This story is part of our April 2026 issue. To read the print version, click here.
Tucked amid modern steel-and-glass towers in downtown Sacramento
sits a striking survivor from the Gilded Age, a house treasured
as much for its historical significance to California as for its
architectural grandeur. The Leland Stanford Mansion is a
California State Park, a National Historic Landmark and the
oldest house open to the public in Sacramento.
The mansion played a significant role in the early development of
California, and today it serves as a house of protocol, hosting
state dinners and legislative events, in addition to serving as a
museum.
The commanding facade of the Stanford Mansion is an amalgam of
Renaissance Revival and French Second Empire architectural
styles.
The house was a witness to Leland
Stanford’s meteoric rise. After a successful stint as a “pick and
shovel” merchant during the Gold Rush, the attorney and
Sacramento civic leader purchased the home just before he became
governor of California. Soon after, he partnered with Charles
Crocker, Collis Huntington and Mark Hopkins (all successful
fellow Sacramento merchants) to establish the Central Pacific
Railroad, of which Stanford was president. Known as the Big Four,
all went on to become titans of industry that transformed
California in the 19th century.
Stanford drove the ceremonial golden spike at Promontory Summit
in Utah, linking Sacramento to the East Coast to complete the
transcontinental railroad in 1869. He later served as a U.S.
senator and, along with his wife, Jane Lathrop Stanford, founded
Stanford University in memory of their beloved son, Leland, Jr.,
who died at the age of 15.
The mansion was built in 1856 for Sheldon Fogus, another Gold
Rush merchant. Architect Seth Babson designed the house in the
Renaissance Revival style favored by the wealthy elite in the
mid-Victorian era. Five years later, the Stanfords bought the
home for $8,000 (equivalent to $295,000 today). They remodeled
the home twice, transitioning it to the emerging French Second
Empire style, often characterized by a multi-sided mansard roof
with dormer windows and ornamental ironwork.
The couple moved in shortly before the Great Flood of 1862, the
worst in California history. It rained for 43 days, turning much
of California into an “inland sea,” according to historical
records. (Stanford famously traveled by rowboat to his
inauguration.) They began renovating the house when the water
receded, adding an official wing used by three governors before
the State Capitol was built in 1874.
The Stanfords renovated again in 1872, expanding from the
original 3,000 square feet to a monumental 19,000. As most
Sacramentans did at the time, they lifted their house 12 feet to
avoid future flood damage. This added an extra level below the
original two-story house. They also added a three-story
cross-wing, a service wing and a mansard roof, which created a
fourth floor, encompassing 44 rooms in all. The entire renovation
was completed in five and a half months. An early California
magazine called it “the perfect specimen of a residence.”
Guests would ascend the grand exterior
double staircase to enter through the imposing arched doors on
the second level. In typical Victorian fashion, rooms branch off
a narrow center hallway. To the right of the foyer is the
splendid “Grand Parlor,” designed for first impressions. Three
rows of crown molding frame the 17-foot ceiling, while carved and
gilded cornices frame layers of draperies at the windows. An
ornate crystal chandelier, carved marble fireplace and an Italian
marquetry table further showcase the Stanfords’ wealth and
status.
Throughout the house, there is gleaming woodwork, etched glass,
wall-to-wall carpet and thousands of yards of brocade and
European handmade lace curtains. The gentleman’s parlor features
plaster egg-and-dart molding, with each “egg” framed by a
horseshoe motif — a reference to Stanford’s love of horses.
Intricately carved sideboards and ornate table legs allude to
locomotives, a nod to Stanford’s railroad empire.
State-of-the-art amenities include an en suite master bathroom
with hot and cold running water and a flushing toilet — the
pinnacle of luxury in 1872 — and gasolier fixtures that could be
pulled down to eye level for easy lighting.
Stanford, always at the forefront of innovation, hired
photographers twice to document the mansion’s opulent interiors.
One of them, Eadweard Muybridge, later became famous for his “The
Horse in Motion” study, widely considered the precursor to the
motion picture. This historic study, commissioned by Stanford,
began in Sacramento at Union Park racetrack, located in what is
now Boulevard Park.
Following Leland Stanford’s death in
1893, Jane Stanford, again in memory of her son, donated the
mansion and most of its contents to the Sisters of Mercy to
establish an orphanage in 1900. For decades, it served children
and, later, teenage girls under the Sisters of Social Service.
The Sisters kept most of the furnishings, storing them safely on
the fourth floor, where they remained preserved for nearly 80
years.
By 1978, the house was showing its age, and the cost of
maintenance was too much to bear. At that time, the State of
California bought the property for the dual purpose of preserving
it as a state park and using it as an official reception center
for diplomatic events. The state purchased the house and the
entire trove of original furnishings for $2.2 million.
Stanford’s commissioned photographs, which had been stored in the
Stanford University Archives for over a century, proved crucial
to the modern-day restoration of the mansion. The 14-year project
was completed in 2006 at a cost of $22 million.
Megan Stanley, a state parks interpreter
and facilitator for the mansion, often wonders what would be
revealed “if these walls could talk.” “It has been sitting here
since 1856,” she says. “I would love to go back in time and see
all the different periods of Sacramento’s growth. It wasn’t just
the Stanfords.” The Sisters, Stanley explains, cared for the
children through the Spanish flu pandemic, two world wars, the
Great Depression and other defining events of the 20th century.
While many Victorian houses were lost to modern redevelopment,
tour guide Ryan Sazima points out that Jane Stanford’s desire to
leave the home for orphans likely saved the house from almost
certain demise. Even in the face of unrelenting progress,
evicting nuns and orphans was never deemed acceptable. This,
along with the preservation movement that emerged in the 1970s,
ultimately protected the house, preserving its legacy while its
history continues to be written.
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