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Sarah Winchester
Sarah Winchester was born in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1839 and married William Wirt Winchester in 1862. After his death in 1881 she controlled a large holding of shares in the Winchester Repeating Arms Company, and on a doctor’s advice to seek a warmer, drier climate she moved west.


Building without end
In 1886 she bought a farmhouse on a 45-acre ranch in the Santa Clara Valley for $12,570 and named it Llanada Villa. From 1886 to 1922 the work seemed never to stop, though it was often paused for months; she designed the house herself, room by room. The 1906 earthquake brought down the upper floors and most of the chimneys.
A house for visitors
Sarah Winchester died at Llanada Villa on 5 September 1922, and the house opened for public tours on 30 June 1923. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974 and is California Historical Landmark No. 868.


