22,000-Square-Foot 1891 Estate House
9950 East Gateway Drive, Highlands Ranch, CO 80126
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Self-guided and docent-led historic tours are free during scheduled open hours. Special programs such as 'Spirits with the Spirits' tours are ticketed.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Paved walkways and a primarily ground-floor accessible interior; some upper-floor rooms reached only by stair
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1891 · Douglas County Historic Property · Phipps Family Estate · Highlands Ranch Heritage Site
Samuel Allen Long homesteaded the property in the late 19th century, building a small stone residence on what is now the east side of the present mansion. He named the original house Rotherwood after a childhood farm, and the structure forms the historic core of the building. In 1891 Long completed the larger estate house that anchors the current 22,000-square-foot complex.
In 1897 the ranch was acquired by John W. Springer, a wealthy figure with concurrent ties to Colorado politics, banking, and law. Springer expanded the residence and the surrounding agricultural operation, owning the property until 1913. Subsequent owners enlarged the building further. In 1937, Lawrence C. Phipps Jr., son of former Colorado U.S. Senator Lawrence C. Phipps, purchased the ranch and renamed it Highlands Ranch. The Phipps family carried out the most extensive expansions of the residence, producing the 22,000-square-foot, 14-bedroom estate house that survives today, complete with two interior passageways tucked into the walls, formal staircases, and an enclosed courtyard.
Lawrence Phipps Jr. died at the mansion, the only documented in-house death on the property. The surrounding ranchland was sold for development in the late 20th century and became the planned community of Highlands Ranch. The mansion itself was preserved and is now operated as a public historic venue by the Highlands Ranch Metro District at 9950 East Gateway Drive. The site offers free public tours and rents the building for private events, weddings, and community programs.
Sources
Highlands Ranch Mansion staff have repeatedly answered the question of whether the building is haunted with a careful version of the same answer: they do not know, and they have collected enough unusual accounts over the years to keep the question open. The most consistent reports describe a female voice greeting staff members from an empty office, footsteps in upper-floor corridors when only one person is in the building, and a recurring impression of melancholy that visitors describe as concentrated in particular rooms.
The paranormal reputation does not rest on a single dramatic event. Lawrence Phipps Jr. is the only owner documented to have died in the residence, and no other in-house deaths or violent incidents appear in the historical record. The lore is best understood as a slow accumulation of small recurring impressions across more than a century of household and now public-venue use.
The mansion has formalized this layer of its identity through programming. Seasonal events have included Spirits with the Spirits, a tour built around staff and visitor accounts collected over the years, and Dead of Winter: Exploring the Paranormal, which has hosted Spirit Paranormal Investigations on site. The programming presents the paranormal record as part of the mansion's broader interpretive context rather than as a confirmed feature of the property.
Media Appearances
Free self-guided or docent-led tour of the 22,000-square-foot mansion, covering the homesteading era under Samuel Allen Long, the John W. Springer political tenure, and the Lawrence Phipps Jr. ownership that gave the property its current name. The mansion features two secret passageways and 14 bedrooms across two floors.
Ticketed seasonal evening program presenting decades of staff and visitor accounts and, in some events, paranormal investigation demonstrations conducted inside the mansion. Programming has included 'Dead of Winter: Exploring the Paranormal' with Spirit Paranormal Investigations.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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