Peek Inside John Denver’s Sprawling Former Aspen Estate [PICTURES]
Folk music legend John Denver's former estate in Aspen, Colo., is a sprawling mountain escape. The 7,735-square-foot home in the ski town's Starwood community, where Denver penned his song "Starwood in Aspen," sits on 2.61 acres.
The artist built the home after his first series of hit songs in the early 1970s, and made it his refuge until his untimely death in a plane crash in 1997. The mountain getaway has been updated by more recent owners, including Denis and Kelly O’Donovan, who listed the home with the Bineau Team of Mason Morse Real Estate in late 2018, for a cool $11 million.
"Upscale sophistication matched with casual comfort," the listing read. "The John Denver Estate in Starwood embodies all that epitomizes the perfect Aspen home. A relaxed modern home with vintage industrial touches."
The whole compound sold after Denver's death for $3.68 million; it was put back on the market in 2014 for $10.75 million but didn't sell until two years later, for $2.75 million, to the O'Donovans, who are fans of Denver's. Constructed to include five bedrooms, seven bathrooms, three wet bars, a weight room and an office, Denver's former estate also originally included a guest house-slash-recording studio, which was separated from the main house when it was sold to the O'Donovans.
Denver soared to popularity during the '70s with his earthy sound and down-home musical themes; his first No. 1 hit was "Take Me Home, Country Roads." Scroll through the photo gallery below for a glimpse of the refuge in the mountains Denver created and sang about:
Zillow reports that the price of 570 Johnson Dr. dropped throughout 2019, from $11 million to, eventually, $9.97 million. It continued to sit on the market, and the price dropped again, to $9.75 million, during the summer of 2020, at which time a sale was pending.