{"id":257616,"date":"2026-04-08T13:48:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T13:48:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/257616\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T13:48:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T13:48:10","slug":"tycoons-sacramento-mansion-tells-the-story-of-californias-rise-to-economic-power","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/257616\/","title":{"rendered":"Tycoon\u2019s Sacramento Mansion Tells the Story of California\u2019s Rise to Economic Power"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a><\/p>\n

This story is part of our April 2026 issue. To read the print version, click here.<\/a><\/p>\n


\n
\n <\/p>\n

\n Tucked amid modern steel-and-glass towers in downtown Sacramento
\n sits a striking survivor from the Gilded Age, a house treasured
\n as much for its historical significance to California as for its
\n architectural grandeur. The Leland Stanford Mansion is a
\n California State Park, a National Historic Landmark and the
\n oldest house open to the public in Sacramento.\n<\/p>\n

\n The mansion played a significant role in the early development of
\n California, and today it serves as a house of protocol, hosting
\n state dinners and legislative events, in addition to serving as a
\n museum.\n<\/p>\n

\n \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\n The commanding facade of the Stanford Mansion is an amalgam of
\n Renaissance Revival and French Second Empire architectural
\n styles.\n<\/p>\n

The house was a witness to Leland
\n Stanford\u2019s meteoric rise. After a successful stint as a \u201cpick and
\n shovel\u201d merchant during the Gold Rush, the attorney and
\n Sacramento civic leader purchased the home just before he became
\n governor of California. Soon after, he partnered with Charles
\n Crocker, Collis Huntington and Mark Hopkins (all successful
\n fellow Sacramento merchants) to establish the Central Pacific
\n Railroad, of which Stanford was president. Known as the Big Four,
\n all went on to become titans of industry that transformed
\n California in the 19th century.\n<\/p>\n

\n Stanford drove the ceremonial golden spike at Promontory Summit
\n in Utah, linking Sacramento to the East Coast to complete the
\n transcontinental railroad in 1869. He later served as a U.S.
\n senator and, along with his wife, Jane Lathrop Stanford, founded
\n Stanford University in memory of their beloved son, Leland, Jr.,
\n who died at the age of 15.\n<\/p>\n

\n The mansion was built in 1856 for Sheldon Fogus, another Gold
\n Rush merchant. Architect Seth Babson designed the house in the
\n Renaissance Revival style favored by the wealthy elite in the
\n mid-Victorian era. Five years later, the Stanfords bought the
\n home for $8,000 (equivalent to $295,000 today). They remodeled
\n the home twice, transitioning it to the emerging French Second
\n Empire style, often characterized by a multi-sided mansard roof
\n with dormer windows and ornamental ironwork.\n<\/p>\n

\n \"\"<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

\n The couple moved in shortly before the Great Flood of 1862, the
\n worst in California history. It rained for 43 days, turning much
\n of California into an \u201cinland sea,\u201d according to historical
\n records. (Stanford famously traveled by rowboat to his
\n inauguration.) They began renovating the house when the water
\n receded, adding an official wing used by three governors before
\n the State Capitol was built in 1874.\n<\/p>\n

\n The Stanfords renovated again in 1872, expanding from the
\n original 3,000 square feet to a monumental 19,000. As most
\n Sacramentans did at the time, they lifted their house 12 feet to
\n avoid future flood damage. This added an extra level below the
\n original two-story house. They also added a three-story
\n cross-wing, a service wing and a mansard roof, which created a
\n fourth floor, encompassing 44 rooms in all. The entire renovation
\n was completed in five and a half months. An early California
\n magazine called it \u201cthe perfect specimen of a residence.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n \"\"<\/a>Guests would ascend the grand exterior
\n double staircase to enter through the imposing arched doors on
\n the second level. In typical Victorian fashion, rooms branch off
\n a narrow center hallway. To the right of the foyer is the
\n splendid \u201cGrand Parlor,\u201d designed for first impressions. Three
\n rows of crown molding frame the 17-foot ceiling, while carved and
\n gilded cornices frame layers of draperies at the windows. An
\n ornate crystal chandelier, carved marble fireplace and an Italian
\n marquetry table further showcase the Stanfords\u2019 wealth and
\n status.\n<\/p>\n

