(COLORADO SPRINGS) — Locked gates and vacant benches greet those who attempt to peer into the Union Printers Home near Memorial Park. This historic treasure naturally captivates attention, with its architecture and intriguing aura sparking curiosity about the secrets and stories concealed within its walls.
“This main building of the Union Printers Home, which was the first building on the property, has been referred to as the castle on the hill for a very long time,” said Ellie Hinkle, Director of History and Archives for Union Printers Home Partners (UPH Partners). “A big piece of that is that the architectural style, which is a form of Romanesque architecture, is that’s a very common style of architecture for castles in Europe.”
A weathervane at the top of the castle bears the year 1891, marking the beginning of construction on the Union Printers Home. The castle welcomed hundreds, serving as a medical facility for union printers suffering from tuberculosis and printer’s lung.
“It was dedicated in 1892 and served as exclusively a union care facility for almost 100 years,” Hinkle said. “Then it was opened to the public after that. And in 2013, the last union printer who lived here passed away.”
After its sale to a private nursing home group, the castle found itself under new ownership. Their stewardship lasted six years until its closure in 2020, raising questions about the fate of the 26-acre property.
“All I ever saw was the fence around the property, and because it’s a hill, I never saw the building,” said one of the UPH Partners, Susan Pattee. “I never knew, really, exactly what was here. There was a curiosity that I hadn’t checked into to find out more.”
While the grounds are currently empty, future plans will fill the space with many visitors.
Now the historic landmark has a devoted protector, a special guardian angel with her sights set on its preservation. This watchful individual is Pattee’s mother, who first informed her of the news that the castle was up for sale.
“Once I saw it, it was really my mother, Kathy Loo, who had the vision,” Pattee said. “I remember standing in front of the building that first day and seeing her energy and excitement, in her eighties, and thinking, we have to do this.”
In all of the buildings, there are reminders of the rich history of the property.
The castle was in good hands as Pattee, along with the other UPH Partners, recognized the historic value of the property and its potential to evolve into something even greater.
“We really see an adaptation of the historic preservation of historic things, but a lot of additional mixed-use space,” Patte said. “So, we will have restaurants, cafes, bars, retail stores. We’re really planning to have as much local as possible, not having a lot of chains or anything like that and then also potentially a hotel, apartments, condos, just all kinds of things.”
For a closer look at the renderings and the plans for the site, click here.
In the pursuit of a brighter future for the property, Hinkle’s knowledge is a key component in sharing the untold stories and deciphering the significance behind the different buildings.
“I was a part of cleaning out the buildings shortly after the partners purchased it,” Hinkle said. “So, getting my hands dirty and getting into all sorts of just disastrous looking spaces, it was really a pretty exciting and kind of unheard-of thing.”
Within the confines of the North building, the hallway and chambers are empty, but they serve as a reminder to the many they once sheltered.
By working with the UPH Partners, Hinkle has contributed to the restoration process while also fulfilling her passion for preserving the significance of the structure.
“I mean, this is a dream job, to have something like this is basically unheard of in my field, to be able to come into a historic place and really, from the ground up, be a part of building the archives, building the story of what the place used to be,” said Hinkle.
The fate of the Castle on the Hill lies in the hands of the UPH Partners, who are eager to restore and revive this historic treasure.
Currently, the master plan is complete, and the next phase involves the UPH Partners seeking approval from the City of Colorado Springs Planning Commision.
As the castle prepares for its next phase, the whispers of its history will remain ingrained, helping to guide the inception of this new era and welcome new faces inside.
“I think there are many people like me who didn’t know anything about it, and it’s so exciting to think about how we can share it with the full community and visitors to Colorado Springs as well,” said Pattee.
