by Atom Stevens, Guest Contributor

As construction in Harvey Park heated up in the 1950s, some builders focused on traditional styling while others wanted to build the future — creating the contemporary designs that we now refer to as mid-century modern. In nearly all cases, these homes were designed by architects of the day who strongly believed that good design had the power to elevate the human experience. These homes were set apart by their minimal ornamentation and simple, elegant forms meant to fade into the background while natural light, the seasons, and the dwellers’ own tastes took center stage.

C. Burns Realty & Trust was one of several firms who started construction in the new neighborhood in southwest Denver, competing to provide the best products they could to veterans of World War II and their growing families. Their model village of three homes opened to the public in November 1954 at the intersection of Harvard Avenue and Lowell Boulevard and was unique in several ways among other new construction happening in the Denver area. 

The homes they offered were a prefabricated, modular, and post-and-beam system designed in California and built in Denver under license. Then-celebrated home designer Cliff May and architect Chris Choate, AIA, conceived of the system as a means to bring the ideas that May had become famous for through his work with the rich and famous to the masses. The “Cliff May Homes,” as they came to be known, distilled May’s typically sprawling single-story ranch homes — ones that frequently featured open plans, high ceilings, walls of glass, rustic materials and an emphasis on private outdoor living space — into something everyone could afford and enjoy. 

This was made possible through the creation of a panelized prefabricated system. After foundations were poured, homes would arrive from a nearby plant, flat-packed on flatbed trucks and ready for assembly. Panels already had siding preinstalled and even the original wood windows were pre-assembled and ready to nail to the face of the structure. The standardized panels offered a modular grid on which the homes were planned, offering Burns the ability to offer seven different floor plans from the same kit of parts, ranging from 2-beds/1-bath to 4-beds/2-baths — each with either a 1-car carport or combination carport/garage.

To see the Cliff May Homes advertised in The Denver Post, you might wonder if you were buying a house, or a new way of life: “An exciting adventure in living . . . that’s FUN!” pronounced the advertisement for the new model homes. And that was the selling point — your chance to enjoy informal California living in Colorado.

Several thousand prefabricated Cliff May Homes were built from this system during 1953-56 in cities around the country (mostly on the West Coast). With 170 homes, Denver’s Harvey Park is home to the largest collection of these unique homes outside of California, many of which maintain the essence of elegant living upon which they were designed.

Atom Stevens is an interior designer turned real estate agent, focusing on mid-century modern homes in the Denver area. He is also a charter board member of the Colorado chapter of Docomomo US, and long-time owner of a Cliff May Home.