G'day!
When visiting Sacramento recently, I had the opportunity to see the Leland Stanford Mansion. The park is open to the public and while visitors cannot freely roam the mansion, they can book a free public tour of the mansion offered every hour.
This is the latest of my northern California posts which include:
F1: San Francisco (SFO) & San Jose (SJC) Airports
F3: Leland Stanford Mansion (this post)
F4: California State Capitol Museum & California State Capitol
I still have a very lengthy backlog including:
All of the pictures in this post were taken by me. If you want to use any of my photos, please contact me to first obtain permission.
Note that some of my room labels might be off. Unfortunately, I'm not astute enough to tell the difference between a lesser parlor, greater parlor, and lounge.
LELAND STANFORD MANSION
800 "N" Street
Sacramento, CA 95814
Website: https://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=489
Hours:
Open Daily, 10 AM - 5 PM.
To enter the mansion, you need to book a free guided tour which is run every hour on the hour from 10 AM - 4 PM. Self guided tours are not available.
Cost (as of 2026): FREE!
There is no admission fee. The public guided tour is free! There is a cost for commercial and non-school group tours.
You will need to find and pay for nearby parking. I was able to find $5 parking on SpotHero for 3 hours that was a 10 minute walk away.
Estimated Time: 45 - 60 minutes.
Each guided tour is scheduled to last 45 minutes (though mine lasted 55 minutes). You can freely walk around the outside grounds but you can only be inside the mansion during the tour.
SUMMARY
This is the mansion that Leland Stanford bought before his two-year term as the 8th governor of California and which he used as his executive office. The following two California governors also used the mansion as their office while the nearby State Capital building underwent construction. Eventually, Jane Lathrop Stanford donated it to the Roman Catholic Church where it became an orphanage and then a residence for dependent high school girls until 1987. Eventually, the state of California acquired the property and turned it into a state historic park. The state of California regularly uses it as a formal reception area for official functions and to host foreign dignitaries.
In order to have the mansion designated as a national historic landmark, the state had to restore the mansion to what it had looked like when the Stanfords had lived there. Fortunately, Leland Stanford had taken photographs at the time which were used as reference sources.
Within the mansion you get to see architecture, historic and expensive furnishings, and a small amount of art.
While the mansion has 44 rooms, a typical tour will only cover about a dozen of them. There is no fixed script or schedule - each docent has their own interests and rooms of expertise so every tour may be different. In contrast, the Winchester Mystery House had two different tours available but each had a set schedule of rooms covered. This does mean that there is repeat value in attending multiple Leland Stanford Mansion tours since you may get to hear different factoids and see different rooms. I would certainly be interested in visiting again! In theory, you could even book back-to-back tours, getting different or even the same tour guide.
My tour guide was Margo and she did a great job! Initially, I was the only person signed up for the tour but once we entered the second room of the mansion, a pair of walk-ins joined us. That worked out well because the new arrivals could chat with the docent while I focused on taking pictures for this post.
While the Leland Stanford Mansion used to have a gift shop, it was a casualty of COVID.
Comparing the Leland Stanford Mansion to other examples of architecture:
5 stars:
4 stars:
3 stars:
2 stars:
1 star:
EXTERIOR
The exterior of the mansion is quite beautiful. Here's a more traditional view of the entrance.
An angled view of the entrance
However, I think I slightly prefer these pictures that include the giant palm tree. While they don't show as much of the mansion, I like the juxtaposition with the modern building next door. In fact, the reflection of the mansion in the windows almost looks like a train or a boat!
Side views of the mansion
Photo Op Cutout
Gardens
VISITOR CENTER
Tours begin in the visitor center, which hosts several informational exhibits.
"Wild with Interest"
Tutor Herbert Nash marveled that his pupil, Leland Stanford, Jr., was "wild with interest." Leland filled sketchbooks like this one with his drawings.
This is a diorama showing the historical phases of construction for the mansion. It was originally built in 1856 by Shelton C. Fogus and expanded a year later to the east which centered the entrance. Leland Stanford bought it in 1861 and after winter floods devastated the city, a one-story governor's office was added. In 1872, the office was connected to the main house and an entire floor was added. The mansion was now six times larger than before.
The tour starts with two short videos (totaling around 5 minutes) which tell the history of the mansion and that of Leland Stanford.
This is a photo of a screw jack which was used to lift the mansion so a new floor could be added. Screw jacks are commonly used to lift houses, barns, and railroad tracks. Leland Stanford made much of his money from the Central Pacific and Southern Pacific Railroads.
BALLROOM
My tour started in the ballroom because the main entrance was raised when Leland Stanford added an additional floor to the building. Mirrors were placed at each end of the ballroom to generate an infinity effect.
This is a sample dance card for women to schedule dances with men. You were only allowed to have one dance with a given person.
