This "contemporary urban mountain retreat" in Aspen has been on Curbed's radar before, but when it sold last week for $12.6 million, a little bit of extra reporting from the Aspen Times caught our eye as adding some context that would be best appreciated by ski town readers. This ultra contemporary home designed by a Phoenix architect and purchased by an anonymous LLC is built where the home of a vocal Aspen slow-growth advocate once stood.
Leslie Holst, an outspoken critic of the pace of growth in Aspen and frequent letter to the editor writer in the cause of historic preservation, originally bought this site in 1987 for $150,000. When Holst left Aspen in 2012, he did so with the $2.7 million only real estate appreciation in places like Aspen can bestow, selling the home to Massachusetts resident Frederic B. Horne. It was Horne who tore down the old structure and built Blackbird House, which didn't even last two months on the market.
Now, where this longtime local's home once stood, is a 5,829-square-foot home with five bedrooms and six-and-a-half baths. It boasts an elevator, a garden spa, four fireplaces, a wine cellar and a Savant home automation system.
Leslie Holst's last years in Aspen might be most associated with the White Shirts, the group he helped create to advocate for slowing development. Like Holst's old home, that group's now a thing of the past.
· What's the Big Deal: Waters Ave. home reels in $12.6 million [Aspen Times]
· Blackbird House [Official site]
· Rad Contemporary House Proves Aspen Isn't All Log Cabins [Curbed National]