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Winchester Mystery HouseBy Kay Grant
Mrs. Winchester became depressed when her only child died in 1866. After her husband William died fifteen years later, Sarah sought comfort from spiritualists. The widow came to believe that continuous building onto her house would grant her eternal life. Having inherited twenty million dollars from the Winchester Rifle fortune, she had the means to keep construction going 24 hours a day for 38 years. She had not only the means, but also the drive. It mattered not that much of the construction made no sense; it was important only that it not stop.
Mrs. Winchester was her own architect, using no blueprints or plans, aided only by the spirits she consulted in the Séance Room she had built. Nightly, she went there to talk to them and get guidance on what to build next. Did Mrs. Winchester design the house? Or did spirits?
The Winchester Mystery House is a quirky, captivating, and pixilated place that appeals to all ages. Youngsters love the doors that open into walls, a staircase that reaches the ceiling with no outlet, and bizarre twists and turns throughout the house. Adults chuckle at the upside down posts, the window built into a floor, and the cupboard that is only half an inch deep.
Sarah lived with a few servants in a house with 40 bedrooms, 47 fireplaces, 17 chimneys, two basements, 52 skylights, half a dozen kitchens, 10,000 windows, 467 entry doors, 361 stairsteps (some in gradations of only two inches), and only 3 mirrors. Thirteen was an important number to Sarah. One sink has 13 drain holes, windows have 13 panes, the house contains 13 bathrooms, the Séance Room has 13 hooks for her 13 robes, the greenhouse has 13 glass cupolas, 13 gas jets are on the ballroom chandelier, and on and on. Interspersed among the oddities that cause visitors to smile and shake their heads are exquisite touches, such as ornate glass doors (imported from Europe by the Tiffany Company) costing $3,000 that were installed at the front entrance but never used, silver chandeliers from Germany, beautiful doorknobs, and inlaid floors. A beautiful Tiffany-imported glass window that was once on an outside wall soon was built around and now is blocked forever from sunlight. Several storerooms containing treasures worth millions today (valued at $25,000 at the time of Sarah’s demise) hold imported wallpaper, crystal light fixtures, furnishings, and hardware. After the 1906 earthquake that toppled the seven-story observation tower and caused other damage to the house, Mrs. Winchester had the front half of the house sealed off. She feared the spirits were angry because that part of the house was nearly finished. She employed dozens of carpenters and was generous with them (sometimes paying double the going wages). At the Winchester house, there was always plenty of work. Woodworkers would finish a room one week and rip it apart the next. One carpenter spent his entire working life on the floors—crafting them from fine woods like oak, mahogany, and rosewood, installing them, and then tearing them up.
The cacophony of hammers and building equipment stopped only when Sarah died at the age of 82, in 1922. Except for maintenance and restoration, the house remains today in the same condition it was on the day that Sarah took her last breath. The house is a California Registered Historical Landmark and is also on the National Register of Historic Places, thus ensuring that generations to come will enjoy this one-of-a-kind dwelling. Visitors can tour 112 of the 160 rooms, along with 4-1/2 acres of gardens, as well as the Winchester Firearms Museum and Winchester Antique Products Museum. The house tour has one mile of walking through the labyrinthine house. The gardens hold trees from around the world, a large variety of flowers, herb, vegetables, and decorations of statues and fountains. A mansion tour and a behind-the-scenes tour of the Winchester Mystery House are given seven days a week year round. On Fridays the thirteenth and Halloween they offer a nighttime flashlight tour. Winchester Mystery House |
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Nobody
ever accused Sarah Winchester of playing with a full deck. But because she was
wealthy (in pre-tax days, she had an income over $1,000 a day), she was labeled
eccentric rather than crazy. Today the tangible results of her derangement—the
Winchester Mystery House in San Jose, California—is a major tourist attraction.
The clatter of hammers and saws punctuated the air
throughout the days. And the nights. In the late 1800s, Santa Clara Valley was
rural and uncrowded. Sarah had room to build on the 160+ acres she owned.
Was she compulsive? Possessed? Inspired? Or just plain
crazy? No one knows. And perhaps it doesn't matter. What she left was a legacy
that enthralls visitors from around the world.
Bathrooms
have transparent glass doors. One bathroom for servants can be locked—but only
from the outside. A switchback stairway that climbs only nine feet has seven
turns and 44 steps. A chimney ascends four floors yet stops a foot and a half
from the roof, rendering it useless. It didn’t matter; most rooms in the house
were never used.
At
the time that an entire house could be built for $1,000, one of Sarah’s grand
ballrooms cost $9,000. All in all, she spent $5.5 million dollars transforming a
simple eight-room farmhouse into an outlandish and delightful 160-room sprawling
mansion.