I grew up in a Hutchinson.

Many of you who grew up in Denver are nodding. For the rest of you, I’ll explain.

Hutchinson Homes built houses here in the Metro Denver area from the 1950’s until the early ‘80’s. They built a lot of houses. If you’ve spent any time in Denver at all, you’ve seen a Hutchinson. They all look alike. Two bedroom windows, front door, picture window, garage. Mostly brick. Garage may be one or two car. Kind of like this:

Or this:

Or this:

Wherever you see blocks and blocks of essentially identical houses like this, you’re in a Hutchinson neighborhood. Some of the houses will have two car garages, some will only have single car. Some have the garage on the left, some on the right. Occasionally you’ll see one with no garage at all, or with only one bedroom window in the front. But mostly they look a lot like 85 Cody Street, where I grew up.

In the 1970’s they branched out and built some trendy bi-levels and tri-levels. But throughout the ‘50’s and ‘60’s they built these little brick forts. A lot of them.

And they were forts. They were small. They were simple. But they were built incredibly well -- built to last. And they have.

One of my buyers recently bought a Hutchinson. I was having a lot of fun when we were shopping, because walking into a Hutchinson reminds me of my childhood. The one he bought reminded me of my friend Lisa who lived down the street. We played Barbies in her basement a lot.

The inspector I generally work with is wonderful. Most thorough inspector I’ve ever seen. If there’s a problem in a house, he finds it. Takes three to four hours on the average inspection. He grew up in a Hutchinson, too. Inspecting this Hutchinson for my buyer, he kept walking around saying “This is a joy.” Not just because it reminded him of his childhood, but because the house – which was built in 1961 – was in such amazingly good shape.

We wound up asking the sellers for no repairs. Zip. Zilch. Nada.

Of course, not every Hutchinson is in such pristine condition. This one has had the same owners since 1975, and they’ve taken very good care of it. But even a Hutchinson in rough condition is, at its core, a well-built house.

My parents owned their Hutchinson for 40 years. It was small. (1100 square feet and six people – you do the math.) It didn’t have a lot of closet space. But it was sturdy. It sat on a big lot. And by the time my parents sold it, it had been very personalized. They finished the full basement in 1968, doubling their finished square footage. In the ‘70’s they added a beautiful family room to the back of the house. Later they tore up the carpet and refinished the beautiful hardwood floors underneath. Every pre-1970’s Hutchinson has gorgeous #1 red oak hardwood floors, often buried beneath dated shag carpeting. It cleans up nicely!

That house was lovely – and sold very quickly – when my parents finally moved out in 2004.

Starter home? Investment property? Check out a Hutchinson!