9630 Pueblo Ruins Rd, Cortez, CO 81321

This one of a kind house with an all metal and glass exterior is essentially maintenance free and is in a very unique setting. The 2400 square foot home designed by famed Houston, Texas architect, Cameron Armstrong, allows for modern amenities surrounded by views of ancient mountains – the sacred Ute Mountain to the west, the Mesa Verde Range to the south and the La Plata Mountains to the east. From the high desert front door perch, you can see the City of Cortez, and from the hot tub on the back patio, you can watch a night display of shooting stars or the MilkyWay without light pollution. The interior of the home features a great-room living/dining/kitchen open concept. There are three bedrooms each with its own bath. The large master bed and bath includes a big walk-in closet. There’s a ½ bath off the main living area for guests. The media room has a TV wall and is currently set up for a two-person office. There is a fenced-in side yard and 2 acres of the 38-acre lot is fenced and featuresmXeriscape landscaping and a walking labyrinth. The 600-foot driveway is paved and the open fields and community roads are maintained by the ranch manager. There’s a large 2-car garage and an 8x14 foot “toy” or RV garage with an 8-foot door. The Indian Camp Ranch subdivision, designed and developed by Archie and Mary Hanson, is listed in the National Registry of Historic Places as a significant archeological site. The Ranch is dotted with markers indicating ruins under the ground. Some of the home owners have conducted successful archeological digs on their properties. A possible kiva and/or a midden have been identified on this site. Outdoor activities and wildlife abound in the area. Skiing at Telluride is an hour and a half drive up the mountain. The entrance to Mesa Verde is 8 miles away, and many national parks in Utah can be experienced in a day. The Four Corners Monument is 25 miles away where a person can stand in all four states at once. Many forms of wildlife have been seen on the property including deer, turkeys, coyotes, bobcats and many birds. In addition, the 20-foot easement between each lot is available to all property owners for hiking or riding the horses that they may keep on their property. This property is not to be missed! THE ARCHITECT’S VIEW: 9630 Pueblo Ruins Road was completed in 2012 based on a carefully specified “plan of volumes, ” and our intention to bring them together with its natural environment. Shaped by the ideal proportions of each functional space, its plan revolves around questions like, “What is the most organized kitchen?” and “What is the best room to sleep in?” And “How can a space feel both open and closed?” We carefully studied how each part of the building might combine practical concerns with visual and emotional values. The heights of ceilings, the lengths of walls, and the type and orientation of openings – each element was considered individually and in relation to all the others. The outcome can be seen even in small details, as in how the visual spaces of the master bedroom and its closet are merged by their sharing of the ceiling plane between them. The partial wall that divides them, silhouetted by light spreading across the ceiling, emphasizes this twinning of separation and connection. In larger spaces, the design balances complexity and clarity. For instance, the Livingroom/Dining-room/Kitchen area might seem simple and linear, relating mostly to its big southern exposure. However, views from opposing ends are marked by different geometries. From the Living-room, the slope of the ceiling and foreshortened views of the windows brings the Dining-room close. The space seems unified, and also grander in scale. The opposite occurs when looking from the Dining-room/Kitchen area: the Dining-room feels secluded and also more distant from the Living-room. The meeting of our interior spaces with Mesa Verde and Ute Mountain was shaped by the same careful process.