The tower was badly damaged and later removed leaving the mansion standing at its current four storeys. At the time the mansion had been seven storeys tall with a tower. In 1906 the mansion sustained much damage when the great earthquake hit. The mansion boasts a large number of windows Some of the stained glass can be seen in the top windows I guess that's what happens when you leave your architectural decisions to spirits! For example, the most expensive stained glass panel (which features crystals designed to spread a rainbow of colour across the room when hit by the sun) was placed in a room directly facing an external wall, never glistening in the sunlight as it was designed to do. Many of the stunning stained glass panels throughout the mansion are not used to their full potential due to bad placement. Of course, the valuation of these materials is now in the "priceless" category. The room was named for the valuation of the items found inside at the time of her death. Much of this excess fabric can be seen in the famed $25,000 storage room along with spare stain glass panels, huge amounts of wallpaper and various building materials. In order to avoid others in the area using the same fabric for curtains etc she would purchase all of the fabric available in a particular pattern. She spent large amounts of money on stained glass panels (many from Tiffany), imported wallpaper and fixtures, and exquisite fabrics. Mrs Winchester had inherited over $20 million at the time of her husband's death along with enough shares in the Winchester company to earn an income of $1000 a day. No expense was spared with the construction and decor of the mansion. Both Ava and Lola thought that the easy riser steps were fantastic! In her old age Mrs Winchester suffered greatly from arthritis and had many of the staircases replaced with easy riser steps as she struggled to use regular height steps. Lola was pretty excited to discover that many of the windows and sinks were at her height! There's even one tiny doorway that only Mrs Winchester could fit through without stooping. Mrs Winchester was very short (4'10") so many of the fixtures were built for her height which just adds to the strange feel of the interior. The "Door to Nowhere" open on the second floor It is also said that these oddities were included to confuse spirits. There is one staircase that leads directly to the ceiling, another staircase that goes up 7 steps and then down 11, a door that leads directly outside on the second floor, false cupboards that are only an inch deep. This resulted in a lot of changes being made (over 600 rooms were built and rebuilt) and an awful lot of odd decisions made when it came to the placement of rooms, doors, windows etc. She is said to have taken to her seance room late every night and would emerge a few hours later with the next day's building plans. The rest of the house was designed by Mrs Winchester, supposedly after she consulted with spirits in nightly seances. Only one room was architect designed, the grand ballroom which was built almost entirely without the use of nails. What makes it even stranger is that Mrs Winchester designed most of the home herself without the help of an architect. So this background already gives the house a little mystery. This work would continue 24 hours a day until Mrs Winchester's death in 1922. In order to appease the spirits, or at least confuse them so they could no longer haunt her, she was advised to head west and find an unfinished home to work on - continuously. She appears to have been quite a superstitious person and after the death of her husband she is said to have consulted a medium who advised her that she was haunted by the spirits of those who had been killed by the Winchester repeating rifle. Fifteen years earlier the Winchesters had lost their only child in early infancy and these two losses impacted greatly on Mrs Winchester. Sarah Winchester moved to San Jose from the east coast after the early death of her husband.
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