Spruce House

Eight residents make up the entire population of Spruce House, a repurposed single-family residence on Brady Drive in the Academy Boulevard section of northeast Colorado Springs. Ranch-style houses and mature trees line the block, and the property still reads as an ordinary home rather than a building constructed to serve dozens of people at once. Care revolves around the basics that keep someone safe and comfortable: staff track medication schedules, help residents wash up and get dressed, and stay close enough to catch a stumble before it becomes a fall.

Because only eight names appear on the roster, caregivers pick up on a person's habits fast, and support expands step by step as circumstances call for more of it. Meals come out of Spruce House's own kitchen rather than a catering contract, and the household sits down together instead of moving through a serving line. Beyond mealtimes, the day fills with smaller moments, cards on the porch, a slow walk around the block, or a caregiver simply sitting to talk, and whoever's nearby steps in the moment someone needs more attention.

Set against the 40- and 50-bed buildings scattered across the city, Spruce House works best for households prioritizing a caregiver team that already knows a resident's day-to-day routine, over a packed events calendar and a wide amenities lineup. Assisted living is the only service offered here, so memory care, independent living, and skilled nursing sit outside its scope, and the home doesn't process Medicaid claims, so every bill is a private-pay expense.

A few blocks of Academy Boulevard shops and pharmacies cover the small errands, and heading toward the middle of the city puts Penrose Hospital and the UCHealth Memorial campus in range whenever a resident needs medical care that daily caregiving can't cover. The surrounding blocks stay quiet, with little through-traffic to disturb the pace of the household. No franchise or regional chain stands behind Spruce House; it functions as a single independent home where the eight-resident count and the house-scale routine come from one simple choice: keep the group small enough that a caregiver never has far to go.