This story is part of our April 2026 issue. To read the print version, click here.

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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