This is a blowup of the horse images in the zoetrope:
"An optical toy in which figures on the inside of a revolving cylinder are viewed through slits in its circumference and appear like a single animated figure."
Kutani Japanese Porcelain Bowl
from the Stanford Home Collection
Soup Plate, Demitasse Cups and Saucers
from the Stanford Home Collection
Dishes appear in Muybridge dining room photograph and are said to have been possessions of Governor and Mrs. Stanford.
BILLIARDS ROOM
Historically, billiards was for women while pool was for men. This billiards room offered a private refuge for women to get some relief during parties.
Frame of the mirror
Woodwork of the couch
Abacus
STAIRWAY HALL
The elevator / stairway area had a nice view of the courtyard.
FORMAL DINING ROOM
Going up a floor to what was originally the ground floor but became elevated after a new floor was added.
Here is the historical photograph.
These urns have an Egyptian motif.
Note the Stanford "S" logo in the glass and the wooden molding of a train at the top.
A closer view of the train molding.
This is the foot of a table, shaped like a train.
Tassels of the curtains
Top of the curtains
The glare obscures the painting but check out the "Photo Editing" section at the end of this post.
MUSIC ROOM
The Great Flood of 1862 was the largest flood in the recorded history of California. Governor Stanford attended his 1862 inauguration in a rowboat.
These notches inside a cabinet show how high the water level rose. At the time, this room was on the ground floor.
LESSER PARLOR
ENTRANCE HALL
Beautiful woodwork
FRONT ENTRANCE
According to the tour guide, during Leland Stanford's time all sorts of people (many of who were poor) would camp outside the mansion. Petitioners would regularly request audiences with the governor in hopes that he would fund their various business ventures. The doorman would judge the visitor based on their appearance and if they seemed sufficiently reputable, they would be granted a meeting with Jane Lathrop Stanford. She was the gatekeeper who would ascertain who would be worthy to invite to a social event where she might introduce them to her husband.
GREATER PARLOR
Top of the mirror
Top of the curtains
Table engraving
Detailed mounting for the chandeliers
LOUNGE
This is a very heavy wood door but the sliding mechanism makes it easy to move.
KITCHEN
The docent let us feel how heavy this plate was.
Speaking tubes that functioned as an old fashioned intercom system. According to the tour guide, when the mansion served as an orphanage the girls stuck lots of gum into these.
JANE LATHROP STANFORD BEDROOM
Going up to the top floor we have the bedrooms.
Coal box
BATHROOM
State-of-the-art 19th century flushing toilet
Special zinc tub which retains heat
LELAND JR'S ROOM
This seems to be Leland Jr's nursery as a baby. As an adolescent and young adult, presumably he had larger accommodations.
ORPHAN ROOMS
This was a dormitory room when the mansion served as an orphanage.
In the 19th century there was a social stigma to the word "orphan." As a result, "friendless children" was a euphemism that was used instead.
Although the mansion primarily housed girls, eventually there were some boys too. This is a picture of children who used to live at the mansion but have returned for a reunion as adults. Many of them have happy memories of their time here.
During the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918, the mansion was briefly used as an emergency treatment facility.
SERVANTS' DINING ROOM
Back on the ground floor, we passed this area at the end of the tour. Nowadays, it is used as a break room for the park's volunteers.
PHOTO EDITING
I'm normally not a fan of photoshop. Pictures lose their authenticity when they have been edited and they present an unrealistic and often unattainable ideal. It marginalizes the skill of the photographer and can feel like cheating.
However, I do recognize that in a lot of museums, the lighting, glass, and reflections make it impossible to take a clear picture.
That being said, I do think that any photoshop or other editing should be clearly labeled. (Tangentially, I also think that any AI use should be clearly labeled as well).
My new phone does seem to have some editing capabilities so I thought I would try experimenting with them. All of the earlier pictures in this post are authentic and unedited (other than rotating the image 90 degrees in a few cases). The following pictures are intended to illustrate how my phone's capabilities to "erase reflections," "erase shadows," and/or "remove lens flare" affects the image.
This is the original photo I took of a portrait of Leland Stanford, Jr. in Jane Lathrop Stanford's bedroom.
Here is what it looks like after I "erase reflections." The reflections of the lamp and the person are significantly reduced though you can still see them.
This is a photo I took of a dog sketch in the visitor's center.
There's a drastic difference when I use my phone's features to "remove shadows" and "remove reflections."
This is the photo I took of an oil painting in the music room.
Using my phone's "remove lens flare" and "erase reflections" the colors are a bit sharper and the glare is reduced, but the glare on the oil is still present. It looks like this may not help too much with oil paintings.
This photo of art in the dining hall is heavily marred by the reflections of the windows and curtains. I normally wouldn't use or post such an image.
This demonstrates the limits of "remove lens flare" and "erase reflections." While the colors are a little deeper, this doesn't significantly remove the reflections of the windows and curtains. Even edited, I still don't think this photo is salvageable.
