Boulder’s transdenomenational temple StarHouse turns 30

Celebrate the StarHouse’s past + future this Saturday

By Paul Hagey May 28 2020

Boulder’s transdenominational temple StarHouse turns 30 this Saturday as it continues to chart a new course on 70 acres just a few miles west of downtown Boulder.

The 12-sided StarHouse temple structure makes up the centerpiece of the land, which also includes approximately 20 additional sacred sites scattered throughout the property at 3476 Sunshine Canyon Drive. Saturday’s anniversary commemorates the StarHouse’s completion on May 30, 1990.

The 12 posts that make up the structure came from hand-selected trees on the property, chosen for their specific relation to one of the 12 zodiac symbols. Oriented precisely along a north-west-south-east axis, it has no laminated lumber — builders used whole trees for posts and beams. Builders used similar care in all aspects of the building.

Inside the StarHouse. Photo: StarHouse.

Originally envisioned as an outdoor, festive event with live music and a large gathering, the celebration has shifted with Covid-19 into a virtual one at 7 p.m. Saturday with a 30-minute film of the StarHouse’s past, present and future airing on the organization’s Facebook page and website. An after-party on Zoom will allow the community to share StarHouse stories.

“[The StarHouse] is simple and elegant and in that there’s a complexity that’s not always obvious,” says Lila Tresemer, who stewards the StarHouse with her husband David. David’s vision brought StarHouse to life, along with much support along the way; he bought the land in 1986, dedicated the StarHouse in 1990 and married Lila in the StarHouse in 1995.

David and Lila Tresemer, StarHouse founders. Photo: Paul Hagey

As David and Lila get older — both are above 65 years old — they have charted a new course for StarHouse by establishing it as a nonprofit and actively looking for new stewards for the land and temple who will make it a vibrant, used resource for those in Boulder and beyond.

They had the property up for sale a few years ago, but decided instead to continue its communal legacy, which Saturday’s event will celebrate and hope to perpetuate with a fundraiser.

[Read our previous feature on the StarHouse here]

The StarHouse has hosted many events throughout the years, sometimes as a rental and more frequently as StarHouse-hosted events that match the rhythms of the year: new moon events involve storytelling; full moon events feature quieter meditations; kirtans (a music-filled worship event) are held once a quarter; and four separate events at the summer and winter solstice and the spring and fall equinox.

The StarHouse land and building offers a rare place where the abstract descriptions of energy, resonance, the spirit, etc., become real and tangible, and as the StarHouse embarks on a new era, Lila and David hope it becomes accessible to — and used by — more people.

Feature image: the StarHouse. Photo: Paul Hagey. Illustration: Taty Sharpton.

Paul Hagey

Paul Hagey is BLDRfly’s founder and editor. When not wrangling video, audio and words in the name of story, he’s riding his mountain bike, trail running and hanging with his awesome wife Jen and their young daughter. paul@bldrfly.com