The Baldpate Inn is the historic name of a hotel located in Estes Park, Colorado, with designations on the National Register of Historic Places, and the Colorado State Register of Historic Properties.[1] The property has changed hands several times, always under a private family's proprietorship. In 2020, the property was purchased and the name changed to the Seven Keys Lodge by the new owners.[2]

Estes Park, Co., Baldpate Inn
National Register of Historic Places, metal plaque

History

The hotel was founded in 1917 by Anglo-American brothers Charles Mace (combat and commercial photographer, 1889-1973), and Gordon Mace, and their families.[3] The Inn is known especially two reasons: the hotel was named for the popular mystery novel, play and films Seven Keys to Baldpate by Earl Derr Biggers, and was eventually accepted to be the "true" Baldpate by the author. While the hotel originally gave away keys as curios, today it is known for its collection of more than 20,000 keys, usual, unusual and figurative, that have been offered to the inn by visitors, hotel guests, and dignitaries from all over the world.

A sampling of the keys hung from the ceiling in the Key Room at The Baldpate Inn

Keys are cataloged in a database, supported by a grant from American History Savers and maintained by rotating curators who offer insight into the collections through a lecture series and blog.

The Key to Occlusion at the Baldpate Inn

The hotel structurally survived the 2013 Colorado floods, although the road leading to the property, which also connects to local trailheads, was severely damaged due to erosion. They received support from the History Colorado State Historical Fund and Colorado Preservation.[4]

Saw mill at the Baldpate Inn

References

  1. ↑ Tourist lodgings in the Colorado state register of historic properties (PDF). Denver, Colorado: Office of Archaeology and Historic Preservation, Colorado Historical Society. 2008. pp. 4, 20.
  2. ↑ Donna R. Carlson (12 February 2021). "Mark and Meredith Powell, the new owners of The Baldpate Inn". Everyday Estes (Podcast). Estes Valley Resiliency Collaborative (EVRC). Retrieved 23 April 2021.
  3. ↑ Mittelman, Alicia (27 September 2012). "Boldly go beyond the Baldpate at the Estes Park Museum". Estes Park Trail Gazette. Retrieved 2 October 2016.
  4. ↑ "Preservation of two Estes Park landmarks". Estes Park Trail Gazette. 14 May 2014.
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