Hilltop’s Historic Landmark Homes – The Dugal Farmhouse
By Ann Spoor
The Dugal Farmhouse is one of only four historic landmarked homes in the Hilltop neighborhood. Barbara Macfarlane and Pete Marczyk have spent many years lovingly restoring this slice of Denver history. Most of us know Marczyk’s Fine Foods, that wonderful local Denver market. Lesser known, is their historic home in Hilltop. Known as the Dugal Farmhouse, Barbara and Pete had the home landmarked in 1999. When they purchased the home in 1997, it had been on the market for quite a while and the only other interested party was a developer who was planning on tearing down the home and building multiple homes on the site. Barbara, a self-proclaimed ‘home hugger’ wasn’t about to let that happen, so the work began. The home was in poor condition with leaks and major structural damage. There were large jacks in the basement – basically holding parts of the home up! The porte chochere was so unstable that if you stood inside, you could rock it back and forth. Obviously not afraid of the challenge and being un-phased, everyone got busy, including several friends, taking it apart, room by room, board by board and rebuilding and renovating. After 2 years of a complete renovation, including a true chef’s kitchen, the home is one of the gems of Hilltop, the 6th Avenue Parkway and Denver. Of course, with an old home, the work is never done!
The early history of the home:
Louis Dugal built the first home in Hilltop in 1888 on 40 acres. The area became an apple and cherry orchard. There are just a few of the apple trees left and the last cherry tree that I knew of fell down a couple of years ago in a storm. The assessor’s office lists the build date on current home at 1906. The Dugal family lived there until 1916. Dugal was a prominent real estate attorney and is credited with creating the 1868 map of downtown Denver, which can be seen in the Denver Public Library. (This history of the Dugals and the Farmhouse is taken and summarized from “Hilltop Heritage”, a book written by the late Alice Millett Bakemeier, a former resident of the Hilltop neighborhood.)