Seven Keys Lodge (formerly known as The Baldpate Inn) is a historic hotel located in Estes Park, Colorado. It has 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 new owners changed the name to the Seven Keys Lodge. [2]
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.
Keys are catalogued 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 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. The hotel received support from the History Colorado State Historical Fund and Colorado Preservation. [4]
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic value". A property listed in the National Register or located within a National Register Historic District, may qualify for tax incentives derived from the total value of expenses incurred in preserving the property.
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Historic Hotels of America is a program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation that was founded in 1989 with 32 charter members; the program accepts nominations and identifies hotels in the United States that have maintained their authenticity, sense of place, and architectural integrity.
