John Denver’s house becomes a second home

John Denver’s former Starwood residence on Johnson Drive sold for $3.68 million last month, according to local realtor Carol Dopkin.

Dopkin declined to identify the buyers, but said a family had purchased the seven-plus acre estate.

“They’re going to keep the home and use it as a family retreat and vacation home,” she said.

Some local residents and far-flung John Denver fans had suggested that the residence, which went on the market July 8, 1998, be made into a museum to honor the late singer and activist who died in a plane crash off the coast of California in October 1997.

A 6,800-square-foot, five-bedroom main house and 2,200-square-foot, three-bedroom guest house sit on the former Denver estate, Dopkin said.

“The house is a house of intimate spaces,” Dopkin said. “It’s very romantic with a lot of quality to it. The master bedroom is very unusual because it has a whole wall of stained glass, a Jacuzzi for two, a steam room. [Denver’s] study is almost spiritual in feeling and it has a library and reading loft just off of it, and then a deck with a telescope.

“His house isn’t just a house, it’s an experience,” Dopkin said. “It has character to it, and that sounds like it must have been funky, but it wasn’t, it was quality. It has a lot of things that I would call timeless. It has very interesting architecture, with lots of wood and lots of solar applications.”

Dopkin said Denver and his former wife, Annie, built the two houses in 1975. Both were remodeled in 1984, she added.

“There’s a swimming pool and beautiful grounds, suitable for horses. It’s just a very romantic house,” Dopkin said.

“The place has the most spectacular views,” she added.

When Denver purchased the two adjoining lots in the 1970s, “he had his choice of almost any lot in Starwood and he chose this one,” she said.

Denver’s presence in the subdivision attracted so many fans that the singer put up the funds for the first Starwood guardhouse.