Werner House

What is historically known as the “Werner House” was not actually built for its locally-known namesake—Edmund Werner—who acquired it some 17 years after its original date of construction. In fact, the identity of its initial owner remains unknown. But Edmund Werner, the son of a Wyoming pioneer, and himself a rancher along Lightning Creek, reportedly purchased the home in 1927, primarily to ensure his children access to the schools of Douglas. The house did not change owners again until the death of Werner’s wife, Margaret, in 1965. The house is noteworthy, then, owing mainly to its architectural features, which make it locally unique—if not altogether incongruent—within its context. There are, for example, the broad, boxed eaves, which include bold horizontal returns that suddenly terminate at the upper corners of the windows—in mid-air, as it were. The fully enclosed front porch with the continuous band of double-hung windows, however attractive, appears equally anomalous. And finally, the overall proportions and massing of the building—including the projecting, semi-circular window bay at the southwest corner—seem more suited to a New England, a Great Lakes, or perhaps even an Old South setting, not one of the High Plains. One architectural historian describes the house as “displaying a blend of Colonial Revival and Shingle Style design attributes”—which is a blend of styles completely unique on the current walking tour, and probably one that is all but unique to the region