Thanks to all who attended our previous Historic House and Building Tours
and everyone who volunteered help to make these annual tours a success.
We look forward to your participation again in future years.
How Our Annual Historic House & Building Tours Generally Work: This is your chance to take docent guided tours of historic Victor Homes & Buildings. Purchase a ticket with a map of the tour site locations at a local business (to be announced). Start the tour at any of the site locations shown on the map and proceed in any sequence. Docents at each site will tell you about the historic homes and buildings.
2024 Tour Highlights: Coming soon!!!! Click link below for current info...
www.victorheritagesociety.com/2024-historic-building-tour-victor-colorado.html
www.victorheritagesociety.com/2024-historic-building-tour-victor-colorado.html
2023 Tour Highlights:
Interiors tours of two commercial buildings in Victor National Register Downtown Historic District were as featured
on the 2023 Tour -- with emphasis on their use in the early 1900's as shown in the photos below.
on the 2023 Tour -- with emphasis on their use in the early 1900's as shown in the photos below.
2022 Tour Highlights:
2021 Tour Highlights:
2020 Historic Home & Building Tour Canceled due to concerns about COVID 19
2019 Tour Highlights:
2018 Tour Highlights: Plus the Historic Oliver Home (not shown below).
Rumored to be the residence of the Woods Brothers and built around 1900, this home has horizontal chinked logs on the first story and vertical logs on the gable ends which each feature a 4-lite diamond window and a 2-story rubble-stone chimney. The intact and recently restored interior of the home bespeaks an original owner with wealth well beyond that of the typical hardrock gold miner.
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Until recently, this home nestled in the aspens was owned by the great grandson of a prominent family of hardrock gold miners who came to Victor in the early 1890s. It was recently updated for adaptive reuse as Victor's newest vacation rental by Alpine Vista Properties. For information about availability and rental of this two-bedroom, two-bathroom property, contact [email protected]
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This one-story, gabled-L, woodframe house clad in narrow wooden clapboards is typical of dwellings built in Victor in the 1890s. It was built in 1899 by J A Ritchie who owned Ritchie and Adzell Baking & Grocery. For more history about this house, click on the "Landmarks" Page and scroll down. For a photo of the house in August 1899, click on the "This Old Victor House--Then & Now" photo gallery.
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2016 Tour: Exclusively Focused at St. Victor's Catholic Church
St Victor's Catholic Church was built in 1902. Some of the most significant exterior architectural features of this red brick Gothic style structure include:
- The high gable roof with cross-shaped finials, projecting eaves, plain boxed cornice and decorative frieze.
- The central front wood paneled door flanked to the side by stained-glass Gothic windows.
- A stone cross in relief between two flat pilasters surmounting the central door and stained-glass Gothic window.
- The small rose window in the peak of the gable end.
- The seven pointed-arch stained-glass windows with stringcourses and flat pilasters on the north and south sides. The magnificent stain glass windows are better appreciated from inside the church.
A bell tower was not included in the design of this church because, according to Father Edward Downey, "in a mining camp where men work three shifts a day, our miners are entitled to all the sleep they can get undisturbed by the ringing of church bells". Father Downey came to the Gold Camp in 1894 to establish a Catholic Church, served as pastor of St. Victor’s for 21 years until 1915, and died in 1918 (the year when the main altar for the church was completed). That altar remains an object of beauty and admiration to all who visit the Church.
After many years of alternating the celebration of Mass between Victor in the winter months and Cripple Creek in the summer months, services at St Victor’s were suspended and the church building was shuttered for several years. In 2016, a new nonprofit organization called Friends of St Victor’s was established and granted custody of the building by the Chancery of the Diocese of Colorado Springs. Friends of St Victor’s will be responsible for preserving and maintaining the church building, as well as directing its use for religious and other activities. Proceeds of the our 18th Annual Historic Building Tour generated over $1,500 to support the Friends of St Victor's--including a donation of $300 from the Victor Heritage Society.
After many years of alternating the celebration of Mass between Victor in the winter months and Cripple Creek in the summer months, services at St Victor’s were suspended and the church building was shuttered for several years. In 2016, a new nonprofit organization called Friends of St Victor’s was established and granted custody of the building by the Chancery of the Diocese of Colorado Springs. Friends of St Victor’s will be responsible for preserving and maintaining the church building, as well as directing its use for religious and other activities. Proceeds of the our 18th Annual Historic Building Tour generated over $1,500 to support the Friends of St Victor's--including a donation of $300 from the Victor Heritage Society.
2015 Tour Highlights:
Gold Coin Club & Remnants of the Gold Coin Mine:
When workers for the Woods Family, founders of Victor, were excavating
a foundation for the original Victor Hotel in 1894, a rich vein of gold ore was
discovered.
After following this vein of ore about a block up the hill, the Woods family located a shafthouse and headframe for their Gold Coin Mine and soon became millionaires.
Since the mine was in the heart of the City of Victor, more space was required to extract and process the gold bearing ore and dispose of waste rock. To meet these needs, they drove the 4,000 foot Columbine Tunnel through Squaw Mountain with a portal in Arequa Gulch where they constructed the Economic Mill to process the ore.
Across the street from the Gold Coin Mine, the Woods Family built the Gold Coin Club, modeled after the New York Athletic Club, for the workers of their Gold Coin Mine.
After following this vein of ore about a block up the hill, the Woods family located a shafthouse and headframe for their Gold Coin Mine and soon became millionaires.
Since the mine was in the heart of the City of Victor, more space was required to extract and process the gold bearing ore and dispose of waste rock. To meet these needs, they drove the 4,000 foot Columbine Tunnel through Squaw Mountain with a portal in Arequa Gulch where they constructed the Economic Mill to process the ore.
Across the street from the Gold Coin Mine, the Woods Family built the Gold Coin Club, modeled after the New York Athletic Club, for the workers of their Gold Coin Mine.
The Gold Coin Club is a rare example of a social club built exclusively for the miners by the mine owners. It was patterned after the New York Athletic Club and contained a ballroom, gymnasium, bowling alley, pool and game room, a 700-volume library, dining rooms and space for a 25-piece band which played at most Victor community events.
The tour of the Gold Coin Club also featured a display of artwork created by Cherry Hunter and George Foott. The collection was donated by Jim & Joyce Vandever. Artwork from this collection was included on the 2016 Victor Heritage Calendar.
The tour of the Gold Coin Club also featured a display of artwork created by Cherry Hunter and George Foott. The collection was donated by Jim & Joyce Vandever. Artwork from this collection was included on the 2016 Victor Heritage Calendar.
Also included on the tour--Olympia Hotel & Two Gold Rush Era Homes:
- The Olympia Hotel, located upstairs from the Prospector's Pick Antique and Consignment Shop, offers comfortably restored, period furnished rooms for rent.
- A Victor "Tiny House", and
- A "Work in Progress" Restoration of a Large 1899 Home that once served as the Parsonage for the Presbyterian Church (which was located next door and eventually moved to Simla, Colorado).
2014 Tour Highlights:
2013 Tour Highlights:
Annual Historic Home & Building Tours Sponsored by the Victor Heritage Society During Gold Rush Days Commenced in 1999. Thanks to all who shared their properties. Photos and records of homes & buildings featured on tours between from 1999 to 2012 are unavaible at this time.
VictorHeritageSociety.com
Copyright © Victor Heritage Society. All Rights Reserved.
VictorHeritageSociety.com
Copyright © Victor Heritage Society. All Rights Reserved.