Lory Ice has been one of several Denver architects for which we have very little background, like almost nothing.
In fact, before falling down the rabbit hole for a few hours this week, I have only been able to attribute him to one house . . . the highly unique Butterfly House in Lakewood’s Green Mountain, which was featured in the 1962 Parade of Homes, built by Tri-L Construction.
But then, I ran across an ad for another home built by Tri-L and designed by Lory Ice . . . an A-frame on Lookout Mountain called the “High Sierra,” which appears to still be standing (see the ad at the bottom of this post). This made me wonder if there was a direct connection between Ice and Tri-L, and sure enough, his name appears as one of the company’s directors!
It’s not a huge leap to guess that he probably designed even more, if not all of Tri-L’s custom homes, and so I went searching for more of their builds and uncovered ALL SORT OF HOUSES that have long been mysteries:
The Star House (which regretfully is currently in the hands of a flipper who fully intends to disregard its architecture) in Centennial’s Palos Verdes. This is sad, because it highlights one other aspect that I learned about Lory Ice. For those who know about the Star House, and the great Oklahoma architect Bruce Goff, they might recognize that whoever designed it was clearly channeling Goff, with its central fireplace, and star-shaped floorplan . . . well, it turns out that Ice studied architecture at Oklahoma University, and very likely studied under Goff . . . and it turns out, that Tri-L built that one too! Read more about the Star House and photos from this 2016 article in the Denver Post.
Tri-L also built this cool house in Lakewood’s Thraemoor, the house next door to the Star House in Palos Verdes, and several other incredible homes that I don’t have images for! It seems Ice’s home design career only lasted a few years in the early 1960s – but there is a story here that has not been told, as he may have designed many of the most organic modern homes in the Denver area! I will keep digging and let you know what I learn!
