in 1933, the Castle Tower house in 1935, along with the Honeymoon Cabin, the Chanti Cabin, and the Switzerland. Today only the Jenney, Daly, Castle Tower, Chanti and Swiss Chalet are extant, but are owned as private residences. The Switzerland, used as the Welzes' home, burned down sometime after 1956; the Honeymoon Cabin fell into disrepair and only its foundation remains.

Amenities for the guests included equestrian stables, a pond, large swimming pool, double tennis court, croquet grounds, horseshoe court, picnic area, and recreation hall where plays, concerts, and other entertainment took place. Edwin Welz contacted the United States Forest Service and successfully negotiated a way for the Forest Service to cut a trail to a nearby waterfall, now known as Maxwell Falls, on Forest Service land and a riding trail to Mount Evans. As parcels were sold throughout the years, none of these features, except for the trails, remain.

Ownership changes
By 1946 Christian and Jenne Maurer acquired the resort, cottages, and the surrounding acreage. For reasons not found, by 1952, the Welzes regained ownership and continued the business until 1956, the year Edwin Welz died. Marie sold the resort back to the Maurers, who by 1962 lost title through a public trustee foreclosure sale to Mae E. Zall. Subsequently the property was sold, foreclosed upon again, partitioned, and acquired by various owners between 1962 and 1995.

In January 1996, Rubel and Betty Atencio purchased the property and restored the entire Inn building. By September 1997, the Atencios completed the restoration, providing guests the grandeur once known at the Brook Forest Inn complete with a restaurant, lounge, and events center. In 1999 the Atencios sold the property to a couple that planned to run an all-inclusive computer training center. With the decline of the computer industry after September 11, 2001, the center went bankrupt and lost the property. The Atencios foreclosed on the property, regained ownership, restored the building once again, and reopened to the public by 2002. The inn continued to operate under the Atencio family until August 2010, when it was acquired by Jon and Melissa Barton. The Bartons closed the inn for two months for a renovation that included updates to the kitchen and banquet room, energy-efficient acrylic windows, and mini-cell towers to improve cell reception.