W

My brother in law and his honey are getting married next year and they invited me to go along to their site visit yesterday at the Highlands Ranch Mansion which is in (you guessed it!) Highlands Ranch, Colorado. It’s a gorgeous Tudor revival house that sits on top of a hill right in the heart of Highlands Ranch with great views of the mountains. The enormous mansion is over 120 years old with a ton of uniquely decorated rooms and bathrooms.
The mansion has been home to a veritable who’s who in Colorado and Western history belonging to cattle and oil barons and the Phipps family. In the late 1970’s the house was even featured in the filming of the television Mini Series called Centennial. The mansion was used the depict the fictional Venneford Ranch. The reception area is a gigantic room with wood floors, exposed brick and stone walls, and huge wood beams across the ceiling. There’s a nice courtyard just off of the reception room so that guests can enjoy the outdoor space on a nice day. One of my favorite rooms is the solarium lounge which is painted a nice soothing blue green color. Upstairs there are very large, comfortable rooms for both the bride and groom to get ready in and there is a ton of historical character and charm throughout the entire space.
The mansion is open to the public from 9 am to 2 pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays with volunteers who give free guided tours.
This Thursday the 13th they are hosting a Valentines Day open house with live music, complimentary coffee and treats and tours of the home. I highly recommend checking it out!

The wood carved details throughout the house are gorgeous. Here is one of the front doors and the grand staircase.

Here’s the front living room just to the right of the front entrance.

Here is the groomsmen getting ready area. The gal in that painting got married at the mansion.

This is the beautiful Solarium I mentioned above. I love the pretty light leaking into this room.

And we just had to get a photo of the happy couple visiting their site 1 year before their wedding. Valentine’s Day 2015, here we come:)

Here’s a view of the front of the mansion from the circle driveway. I love the idea of getting married between those steps in front of the grand house.

Directly to your right when you walk in you can see the entrance to the living room. The photo on the left is a view of the formal dining room. The mansion staff sometimes use that space for serving hor d’oeuvres during cocktail hour.

The bridal dressing area upstairs.

This is just one of the pretty renovated upstairs bathrooms at the mansion

A rich tapestry hangs beneath the wood carved molding in the dining room.

There are plenty of pretty details throughout the house. I am partial to girly chandeliers like these.

And here is the main reception area. The photo doesn’t quite do justice to what a good sized space it is. But you can see the exposed brick from the carriage house, the wood beams across the ceiling and the gorgeous wood floors throughout it all. You can’t see it in this photo, but directly to the right where all of that pretty light is leaking into the photo is where the outdoor courtyard is located.

And here’s a view of that courtyard space from the reception pavilion doors. This is the back of the mansion.