THE CASTLE GREENHOUSE
by
Tucker D Farris

A Feat of Steel and Glass: Local Nonprofit
Seeks to Preserve John C. Osgood’s Greenhouse

A feature of John C. Osgood’s Cleveholm Manor (otherwise referred to as the Redstone Castle) stands on the precipice of historic conservation thirty miles downriver in Glenwood Springs. The Lord and Burnham greenhouse, a staple feature of the grounds of the castle, constructed for Osgood in 1903 is now in the hands of the Glenwood Springs Riverside Botanical Gardens, a nonprofit group seeking to deconstruct the historic structure at its current location on Highway 6 (at the former Glenwood Gardens) and relocate it to a new site where it will feature as the centerpeice of a new botanical garden for visitors to enjoy.

Preparing to move the greenhouse to Glenwood Springs - Lucas Kovats collection

Moved to West Glenwood in 1939 by S. Floyd Chappel, the original greenhouse was a feature of Osgood’s estate through the Colorado Fuel and Iron days in the early 1900s through his return to Redstone in the 1920s. It was located on the grounds of the castle and was state-of-the-art for the day. A sprawling oasis from the cold, dry mountain air, it provided a steady and stable fixture for the growing of vegetables, fruits and exotics in Redstone. The greenhouse reflected the unique translation of Victorian elegance into the American West, wherein the holdovers of these architectural, social and practical stylings remained fashionable as the Victorian era faded into history. Changing hands over the decades, the greenhouse has remained a working greenhouse for over 80 years.

Gardening and food cultivation was also a crucial component of the early days of Redstone, with married miners living in the cottages on the boulevard having been granted plots for gardening as a condition of Osgood’s company town. While large-scale agriculture was commonplace down the river in Carbondale, the ability to grow foods in one’s own yard was a luxury few, if any, other mining towns offered as a guaranteed option, rather than a move of necessity. Osgood’s greenhouse stood as a shining example of the idealism of the mining town of Redstone, the peak of aspirational luxury for him and for his miners.

The Greenhouse in its complete form on the grounds of Osgood’s Cleveholm Manor. Photo Credit John Schutte, Courtesy of Glenwood Springs Riverside Botanical Gardens.
The Greenhouse in its complete form on the grounds of Osgood’s Cleveholm Manor. Photo Credit John Schutte, Courtesy of Glenwood Springs Riverside Botanical Gardens.
Arial view of Greenhouse on the grounds of the Redstone Castle, 1903- 1939 The rock was quarried from the cliffs in the background. Photo Credit Charlotte Osgood Blackmer Collection
Arial view of Greenhouse on the grounds of the Redstone Castle, 1903- 1939 The rock was quarried from the cliffs in the background. Photo Credit Charlotte Osgood Blackmer Collection
Interior of the greenhouse today, illustrating the steel and glass structure and fine condition for being over a century old. Photo courtesy Carolyn Cipperly, Glenwood Springs Riverside Botanical Gardens
Interior of the greenhouse today, illustrating the steel and glass structure and fine condition for being over a century old. Photo courtesy Carolyn Cipperly, Glenwood Springs Riverside Botanical Gardens

The structure, a flowing river of steel and glass still inspires the elegance and distinction of Cleveholm Manor, over 120 years later. The main center structure remains intact and original, which is rare for glass greenhouses of its age, especially ones that travelled thirty miles after their construction via railways. The extended wings of the greenhouse were dismantled and presumably sold for raw materials following the liquidation of Osgood’s estate, but the centerpiece remains a testament to the bygone era of guilded age opulence in the Ruby of the Rockies.

The Glenwood Springs Riverside Botanical Gardens is now working on the historical preservation of this unique gem of our shared history. With a new affordable housing development on track to break ground in the same location the greenhouse now stands, they have been working tirelessly to find a new home for their botanical gardens and the greenhouse. The greenhouse will again be disassembled and carefully relocated to a new location where it will serve as the centerpiece of the newly proposed botanical gardens. Carolyn Cipperly, of the Glenwood Springs Historical Society is taking a lead on the project and has expressed in an interview the path of this project from inception to implementation. She described a deep love of history of the valley, and we spoke of the unique connection that the greenhouse brings between Glenwood Springs and Redstone, connecting two western towns with intertwined and varied histories together again in new ways. We spoke of how the greenhouse is almost a confluence touchstone for our communities, once standing on the banks of the Crystal River, now on the banks of the Colorado, and soon, hopefully near the confluence of the Roaring Fork and the Colorado River.

The Glenwood Springs Riverside Botanical Gardens are now in their first phase of fundraising to preserve the greenhouse and are seeking the community’s help in realizing their goals. They need to raise $75,000 for this first phase which includes the dismantling, preservation and restoration of the greenhouse structure before moving it to its new location which is to be determined. More information about the greenhouse and The Glenwood Springs Riverside Botanical Gardens project may be found at www.glenwoodspringsriversidebotanicalgardens.comand tax deductible donations may be made via Zeffy at: https://shorturl.at/4AdBw 100% of donations go directly to the project of historical preservation of the greenhouse and the establishment of a botanical garden in Glenwood Springs.

Author Tucker D. Farris is a fifth-generation local of the Crystal Valley, serves on the board of the Redstone Historical Society, teaches sociology at Colorado Mountain College and Colorado State University and moonlights as a journalist where needed.