Aspen Highlands and Castle Maroon Mid-Century Modern Homes

Castle Creek and Maroon Creek / The Aspen Highlands area, doesn’t really have a ton of mid-century modern. Aspen Highlands mountain opened in 1958 and was independently owned by Whipple Van Ness “Whip” Jones. The mountain opened with a rope tow, t-bar lift, and both the Thunderbowl and Exhibition lifts.

The Alan & Jude Risk Turner Residence wasn’t built in the Aspen Highlands area until 1980. That said, this home is situated in what I would deem to be one of the most perfect locations in all of Aspen. Not only is this home walkable to Aspen High School, Elementary, and Middle Schools, making it extremely valuable, but also, if you are a fan of skiing some of the best terrain in all of Colorado including the legendary Aspen Highlands Bowl, this home is the perfect mid-century modern in the state. The Risk Turner residence faces the wide open Golden Horn race run at Aspen Highlands.

The home also has a certifiable green roof complete with passive solar heating. Every so often, as featured by the Aspen Times article below, the green roof must be restored. There is a sprinkler system on the roof as well. The home sold for $1.5M in 2002, and at the time, sat on the market for a while, and ran the risk of being scraped for land value. However, thankfully it was saved and restored by a Modernist afficionado. The new owner had all of the front glass windows replaced, he also redid the kitchen and sandblasted the ceiling in order to lighten up the space. This owner also took down a concrete wall to add a third bedroom, which makes sense given that the home is only around 2700 square feet. The architectural plans for this home are absolutely gorgeous, and ultimately the home was designed to look like a giant snow mound that blends in with the surrounding landscape.