Entry No. 40 — the Colorado Springs file — filed under: kinetic-art
Starr Kempf's Kinetic Sculptures
“a street where your GPS has no idea why you've stopped the car”
Tucked into a quiet residential block near the Broadmoor, a private yard holds four to five surviving steel wind sculptures — 30 to 50 feet tall — built by sculptor Starr Kempf over nearly two decades starting in the late 1970s, each taking up to three years to complete. They spin and flex silently in the Colorado breeze, designed to look like enormous abstracted birds and weather vanes, with no gate, no signage, and no explanation for the uninitiated passerby. Kempf died by suicide in 1995 before the neighborhood wars that followed — zoning suits, court orders, a daughter's quixotic attempt to turn it into a museum — and around half the original dozen sculptures survive on the lawn where he built them. You won't find this on any Colorado Springs top-ten list; it hides in plain sight on a street where your GPS has no idea why you've stopped the car.
The story
In the late 1970s, artist Starr Kempf—a World War II Air Force veteran raised by a family of blacksmiths and trained at the Cleveland Institute of Art—turned his residential front yard into a heavy-metal proving ground. Over nearly two decades, he welded giant steel wind sculptures that rose 30 to 50 feet into the air, with each intricate bird- or weather-vane-shaped structure requiring up to three years of meticulous engineering. He never sold his monumental pieces; instead, he anchored them into his own soil near the mouth of North Cheyenne Cañon, letting the mountain winds flex and rotate thousands of pounds of shaped steel silently above his quiet street.
When Kempf died by suicide in 1995, his yard held around a dozen of these soaring spires. What followed was a bitter, decades-long neighborhood battle. As sightseers began jamming the narrow residential lane, city zoning enforcement moved in with court orders mandating the removal of the taller structures. Kempf's daughter fought back in court in a quixotic attempt to preserve the property as a public museum, but the city eventually forced the removal of several works—three of which, Sunrise Serenade, Metronome, and Space Needle, were relocated to the UCCS Ent Center for the Arts. Four to five surviving sculptures remain anchored on the lawn where Kempf built them, standing without a fence, sign, or official explanation.
What it's like
Rolling down Pine Grove Avenue, your GPS gives no indication why you're stopping in a quiet residential neighborhood near the Broadmoor until you look straight up through the tree canopy. There are no ticket booths, no historic markers, and no gates—just multi-story steel birds flexing silently above a private lawn. Pull into the small pull-off across the street, step onto the public sidewalk, and stay off the grass. On a still day, the steel sits motionless like abandoned antenna towers, but when an afternoon breeze rolls off Cheyenne Mountain, the arms rotate with fluid grace. Go around dusk on a windy day, keep your voice low, and respect the property line.
The move: Drive slowly past at dusk when the low light catches the spinning steel, then park and linger on the sidewalk — give it a few quiet minutes and the breeze will do the rest; pair it with a walk down Old Colorado City's Tejon Street for food and drinks afterward.
📍 Before you go It's on the south side near the Broadmoor and North Cheyenne Cañon — not Old Colorado City — at the corner of Pine Grove and Evans, so let your GPS land you there and then look up for the towering steel. This is a private residence: view only from the public sidewalk and stay respectful of the neighbors. There's no parking right out front, but there's a pull-off across the street and a small lot a short way down. A breezy day is what brings the sculptures to life, so aim for wind over stillness. Pair it with Cheyenne Cañon and Helen Hunt Falls just up the road; to see more Kempf works up close, three stand at the UCCS Ent Center.
- 📍 Old Colorado City & the Westside
- 💸 Free
- ⚡ Up for anything
- 🌗 Outdoors
Where: 2057 Pine Grove Ave, Colorado Springs, CO 80906
Hours: Added 2026-06-09 — confirm current hours before you go.
Pair it with
- Iscariot (Octo-Maid) — Follow up one set of unheralded neighborhood steel creations with another by hunting down the 12-foot octopus-mermaid sculpture mounted atop the city's downtown traffic center.
- Novis Mortem Collective (classes by The Terrorium Shop) — Swap open-air kinetic engineering on a quiet sidewalk for indoor oddities, taxidermy, and hands-on specimen classes on Tejon Street.
- The Rabbit Hole — Cap off an understated roadside art viewing with theatrical cocktails inside a gothic speakeasy located in the city's former morgue.
Good to know
Where exactly are the sculptures located?
They stand in a private yard at 2057 Pine Grove Avenue (at the corner of Pine Grove and Evans), in a residential neighborhood near North Cheyenne Cañon on the south side of Colorado Springs.
Can I walk onto the lawn or take a tour?
No. The site is a private residence with no public access, indoor tours, or museum facilities. Viewing is strictly restricted to the public sidewalk and street.
How many sculptures remain on the property?
Four to five original sculptures remain on the lawn today out of the roughly twelve that Starr Kempf built before his death in 1995.
Where did the missing sculptures go?
Following city court orders and estate disputes after Kempf's death, several pieces were removed from the lawn. Three major works—Sunrise Serenade, Metronome, and Space Needle—are on long-term outdoor display at the Ent Center for the Arts on the UCCS campus.
When is the best time to view them?
Aim for a windy day at late afternoon or dusk, when mountain breezes catch the kinetic arms and low light reflects off the steel.
Plan a visit & invite your people →
Further reading: Atlas Obscura · Roadside America · Tripadvisor · Yelp · Wikipedia
last checked: 2026-06-09