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Steamboat’s Cloverdale Restaurant has culinary history

Tom Ross
  

Erica Hewitt, historic preservation consultant to the city of Steamboat Springs, left, and historic preservation commissioner Sally TeStrake present chef/owner Patrick Ayres of Cloverdale Farm and Restaurant with a plaque commemorating the addition of his building on Ninth Street to the Steamboat Springs Register of Historic Places.
Courtesy photo

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS —The classic craftsman style bungalow at 207 Ninth St. in Old Town, which now houses Cloverdale Restaurant, was added to the Steamboat Springs Register of Historic Place Monday.

Chef and owner Patrick Ayres will receive further recognition Oct. 18 when Cloverdale is recognized with the Historic Routt County Leadership in Preservation Award for the sensitivity shown in the remodel of the approximately 1918 home into a fine dining restaurant.

“The Historic Preservation Commission felt like this historic home was an appropriate setting for a concept restaurant,” consultant to the city Erica Swissler Hewitt said. “It helps connect the concept of preservation to our local ranching/farming history and community with development and shows that it can be done successfully.”



The Carver House at 207 Ninth St. at the intersection of Oak Street, now known as Cloverdale Restaurant, is a rare example of a half-timbered craftsman style home in Steamboat Springs. The building has undergone an historic remodel since this 2016 photo was taken.

Cloverdale serves fruit, vegetables, flowers, herbs, honey and eggs from 10.5-acre Cloverdale Farm, just south of Steamboat’s southern city limits.

The building, originally owned by J. C. Frye and built by master builder of numerous historic homes in Steamboat Art Gumprecht, is known locally as the Carver House.



According to the Steamboat Pilot, another successful restaurant cook named Leta J. Belt owned the house from 1937 to 1946. She started as a cook at the Cabin Hotel and later owned and operated several restaurants including the Lucky Lunch.

Architect Jan Kaminski described the home on Ninth Street, “This resource is a rare example of a half-timbered craftsman style home in Steamboat Springs. Other craftsman homes exist but do not contain as many half-timbered details nor cohesive detailing.”

Significantly, the home was sited close to Steamboat’s relatively new electric plant and the local telephone company, allowing the homeowner to take advantage of those modern conveniences, sooner than other household further from the center of town.

Project manager Jeremy MacGray oversaw the home’s most recent transformation, which included the faithful refurbishing of a unique stone/rubble perimeter fence around the spacious building lot.

The Steamboat Springs Historic Preservation Commission notes that the craftsman style architecture of the structure emphasized simplicity and natural materials with shed-roofed dormers and a foundation of river cobble.

To reach Tom Ross, call 970-871-4205, email tross@SteamboatToday.com or follow him on Twitter @ThomasSRoss1.


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