Six architectural highlights of Aspen, Colorado

Hotel Jerome's J Bar is where Hunter S Thompson and John Wayne came to unwind.

THE HOTEL JEROME

Jerome B Wheeler, co-owner of Macy's department stores and an investor in Colorado mines had the Jerome built during the silver mining boom years of the 1880s. It incorporated new luxuries such as electric lighting and indoor plumbing with hot and cold running water. The Jerome is a three-storey brick building with its original facade intact and interiors restored. The J-bar was moved to its street front position in the late 1940s. It kept running during the US Prohibition era, when miners would discreetly add their own alcohol. 330 East Main Street. See aubergeresorts.com

WHEELER OPERA HOUSE

While he was building the Jerome, our man Wheeler also had the Opera House constructed - the third-biggest in Colorado at the time, this one an Italianate stone structure that also serves as a measuring stick for the town - no building can be higher. A fire in the early 20th Century saw it fall into disuse (silver was usurped by gold as the standard in the US in 1893 and nothing was built in silver-centric Aspen between then and the 1940s). It has been restored and hosts regular music and cultural performances. 320 East Hyman Avenue. See wheeleropreahouse.com

WHEELER STALLARD MUSEUM

Roam Aspen's suburban streets on the river side of Main Street and you'll see some wonderful examples of Victorian architecture and related periods. This one was built by Wheeler as a family home but they never spent a night in it. The style is Queen Anne, with a third floor that was most likely included for children or servants; the windows narrow on the upper floors to build the illusion of height. It's now a museum and the home of Aspen's Historical Society; the society runs regular history tours around town. 620 West Bleeker Street. See aspenhistory.org

PITKIN COUNTY COURTHOUSE

Credit: Alamy

This late 19th Century Victorian building by architect William Quayle is still a working court. It is adorned with a statue of lady justice, but unlike many, she is not blindfolded. In Aspen, is there no blind justice? Serial killer Ted Bundy escaped out of a window here in 1977 and in that same decade, French actress Claudine Longet went on trial for killing her ski star boyfriend, Vladimir "Spider" Sabich. Bundy was recaptured after six days and in 1989 was executed. Longet's sentence was 30 days "to be served on days of her choice." 535 East Main Street. See courts.state.co.us

ASPEN INSTITUTE

When the ball started rolling again for Aspen, with a burgeoning ski industry bringing capital back to the town, its cultural heart started to beat again, luring the likes of Chicago industrialist Walter Paepcke who engaged architect Herbert Bayer to create the Aspen Institute in the avante-garde Bauhaus style, that design combination of function and beauty. It's now a sprawling campus alongside the Roaring Fork River that forms one part of a national institute for leaders and thinkers "to deal with critical issues." 1000 North 3rd Street. See aspeninstitute.org

ASPEN ART MUSEUM

Right in the retail precinct, this multi-level masterpiece by Japanese architect Shigeru Ban has a kind of basket weave facade that must tempt the locals in a mountain town, at least that's what the "do not attempt to climb on this structure" signs suggest. A modernist "ecological" architect, Ban also uses materials like paper and cardboard to create structures to house disaster victims - the Christchurch "Cardboard Cathedral" is one of his works. The Aspen museum has brilliantly-curated exhibitions and spaces for them. 637 East Hyman Avenue. See aspenartmuseum.org

The writer was a guest of Aspen Ski Co (aspensnowmass.com), Travelplan (travelplan.com.au) and Colorado Ski Country USA (coloradoski.com).