Thomas Hynes House
The Thomas Hynes House is a wooden, one-story cottage in Aspen, Colorado. It sits on East Main Street (State Highway 82) and was built around 1885. The building has an L shape, a steep cross-gabled roof, a sandstone foundation, and brick chimneys in the center. It has porches on the north and west sides, with features like a large bay window.
This house is one of Aspen’s remaining miner cottages from the city’s early silver boom era. It has not been significantly altered, making it a good example of the period’s design. In 1987, the Hynes House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Historic Resources of Aspen (NRHP reference number 87000157).
Historically, Hynes was a miner who built the house around 1885 and moved away by about 1893. A later owner, a doctor, made improvements in 1892. The property changed hands several times, including a 1918 sale to Homer VanLoon, Aspen’s first welfare director, during the city’s quieter years after the silver market declined.
Aspen was founded in the late 1870s as prospectors sought silver nearby. The town grew from rough camps into a city, but many cottages were replaced or neglected after the 1893 silver market drop. The area later revived as a ski resort in the mid-20th century, boosting the city’s economy again.
In 1998, chef Nobu Matsuhisa remodeled the house and opened a Nobu restaurant there. Today it is one of Aspen’s popular and highly regarded dining spots, and reservations are usually needed well in advance.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 08:04 (CET).