Winchester Mystery House facts for kids

Winchester Mystery House
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
View of the mansion from the east
Location in San Jose, California Show map of San Jose, California Location in California Show map of California Location in the United States Show map of the United States
Location	525 South Winchester Boulevard San Jose, CA 95128
Built	1884–1906
Architectural style	Victorian, Gothic
NRHP reference No.	74000559
Quick facts for kids Significant dates
Added to NRHP	August 7, 1974

The Winchester Mystery House is a huge mansion in San Jose, California. It was once the home of Sarah Winchester. She was the widow of William Wirt Winchester, who owned the Winchester Repeating Arms Company. This company made famous firearms.

The house became a tourist attraction about nine months after Sarah Winchester died in 1922. This amazing house is built in the Victorian and Gothic styles. It is famous for its massive size and its many strange features. There are also lots of stories and legends about the house and its former owner.

Meet Sarah Winchester

Sarah Winchester, 1865

Sarah Winchester was born in 1839 in New Haven, Connecticut. Her close friends and family called her Sallie. In 1862, she married William Wirt Winchester.

In 1866, Sarah gave birth to a baby girl named Annie. Sadly, Annie lived for only about a month.

Between 1880 and 1881, Sarah lost her mother, her father-in-law, and her husband. She received a very large amount of money from her husband's inheritance.

In 1884, her oldest sister, Mary, also passed away. Around this time, Sarah started having rheumatoid arthritis. Her doctor suggested that a warmer, drier climate might help her feel better.

In 1885, when she was 46 years old, Sarah moved to California. She had happy memories of visiting San Francisco with her husband. Also, California was advertised as a place with good weather for health.

Building Her California Home

In 1886, Sarah bought a large ranch near San Jose. It had a two-story farmhouse with eight rooms. She named her new home Llanada Villa.

Sarah and her husband had always been interested in architecture and home design. Sarah decided to expand the farmhouse herself. She designed each room one by one. She also watched over the project and asked for advice from the carpenters.

She often took ideas from the world's fairs that were popular back then. It was unusual for a woman to manage such a big building project. Some people even called her an architectural pioneer.

Sarah was known to tear down parts of the house and rebuild them if she didn't like the progress. This led to the house having a very confusing, maze-like design. For example, a seven-story tower was reportedly torn down and rebuilt 16 times!

As the house grew, some outside windows and doors were not removed. They ended up inside the house. Different parts of the home had up to five levels added. The house was mostly Victorian in style, with some Gothic and Romanesque touches.

Amazing House Features

The house had many unique and beautiful features. The ballroom walls and ceilings had carved wood. The ballroom floor had a fancy pattern made from teak, maple, and mahogany woods. A large brick fireplace was next to two windows with quotes from Shakespeare.

The second floor had bedrooms, each with its own sitting room and sewing room. The walls were covered with special materials that looked like leather or metal. The ceilings had fancy mouldings and designs. There were chandeliers from Germany, art glass from Austria, furniture from Asia, and paintings from France.

An annunciator, which was an early type of intercom, was used to call servants. There was even an indoor garden with slanted floors. These floors would drain extra water into pipes that watered the outdoor flowers. A generator provided power for a water pump and electricity.

Sarah Winchester was quite short, about four feet ten inches tall. Because of her height and health issues, a special stairway was built. It has 44 steps but only goes up ten feet!

Unique Windows

The windows in the house are very unusual. They are pastel-colored and have unique, uneven designs. The windows on the upper floors had a spider-web pattern, which was popular then. The windows next to the brick fireplace have quotes from Shakespeare's plays.

For many years, people thought these windows were made by Tiffany & Co.. However, it was later discovered that a glass artist named John Mallon likely made them. This was confirmed when a note from his company was found in a wall during restoration. Many of the beautiful art glass windows Sarah bought were never even installed. They are still kept in a storage room.

Sarah would often take breaks from building to rest, sometimes for months. This slowed down the construction quite a bit. It's a myth that she had the house built non-stop for 38 years.

At its largest, the house had about 500 rooms! One student who studied Sarah Winchester believed she built the large home to keep workers employed and to express her artistic ideas.

The 1906 Earthquake

In 1906, a huge earthquake hit San Francisco. The Llanada Villa was badly damaged. The seven-story tower and most of the chimneys fell down. One entire wing was destroyed, along with parts of the third and fourth floors.

Sarah had the fallen parts removed. However, she did not do much more to the house after the earthquake. This left doors that opened to nothing, pipes sticking out where windows used to be, and staircases that suddenly ended.

After 1910, Sarah's health declined. She mostly stopped working on the San Jose home, except for small repairs. She did add an elevator in 1916. She spent her time managing her money and investments.

When Sarah Winchester died in 1922, the house had 160 rooms, 2,000 doors, 10,000 windows, 47 stairways, 47 fireplaces, 13 bathrooms, and 6 kitchens.

A Tourist Attraction Today

Winchester House and grounds, undated photo

The house became a tourist attraction nine months after Sarah Winchester's death in 1922. At first, the house was in poor condition and not thought to be worth much money. A group of investors bought the property. They then rented it to John and Mayme Brown, who turned it into a tourist spot. The Browns later bought the house in 1931. Many changes were made to the house after Sarah Winchester passed away.

Mayme Brown was the first tour guide of the house. Some of Sarah's old neighbors, friends, and workers were upset. They read about strange, untrue stories being told about the house and Sarah. They didn't like that the Browns were making money from these false tales. These people described Sarah as a smart woman who was very good with money and business.

In 1924, the famous magician Harry Houdini visited the house briefly. He was reportedly amazed by its unusual design. Some stories say Houdini suggested the name "Winchester Mystery House" for promoting the property.

In 1973, Keith Kittle became the general manager. He had worked at Disneyland before. The house was in bad shape, so he had it renovated in the 1970s and 1980s. He also added a Winchester rifle museum. Kittle worked to get the house recognized as a historical landmark. He started a big advertising campaign with billboards showing a spooky house. This hinted that visitors might see ghosts. Attendance grew as he used the existing stories and superstitions.

Winchester Rifle Museum

Today, the Winchester Mystery House is owned and run by a private company. This company represents the descendants of the Brown family.

See also

In Spanish: Mansión Winchester para niños