Trophy homes: Who is buying these?
La Veta area awash in million-dollar homes
By TAMMY ALHADEF
THE PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN
LA VETA - For more than 100 years, visitors have been moving to the lush
mountain valley below the Spanish Peaks to enjoy cooler temperatures and endless green
outdoors.
But what once was a home to canvas tents and cozy summer cabins has become big
business. Many people headed for these hills are bringing with them deep pockets to snag
grand abodes.
So who buys these homes?
Here are three examples:
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This 14,300-square-foot summer home owned by Walt and
Jeanette Johnson is just outside of La Veta.
CHIEFTAIN PHOTOS/PAUL ALHADEF
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WALT AND JEANETTE Johnson set out to buy a summer home to beat the Florida heat
and wound up with something a little out of the ordinary. Their purchase wasn't your
average log cabin, but a 14,300-square-foot log house that features three guest
apartments, an enormous kitchen and a landing pad for alien spaceships.
That’s right, UFOs.
"One of the previous property owners built that (UFO pad) 50 years or so ago," Walt
Johnson said. "I heard she was a little eccentric."
The Johnsons, who make a living building and renting strip malls in Florida, purchased
the 874-acre summer property for $4.35 million.
It came furnished with antiques and antebellum (pre-Civil War) light fixtures from New
Orleans, so there wasn’t much for the couple to do but landscape. Last spring, they
planted 85 trees and are in the process of putting in a waterfall in the front yard. It
will cascade down a 40-foot hill into a pond at the edge of the driveway.
One of the few things the Johnsons brought with them was an enormous menagerie of
hunting trophies gathered on safaris from throughout the world. Anteaters, jackals,
monkeys, deer, buffalo - even a hippopotamus- adorn the walls. Johnson said he wanted a
house big enough to hold them all.
"I’ve still got closets full of animals that I don’t have room for," he
said.
Jeanette Johnson, who cleans the house herself, said they really only use a small
portion of their home on a daily basis.
"We don’t really entertain much," she said.
Walt Johnson said the town of La Veta was the key selling point. After looking in
Wyoming, Montana and Northern Colorado, the couple settled on the La Veta property
because the town offered them exactly what they wanted.
"I thought I’d go out West and find myself a view of snow-capped mountains," he
said, "Something with a spot for fishing, near town. Some place quiet, with a laid-back
atmosphere."
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Hunting trophies gathered on safari adorn the walls of the
Johnsons' great room.
CHIEFTAIN PHOTOS/PAUL ALHADEF
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BILL MENG, a Florida contractor, decided he would design his summer dream home
for himself and his former wife. He shipped in massive 36-inch-wide logs from Idaho to
build his 5,500-square-foot summer getaway in the forest. A two-story great room window
overlooks the valley at the Great Dike Walls, the Spanish Peaks and beyond.
"There just isn’t a better view," Meng said.
The towering, three-story home, which sits on 50 acres, took several summers to
complete. Meng said it took an additional five or six years to put together the finishing
touches.
A lover of craftsmanship, Meng outfitted the home with etched glass doors by Estes
Park artist Kathy Bradford. Butterflies, hummingbirds and squirrels peer out from the
frosted glass to greet guests.
Meng commissioned local artist Mark Petry to create a wrought-iron railing for the
staircase, which spirals up through the center of the home. Petry also created
one-of-a-kind fireplace screens and door hardware.
Meng milled wide plank panels for the basement walls and sliding closet doors
throughout the home, using beetle-killed pine from his property.
Meng, who was divorced recently, just sold the house for more than $1.5 million.
JERRY AND LIZ Henson moved out of Santa Fe, N.M., and then Steamboat Springs,
seven years ago, to get away from the crowds.
They stumbled on Huerfano County and decided to make it their full-time home. They
bought 70 acres overlooking the valley and named it the Second Chance Ranch.
"We just fell in love with the area, and the people," Liz Henson said.
Jerry Henson, who is a real estate agent for Bachman and Associates, hired his
longtime friend Mike Duty, a Santa Fe architect, to design a modest space with a flexible
design.
They chose a Northern New Mexico territorial style for their 3,000-square-foot home as
a way to bring a little of Santa Fe with them to Colorado.
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The Hensons' living room and dining room are a marriage of
new and old.
CHIEFTAIN PHOTOS/PAUL ALHADEF
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Liz Henson, who was an antique dealer until just a few years ago, decorated the home
with antiques and architectural salvage she had collected over the years. The design
settles the home into the surrounding hills as if it has stood there for more than a
century.
Because the Hensons entertain regularly, the house opens onto numerous terraces and a
patio that features a large kiva fireplace.
The outdoor rooms situated around the house double the entertaining space. Cozy tables
and benches tucked into nooks and crannies make the space intimate and inviting.
Liz Henson also put in a "picnic barn" a short distance from the house. Rustic barn
doors open up onto a full-sized kitchen with a gravel floor. The dining room is a large
fire pit surrounded by vintage tractor seats attached to old tree stumps.
"We situated the space so the house would be hidden," she said. "It feels like you
could be camping miles away from anything."
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An old bench rests against the new stucco walls outside the
home of Jerry and Liz Henson.
CHIEFTAIN PHOTOS/PAUL ALHADEF
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