Over-the-top gated home has price to match

The Taylor Estate, the highest-priced home in the Denver metro area, is up for sale for $ 27.7 million in Lakewood.

The 1932-built gated spread on the shores of Ward Lake was designed by renowned Denver architect Burnham F. Hoyt, who also designed Red Rocks Amphitheatre as well as landmarks such as the Denver Central Public Library and Colorado Capitol Annex Building. According to Internet reports, Hoyt once regarded this residence as the most beautiful home in America.

This 14-000-square-foot 26-room manor house features a paneled library, banquet-size dining room, dual master suites with nine additional bedroom suites, 12 fireplaces and a staff wing. The 122 acres include mountain views, century-old trees, a lake with a beach and boating privileges, a pool, tennis court, three staff cottages, stables, water rights and agricultural status.

Guests at this storied estate have included Denver high society, British royalty and assorted dignitaries. Prince Philip and Princess Anne of Great Britain chose to stay there as guests of the Taylors.

This property also includes a heated pool, tennis court, outdoor patios, a flower-cutting garden, dressage ring and stables.

To see the listing, go to www.fullersothebysrealty.com/frc/sales/detail/218-l-811-bxm66v/the-taylor-estate-lakewood-co-80227.

2015 Restaurant Week set

The oh-so-popular Denver Restaurant Week (DRW), presented by Lexus and organized by Visit Denver, will revert to a single 10-day event in 2015, running from Feb. 20 to March 1.

“We talked to restaurant owners, restaurant employees, diners, sponsors and restaurant week fans, and the consensus was that seven days of DRW was too short, but 14 consecutive days was too long,” said Justin Bresler, vice president of marketing for Visit Denver. “The perfect ‘best of both worlds’ compromise appears to be to run it for 10 days, encompassing two complete weekends in the traditional slow period of February.”

For Denver Restaurant Week’s 10th anniversary this year, at the request of participating restaurants, DRW was split into two separate weeklong events, one in February and one in late August.

“While summer restaurant week was popular with both restaurants and diners, the challenge going forward was to find a week that wasn’t already occupied by an existing event, holiday or a week that didn’t have a major convention,” Bresler said.

Late summer and fall are Denver’s busiest convention months. “We really don’t want to bring 10,000 convention delegates to Denver and have them find that every restaurant is booked with DRW reservations,” Bresler said, adding that the restaurants also don’t want to be offering special DRW pricing at a time when there are thousands of hungry convention delegates in town.

“In the end, we couldn’t find workable dates for the summer event, and the consensus of opinion was to concentrate on the traditional February time frame,” Bresler said.

More than 300 restaurants participated in the 2014 winter DRW and more than 200 in the summer DRW, making this one of the largest culinary celebrations in the nation.

Bresler stated that registration for restaurants for the 2015 DRW will begin Nov. 10 at www.denverrestaurantweek.com. Participating restaurants again will offer a multi-course dinner for the fixed price of $ 30 per person. The list of participating restaurants and menus will be announced in mid-January.

Colorado hotels make list

Conde Nast Traveler just released its 2014 Readers’ Choice poll in the Best Hotels in the West category, and four Denver hostelries made the coveted list.

The historic Oxford Hotel, owned and operated by Sage Hospitality, earned the highest ranking at No. 4, followed by The Four Seasons Denver at No. 11, JW Marriott Denver Cherry Creek (another Sage property) at No. 14 and The Ritz-Carlton Denver at No. 15. But the very top spot on the list was awarded to The Sebastian in Vail, a quaint spot with awesome amenities.

“We are very excited to have these two amazing Denver hotels once again be honored by one of the world’s top travel magazines,” said Sage president and CEO Walter Isenberg. “Both The Oxford and the JW Marriott Denver are very focused on offering guests a unique lodging experience and excellent customer service. This is a wonderful recognition of that commitment.”

Check out the rest of the rankings at www.cntraveler.com/readers-choice-awards/2014/united-states/best-hotels-in-the-west-readers-choice-awards-2014.

Von’s Vision raises $ 150K-plus

More than $ 150,000 was raised for Von’s Vision, Broncos all-pro linebacker Von Miller’s foundation, at the second annual Celebrity Steak Out recently at Ocean Prime.

The event featured Miller and several of his Broncos teammates trading in their uniforms for aprons to serve 187 guests a three-course meal.

The star-studded evening featured silent and live auctions, and guests were able to chat and take photos with Peyton Manning, Julius Thomas, Wes Welker, Lamin Barrow, Demaryius Thomas, DeMarcus Ware, Omar Bolden, David Bruton, Andre Caldwell, Tony Carter, Ben Garland, Malik Jackson, Steven Johnson, Terrance Knighton, Lerentee McCray, Brandon McManus, Will Montgomery, Rahim Moore, Corey Nelson, Brock Osweiler, Aqib Talib, Jacob Tamme, , Danny Trevathan, Mitch Unrein, Kayvon Webster and Kenny Anunike.

Miller founded Von’s Vision in 2013 to provide Denver-area youth with eye examinations and eyewear to succeed in the classroom and in life. For more information, visit www.vonmiller.org.

Overheard

Eavesdropping on a man: “I made the mistake of answering the phone and it was a political call. Not even a robocall. So I told them I vote for the Communist Party. Maybe they will leave me alone now. Or call the FBI.”

Penny Parker’s “Mile High Life” column gives insights into the best events, restaurants, businesses, parties and people throughout the metro area. Parker also writes for Blacktie-Colorado.com. You can subscribe and read her columns (Monday, Wednesday and Friday) at www.blacktie-colorado.com/pennyparker. She can be reached at [email protected] or at 303-619-5209.

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