The Cliff May Homes - Harvey Park, Denver, Colorado Mid-Century Modern
PATENT PENDING :: CLIFF MAY & CHRIS COATE
The Cliff May mid-century modern homes are located in Harvey Park outside of Denver, Colorado, and are bound by Iliff to the north, Osceola to the west, Lowell Blvd. to the east, and Vassar to the South. The enclave is very close to the actual park in Harvey Park, which is northwest of the neighborhood, as well as the Loretto Heights campus, which is to the Southeast. These homes were and are considered some of the most affordable Mid-Century Modern homes left in the Denver Metro Area, however, that time may quickly be over soon as aggressive price appreciation increases the value of this rare tract of 170 homes.
THE STORY
Franklin Burns was a well known Denver developer who was ahead of his time. After building the Burns Brentwood subdivision in the late 1940s in anticipation of soldiers coming back from the war, he was ready for something new. The Harvey Park area in the early 1950s was booming with construction and promise of thousands of homes for these newly returned veterans as the population surged. So, D.C Burns Construction built the Rocky Mountain Cliff May Homes, designed by the famous California architect known for Spanish ranch style home designs. 170 of these homes in Harvey Park are still standing, and were originally built in quality controlled factories, and then flat packages of materials were shipped out on trucks and later built in place as pre-fabricated homes. The original fences in the neighborhood were made out of the remaining box materials that the homes came in. Every material shipped was used and the process used to build these homes was different from the way most post and beam construction homes were built, so that one home could be completed in almost a day. The different models of these homes were swapped in various directions on the lots so that most homes appeared to be the same size from the street.
86 of these properties were featured in the 1955 Parade of Homes and this is the largest Cliff May enclave located in the United States outside of California, due to the innovation and ambition of distributor D.C. Burns. One set of original owners still happily reside in the neighborhood on Newton Street.
Source: Modern in Denver