The Colorado ski home built and owned by President Gerald R. Ford, Jr., and Betty Ford in their retirement is for sale.

The 11,849-square-foot, seven-bedroom, 11-bathroom Beaver Creek neighborhood residence in Avon, Colo., has an asking price of $8.5 million.

The former Colorado home office of President Gerald R. Ford remains intact. (Photo: Triumph Mountain Properties)
The former Colorado home office of President Gerald R. Ford remains intact. (Photo: Triumph Mountain Properties)
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An East Grand Rapids resident and Michigan congressman, Ford served as the 38th president from Aug. 9, 1974, to Jan. 20, 1977, having lost the 1976 election to President Jimmy Carter. Ford replaced President Richard Nixon, who resigned, after having been vice president under Nixon from 1973 to 1974. Ford died in 2006 at the age of 93 in Rancho Mirage, Calif., and is buried with Betty on the grounds of the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum in Grand Rapids.

The Fords' Bavarian mountain manor-style home was built in 1983, with prominent flower boxes, window shutters and steep roof lines. It was where dignitaries such as President Bill Clinton, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger visited the Fords.

The home's main upper level has a large great room with a fireplace, cathedral ceiling, skylights and over-sized windows with views of Beaver Creek Mountain. There is also a chef’s kitchen with commercial-style appliances, a catering area and a butler’s pantry for formal gatherings.

Ford's former home office has a large fireplace, and his desk and the floor tiles behind it have been left intact, showing the original marks made by his chair.
The master suite contains a claw-foot fireplace with an engraved inscription by President John Adams that originally came from the Lincoln Bedroom in The White House.

Designed with security in mind, its lower entry level was used as separate living space for the U.S. Secret Service and is now guest quarters. There is also an indoor swimming pool that was used by the Fords.

The residence, which underwent a $4 million renovation in 2009, is listed with Sotheby's International Realty in Vail.

Triumph Mountain Properties of Vail had been offering the property for short-term rentals.

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