1532 Emerson St
Denver, CO, USA

National Register of Historic Places - Adolph J. Zang House (Gargoyle House)

Statement of Significant:

The Zang House is significant for its association with Adolph J. Zang, an important businessman in Denver; for its association with William Lang, one of the area's most important late nineteenth century architects; and for its architectural features which reflect a style of rowhouse few of which exist in Denver today.

Adolph J. Zang made many contributions to the growth and development of Colorado. Though born in Kentucky and educated partly in Europe, he emigrated to Denver in 1882. With his father, he purchased the Rocky Mountain Brewery, renamed it the Zang Brewery, and helped revitalize a foundering business. Adolph Zang eventually became president and general manager of the firm and retained these positions even after the business was sold to an English syndicate. He remained affiliated with the company until 1913 when he retired. After him, the business continued for a time, but eventually failed owing to prohibition. In addition to brewing, Zang made significant investments in mining, real estate, and banking, and drew a good portion of his wealth from those sectors of the economy.

The architect who designed the Zang House was William Lang, a man who remains very much a mystery though he designed many important structures in Colorado. Virtually nothing is known of his early life except that he was born in Ohio in 1846. He must have received some sort of formal architectural training somewhere for he arrived in Denver in the mid-1880s and immediately began designing large stone structures, most in the Romanesque style and some of which like the Bailey and Orman-Adams houses are now listed in the Register. It was during the midpoint of his career here that he designed a small number of stone row houses of which the Zang House is the best known, in part for its architectural features and in part because it has been featured on a brochure by the Denver Bar Association and has been used in the controversy regarding the preservation of Lang's Ghost Building (also listed in the Register). It is thought that Lang's business collapsed following the Panic of 1893. He then moved to Illinois and died under mysterious circumstances in 1897.

From an architectural perspective the Zang House is a fine example of late Victorian eclecticism. The structure manifests elements of Chateauesque, Gothic, and Richardsonian Romanesque designs, all of which are assembled and interwoven in an aesthetically pleasing manner. Many of Lang's buildings have been razed, others seriously altered, but this one, the Zang House, retains much of its integrity and is one of the finest of late nineteenth townhouses remaining in Denver.