This mid century neighborhood in Littleton, Colorado, had a rocky start.
Arapaho Hills was supposed to be the second community developed by the partnership between architect Edward B. Hawkins and contractor Clyde Mannon. They had developed nearby Arapahoe Acres from 1949-1957, and Hawkins had purchased the second piece of property in 1954. “The partners originally envisioned a neighborhood of 360 modern homes covering the entire 160-acre site,” according to the Arapaho Hills Historic Preservation Guidelines, which was prepared by the city of Littleton in the mid 2010s. But Hawkins only designed two buildings in the community: the first model house, which the Cooper family now owns, and the sales office/carpentry shop. He then withdrew from the project entirely.
Clyde Mannon was left by himself without an architect—which was especially unfortunate because Hawkins still owned the property. Mannon ended up developing the rest of the community on his own, with help from two other architects: Bruce Sutherland and John Eatwell. According to the Preservation Guidelines, “Mannon Associates incrementally purchased individual lots or groups of lots from Edward Hawkins or a trust established by him.” In addition to the single home designed by Hawkins, there were seven other homes not designed by the Mannon Associates team. Better Homes & Gardens purchased one lot per year from 1956-1961 as one of their idea homes. There was also a single home designed by the son of the homeowners.
Unfortunately, an economic downturn in the early 1960s slowed the development. According to the Preservation Guidelines, “Mannon decided to abandon work in Arapaho Hills. He began to focus on commercial building and then left construction entirely.” Both original partners sold the rest of their lots to other developers who finished the neighborhood in the 1970s.
But despite the upheaval in the building process, the architecture of the neighborhood remains cohesive, largely because Sutherland and Eatwell designed the specs of the homes by taking inspiration from the original model home by Hawkins.
Today, the neighborhood is on the National Register of Historic Places.
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