al-birch-cabin-in-estes-park
This house was once the house of Denver Post writer Al Birch. Birch came to Estes Park in 1902 at age 20, and with two other young men cut a trail to Bear Lake and spent the summer there. In 1907 the stone house stood daringly perched on the knoll. Birch called it “Jacob’s Ladder” because when the colors refracted through it’s leaded-glass front door it reminded him of Joseph’s biblical coat of many colors. Birch employed Estes Park mason Carl Piltz to do the stonework. Piltz, who would become famous for the many fireplaces built for early residents of the village, did his work well. But the carpenter employed to do the interior work ran floor joists under the fireplace with only 4 inches of cement above the timbers. In December 1907, these joists were heated up by the firebox, caught fire, and left Birch’s home a blackened ruin. (Pickering, James H., Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park: Then and Now, Westcliffe Publishers))
