Sarah Winchester, widow of the rifle maker William Wirt Winchester, moved to California in 1885 and the next year bought a farmhouse on 45 acres near San Jose, which she called Llanada Villa. She designed its additions room by room herself. When she died in 1922 the house had 160 rooms, about 2,000 doors, 10,000 windows, 47 stairways and 47 fireplaces; before the 1906 earthquake it rose to seven stories.
It opened to visitors nine months after her death. Stories that she built nonstop for 38 years to appease ghosts are traced largely to a 1967 book; researchers note that she often paused construction for months to rest. The house stands in West San Jose, close to Santana Row.