\n Throughout the house, there is gleaming woodwork, etched glass,
\n wall-to-wall carpet and thousands of yards of brocade and
\n European handmade lace curtains. The gentleman\u2019s parlor features
\n plaster egg-and-dart molding, with each \u201cegg\u201d framed by a
\n horseshoe motif \u2014 a reference to Stanford\u2019s love of horses.
\n Intricately carved sideboards and ornate table legs allude to
\n locomotives, a nod to Stanford\u2019s railroad empire.
\n State-of-the-art amenities include an en suite master bathroom
\n with hot and cold running water and a flushing toilet \u2014 the
\n pinnacle of luxury in 1872 \u2014 and gasolier fixtures that could be
\n pulled down to eye level for easy lighting.\n<\/p>\n

\n \"\"<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

\n Stanford, always at the forefront of innovation, hired
\n photographers twice to document the mansion\u2019s opulent interiors.
\n One of them, Eadweard Muybridge, later became famous for his \u201cThe
\n Horse in Motion\u201d study, widely considered the precursor to the
\n motion picture. This historic study, commissioned by Stanford,
\n began in Sacramento at Union Park racetrack, located in what is
\n now Boulevard Park.\n<\/p>\n

\n \"\"<\/a>Following Leland Stanford\u2019s death in
\n 1893, Jane Stanford, again in memory of her son, donated the
\n mansion and most of its contents to the Sisters of Mercy to
\n establish an orphanage in 1900. For decades, it served children
\n and, later, teenage girls under the Sisters of Social Service.
\n The Sisters kept most of the furnishings, storing them safely on
\n the fourth floor, where they remained preserved for nearly 80
\n years.\n<\/p>\n

\n By 1978, the house was showing its age, and the cost of
\n maintenance was too much to bear. At that time, the State of
\n California bought the property for the dual purpose of preserving
\n it as a state park and using it as an official reception center
\n for diplomatic events. The state purchased the house and the
\n entire trove of original furnishings for $2.2 million.\n<\/p>\n

\n \"\"<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

\n Stanford\u2019s commissioned photographs, which had been stored in the
\n Stanford University Archives for over a century, proved crucial
\n to the modern-day restoration of the mansion. The 14-year project
\n was completed in 2006 at a cost of $22 million.\n<\/p>\n

\n \"\"<\/a>Megan Stanley, a state parks interpreter
\n and facilitator for the mansion, often wonders what would be
\n revealed \u201cif these walls could talk.\u201d \u201cIt has been sitting here
\n since 1856,\u201d she says. \u201cI would love to go back in time and see
\n all the different periods of Sacramento\u2019s growth. It wasn\u2019t just
\n the Stanfords.\u201d The Sisters, Stanley explains, cared for the
\n children through the Spanish flu pandemic, two world wars, the
\n Great Depression and other defining events of the 20th century.\n<\/p>\n

\n While many Victorian houses were lost to modern redevelopment,
\n tour guide Ryan Sazima points out that Jane Stanford\u2019s desire to
\n leave the home for orphans likely saved the house from almost
\n certain demise. Even in the face of unrelenting progress,
\n evicting nuns and orphans was never deemed acceptable. This,
\n along with the preservation movement that emerged in the 1970s,
\n ultimately protected the house, preserving its legacy while its
\n history continues to be written.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u2013\n<\/p>\n

\n Stay up to date on business in the Capital Region:
\n Subscribe to the Comstock\u2019s newsletter
\n today.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This story is part of our April 2026 issue. To read the print version, click here. …\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":257617,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[121,123,122],"class_list":["post-257616","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sacramento","tag-sacramento","tag-sacramento-headlines","tag-sacramento-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257616","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=257616"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257616\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/257617"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=257616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=257616"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=257616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}