Residents in Steamboat Springs will wake up to a historic move Friday as crews from Fones Construction and Excavation and Patton Structural Movers transport the 135-year-old Marshall House to a new location in the downtown area.

“The new owners are redeveloping the lot that the house is sitting on,” said Caitlin Berube-Smith, historic preservation planner for the city. “They have been such great stewards to the community and historic preservation to basically work with the city to help find new owners for the house, and they are fully donating the house to Overlook Development so it can be moved and then repurposed in the future.”

The property, which includes the Marshall House at 134 12^th Street and another site on Oak Street, was purchased by David Josfan and Jon Peddie of Oak Street Partners for $2.75 million earlier this spring.

In June, Overlook Development confirmed interest in placing the house on a vacant lot the organization owns at 135 11^th St., just behind Smell That Bread, which is also under the same ownership.

Sam and Juli Gordon of Smell That Bread will be undertaking ownership and operation of the Marshall House once it has been relocated. They have plans to operate the house as an upscale cigar lounge following restoration of the home.

Berube-Smith has been facilitating the move on behalf of the city with all of the parties involved to ensure the historic structure is not demolished.

The home is significant for its late 19th century cross-gabled plan and Victorian-era details and for the histories associated with the Groesbeck and Marshall families who lived there.

“Lucretia B. and Jacob Q. Groesbeck constructed the dwelling in 1889 after moving to Steamboat Springs from Boulder County,” Berube-Smith wrote in a statement. “Jacob Groesbeck opened and owned Steamboat Springs’ first drugstore, Groesbeck and Metcalf, and served as Steamboat Springs’ justice of the peace and police magistrate and was postmaster from 1888-1893.”

The Marshall house was the first wood-frame house built in Steamboat with lumber from the Suttle Sawmill, which was operated by Lucretia’s family. The bricks used in the chimney were some of the first made in Steamboat Springs and came from Clay Hill, according to Berube-Smith.

Following removal of a non-historic addition to prepare for the move, it was discovered that the home was built by log, but the interior walls were framed with wood from the Suttle Sawmill. The exterior was finished with wood details competed by the original owners.

In the early 1950s, the house became the home of Willard B. and Wilma Marshall. The Marshalls lived in the house for three generations until it was sold in 2018.  

Friday’s move is expected to take much of the day and will require partial street closures along 12^th Street from Lincoln Avenue to Crawford Avenue during the morning as the house is taken from 12^th Street to its new location. As the house is being moved, it will turn onto Oak Street, which will be closed from 12^th to 11^th streets.

There will be no parking along Oak Street during the move. Perimeter streets may be used as a detour during the partial closure of 12^th between Lincoln and Crawford avenunes. For direct access to Colorado Mountain College, Crawford Avenue may be utilized. Streets will be reopened upon final relocation of the house. 

“(The Gordons) also plan to reestablish the same similar garden around the home that used to be present historically at the current site,” Berube-Smith said. “The house itself is one of our most important historic structures in Steamboat Springs.”