From serving Italian cuisines to serving up one of Aspen’s most luxurious million dollar views, the Mother Lode Building shares a piece of the City’s rich history. As far back as 1938, locals Judge William Shaw and his wife Dorthy owned the Mother Lode building at 315 East Hyman Avenue, Aspen. Locals remember Judge Shaw as a gentle man who drank Stingers, chain-smoked down Aspen’s sidewalks and served as Walter Paepcke’s attorney. In the years following, the building’s value was assessed as a prime location to house World War II supplies. When the war ended and the sixties boomed the Mother Lode blossomed. In 1968, the gourmet Mother Lode restaurant served its first meal. With success in Aspen’s competitive fine dining for 37 years, the business waned at the turn of the century and was up for sale once more in 2005. Sean Gooding purchased the historic one-story building for $8.5 million with extensive, multi-year renovations planned for the next three years. With the addition of a luxurious penthouse, both the commercial and residential sections of the Mother Lode were marketed together at $37 million. Despite the renovations and even the incentive of a 100-ounce gold bar to attract Aspen real estate interest, the renovated penthouse sat empty until 2014. Hotel Jerome initially took a $3.2 million interest in the first floor of the building, but the property was eventually transferred to Colorado Mountain News Media, operators and owners of The Aspen Times newspaper. In May 2014, the luxurious penthouse now at the heart of Aspen real estate sold for $17 million.
Currently, the Mother Lode building is home to short and long-term guests alike, offering three chic living and recreation spaces for guests to enjoy. The three properties combine for a total of 7,000 square feet of indoor space and 2,400 square feet of outdoor relaxation space on the rooftop overlooking Aspen Mountain. The penthouse captures the luxury of living in downtown Aspen where guests can sip a cocktail on the roof deck and even invite as many as fifty guests to join them. The Club and the Suites, occupying the first and second levels, respectively, each offer their own extravagant amenities to vacationers. The Mother Lode not only captivates the richness Aspen is known for worldwide, but also the historic secrets of the valley that keeps people coming back for more.