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© 2023 6000 Bees LLC • Homesavers, preservation contractors, consultants • Lafayette, Colo.

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Thomas House

513 E. Elm Street, Lafayette, Colo., renovated in 1995

The Thomas House is a Queen Anne Victorian that was moved 3.5 miles to a vacant lot in April 1995 and renovated in 1995 and 1996. The home sat vacant and was uninhabitable for many years prior to its relocation. The Thomas House was the home of Anna Waneka Thomas (1855-1935), daughter of 1861 Lafayette-area homesteaders Adolf and Anna Waneka.

The restored Thomas House was featured in 2004 on the HGTV series Restore America and in 2000 was the first home to be designated an historic landmark in Lafayette, Colorado.

Anna Waneka Thomas married William J. Thomas in 1875. Mr. Thomas died in a mining accident near Ward in 1897, leaving Anna with nine children. In December of 1899, Anna married Frank Greenlee and the two built the Thomas House in about 1900 along what is now Baseline Road. The structure, originally located in the backyard of today’s 1306 Lambert Circle, served as the farmhouse for the land north of Waneka Reservoir.

Frank and Anna Greenlee had two children, but they divorced about 1909, and Anna set about raising 11 children on the Thomas Farm. According to Charles “Chuck” Waneka, Adolf Waneka who was Anna’s father, passed away in 1896 at age 70 in a small two-room stone house that stood for many decades adjacent the Thomas House. Anna lived in her two-story home until her death in 1935 when the house passed to her son, Dick. It was remodeled in 1953 and, after 1970, was used as a rental. The farm was purchased in 1994 by California home builder Kaufman and Broad, which slated the derelict home for demolition to make way for the more than 100 new homes at Waneka Pointe.

For several months, the City of Lafayette and the Lafayette Historical Society explored moving the structure to city property on the west side of Waneka Lake and utilizing it as an agricultural learning center. Grants and city funding never materialized, so the concept was scrapped.

In a last-minute effort, in 1995 Doug Conarroe and Dana Coffield obtained ownership of the 1,700 sq. ft. house and moved it to its current location at 513 E. Elm Street. The couple spent the next three years painstakingly restoring the home. Today it is a superb example of historic preservation in Lafayette.

• JoAnn Steinhaus, who grew up next door to the Thomas House wrote in 1995 of her fond memories of the farmhouse.

• Read about Doug Conarroe’s efforts to preserve the Thomas House and Lafayette’s history in a 1996 Lafayette News article inviting local residents to view the renovated home and in a 2006 Boulder Daily Camera article titled “Lafayette man salvages city’s history.”

The Thomas House in about 1905 at its Waneka Lake location, about 1/2 mile west of the intersection of Baseline Road and U.S. Highway 287.

Anna Waneka Thomas is on the front porch of her house, about 1905 to 1907. Her son, either Richard or Daniel Thomas is standing, and her second husband Frank Greenlee is seated. Photo from the Doug Conarroe collection, donated by Lorraine (Thomas) Bateman.

Anna Waneka Thomas in a photo circa 1929. Kindly shared by the late Lorraine Thomas Bateman.

From Wilbur Fiske Stone's "History of Colorado Vol 4" published in 1919.

The Thomas House, built circa 1894, in 1995 at its Waneka Lake location. The historic post columns on the front porch were stolen the day after this photo was taken.

Original locations of the Thomas House and Bateman House, about 1/4 mile west of the intersection of Baseline Road and U.S. Highway 287 in Lafayette, Colo.

House mover Tom Whitlock directs the Thomas House in 1995 along city right-of-way on the Rothman property, which the City of Lafayette bought as open space in 1998.

The empty lot at 513 E. Elm Street was platted in 1904 by Union Pacific Railroad.

The Thomas House arrives at 513 E. Elm Street in 1995 after a 5-mile journey.

A before shot of the Thomas House bathroom.

The large, lime-green kitchen of the Thomas House was updated in the 1960s, but by 1995 showed its age. The arched doorway was removed and the opening widened to give the first floor an open feel.

The master bedroom during construction.

Renovation in progress about 1995, showing the front entry and the main stairs

Foundation forms built under the home placed on 12-foot cribbing.

The Thomas House on its new foundation.

The 1995 remodeled bathroom with the house's original salvaged clawfoot tub.

The 1997 remodeled kitchen of the Thomas House showing the farmer's sink, marble counter tops and maple Shaker-style cabinets.

The completed Thomas House, about 2004, at its new location at 513 E. Elm Street in Lafayette, Colo.

Gable-end gingerbread trim that matches the original was manufactured in 2015 by local craftsman Andrew MacDonald. The trim was placed by Doug in 2017.

The Thomas House isolated against Longs Peak using a very long lens. Photo by longtime friend Ed Kosmicki.

Dana Coffield in the front yard of the Thomas House, June 2016. Photo by Ed Kosmicki.

© 2023 6000 Bees LLC • Homesavers, preservation contractors, consultants • Lafayette, Colo.

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