If you are driving in Denver’s Hilltop neighborhood, you might have difficulty spotting this
beautiful International-style house through the landscaping.

It is the Joshel House, designed in 1951 by local architecture/design team, Joseph and Louise Marlow, with some interior elements by Victor Hornbein. This couple designed many great mid-century International-style houses in the Denver area. (You can locate these using the Historic Denver guidebook, The Mid-Century Modern House in Denver, by Michael Paglia and Diane Wray Tomasso.)

Despite its local and national landmark status, the Joshel House was in danger of becoming a mere memory after Suzanne Joshel passed away in 2009. The estate attorney felt the property had more value as a building site and worked to undo the protective measures her own client, Suzanne Joshel, had worked so diligently to put in place. Thankfully, Historic Denver refused to vacate its preservation easements and many preservation-minded buyers expressed interest in buying the home.

My wife, Shannon Stanbro of 5280mod.com, represented one set of those buyers and spent many hours trying to educate the attorney and neighbors about the importance of preserving Hilltop’s historic modern architecture. It seems fitting that her new listing, The Eight-Foot House,
is a 2011 International-style home influenced by the Marlows’ Joshel House design.

The Eight Foot House derives its name from a passive approach to sustainable design. Created and constructed by architect Bill Buyers, a no-waste approach embraced the use of 8-foot materials, including floor to ceiling doors and windows, while paying homage to the Marlows’ elegant historic design.

I just wanted to visually compare the front of the two houses, you can find a better read and complete set of photos of the Eight-Foot House here on Shannon’s site:
www.5280mod.com. And you can see interior shots of the original Joshel House here on Lesley’s MidModRedo site.

Signature Center in Denver West, a beautiful building designed 2007 by Aardex LLC.
The sustainability of this building enabled them to obtain a LEED-CS Platinum rating!

The building offers a closeup view of South Table Mountain and to the east, of the Denver
Skyline.

The brand new 1800 Larimer by RNL Architecture with the Xcel Energy penthouse at the top!