A couple’s bid to knock down a home they purchased in LoHi last year has landed in mediation.
Parker Gordon and Amy Heilig paid $831,300 in April 2025 for the home at 1805 W. 34th Ave., according to public records. The Queen Anne style home offers about 2,000 square feet of living space on a 6,300-square-foot lot.
Today, however, the home is fenced off. The couple hope to be the latest of many in the neighborhood to replace an older home with a new one that’s larger. Their plans call for 5,900 square feet plus a garage.
But the couple’s request for a demolition permit ran into a complication.
City staff produced a report stating that the 1889 home’s original owners, Theophilus and Mary N. Chase, were “both influential figures in the early civic and social development of Northwest Denver” and that the structure was an “increasingly rare example” of architect Joseph Wilson’s “speculative residential work during his formative years in Denver.”
And last month, five people — three of them lawyers — told Denver they intend to submit a landmark application for the property. Deeming the structure a city landmark would prevent demolition.
“We consider it an oversight that the Property does not already enjoy local designation as a historic landmark, given its architectural significance in Denver,” the group wrote.
A rear and side view of the house at 1805 W. 34th Ave. in Denver. (Thomas Gounley/BusinessDen)
The notice of intent was submitted on the letterhead of Thomas Law Group, made up of attorneys Jordan and Chelsea Thomas. Jordan Thomas told BusinessDen on Friday that the two are not representing the group, but rather are part of it.
He didn’t respond to subsequent requests for comment.
The letter was also signed by Shelby Jonse, Julia Rhine and Nicolas Perocheau. Rhine is an attorney at Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, while Jonse owns a charcuterie business in the Highlands.
The letter triggered a required mediation period between the homeowners and the group interested in landmark status. That meeting had to be held by May 17.
The group has until June 8 to submit a full landmark application that would initially go to the city’s Landmark Preservation Commission. If the group doesn’t, the homeowners will be granted a demolition permit.
Reached by phone, homeowner Parker Gordon declined to comment. His wife has a master’s degree in structural engineering and is the CEO of a firm that produces software used by architects and engineers, according to an online bio.
Those looking to preserve the home likely will have an uphill battle. The last two owner-opposed landmark applications for a single-family home, in Wash Park and South Park Hill, were both voted down by the landmark commission.
