A residence that is regarded as a prime example of late 1940s modern home design in the city of Aspen, has now been placed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Located at 835 W. Main Street in the west central Colorado city, the Berger Cabin was designed in 1947 by architect Fritz Benedict, who had studied under and worked with Frank Lloyd Wright.
Benedict would go on to design the master plans for the Vail, Breckinridge, and Snowmass ski areas.
The one-story structure measuring just under 1,000 square feet and surrounded by woods, is made of rounded logs crafted through a process known as butt and pass. The property also includes 1940s-era sandstone accents on the building’s stoops, patios, and walkways.
For more than fifty years, the one-bedroom cabin was the home of Bruce Berger, a poet and author of more than a dozen books, including the award winning 1990 The Telling Distance: Conversations With the American Desert.
The butt and pass process employs tightly pinned corners that obviate the need for notching in joining the logs together. In so doing, the logs are stacked on top of one another at right angles before being pinned together.
In a statement, Dawn DiPrince, chief executive officer of the preservation group History Colorado, said the “organic architecture of the Berger Cabin embodies a creative energy that is very specific to high-altitude, post-World War II hopefulness that sparked art movements, a sky industry, and renewed communion with nature.”
Although not for sale, the Berger Cabin has been estimated by the site Zillow to have a potential listing price of $6.2 million.
May 12, 2025
By Garry Boulard
Photo courtesy of History Colorado
