Crawford House, 19th-century residence in Colorado, United States

Crawford House is a 2+1/2-story stone residence begun in 1893 by mason Charles Briggs, with a semi-circular arch over the front door and a Colonial Revival porch added in the 1910s. Its double stone walls, 18 inches thick with a 2-inch gap, hold 5,000 stones, of which 1,675 show on the exterior.

James Harvey Crawford, the first permanent settler of Steamboat Springs, began the house in 1893 with mason Charles Briggs; the family moved in and lived there over 40 years, until Margaret's death in 1939. James served as the town's first mayor in 1900. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on August 7, 2005.

The Crawfords kept open house: their cabin, and later this house, served as the town's first post office, newspaper office, school, church and library, and guests were welcomed to spend the night. Margaret Crawford helped organize the non-denominational Union Church in 1884, the county's first church building.

The house stands on its original stone foundation, with the carved front door facing the street; the double stone wall is 18 inches thick with a 2-inch gap between the outer decorative course and the inner structural wall. Look for the semicircular arch over the entrance and the Colonial Revival porch added in the 1910s, where the Crawfords sat and talked.

Of the 5,000 stones used, only 1,675 are visible from outside: the house has a double wall 18 inches thick, with a 2-inch gap between the decorative outer wall and the structural inner wall, plus a stone foundation starting seven feet underground.