1901 Albert Burrage Estate, Former Victory Noll Sisters Convent
1205 W Crescent Avenue, Redlands, CA 92373
Age
All Ages (exterior viewing only)
Cost
Free
Free exterior viewing from public sidewalks; private foundation property
Access
Limited Access
Sidewalk; mansion has many stairs
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1901 · Built by mining magnate Albert C. Burrage · Victory Noll Sisters convent 1934-1974 · Featured in Redlands historic preservation programs
The Burrage Mansion was built in 1901 by mining and industrial magnate Albert C. Burrage in the Crescent Avenue historic district of Redlands, California. The estate's distinctive nickname, "House of 1,000 Stairs," comes from its approximately 100 exterior steps and roughly 900 interior steps. The original estate included a polo field and a glass-covered pool. From 1934 to 1974 the mansion served as a convent for the Victory Noll Sisters, a Catholic order founded to support missionary work. At peak occupancy 16 sisters lived at the mansion while approximately 80 worked across the Inland Empire, and the Church regularly sent sisters from elsewhere in the country to the property for rest and enrichment. The Burrage Mansion was purchased in 2008 and is now home to the Rochford Foundation; it occasionally appears in film and television productions filmed in Redlands.
Sources
Local Redlands lore tells of nuns associated with the mansion's 40-year convent period whose presence is reportedly still felt by visitors and residents of the property. Stories describe an active and at times violent presence felt within the house. Because the Burrage Mansion is owned by the Rochford Foundation and is not open to the public, paranormal claims circulate through Redlands historical media and local ghost-tour features rather than open visitor reports. Visitors should respect the property as private and limit their visit to exterior viewing from public sidewalks.
Notable Entities
Media Appearances
View the historic 1901 Burrage Mansion ("House of 1,000 Stairs") from public sidewalks in Redlands' Crescent Avenue historic district. The property is owned by the Rochford Foundation; do not attempt to enter.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
Lake Forest, IL
Mayflower Place was completed in 1917 by architect Frederick Wainwright Perkins as a wedding gift from John G. Shedd to his daughter Laura Shedd Schweppe and her husband Charles Hodgdon Schweppe. After Laura's death in 1937 and Charles's suicide in 1941, the estate remained largely unoccupied for forty-seven years before a 1987 restoration.
Menlo Park, CA
The Coleman Mansion was completed in 1882 in Menlo Park, California, designed by architect Augustus Laver as a wedding gift commissioned by Maria O'Brien Coleman for her son James and his bride Carmelita. The mansion has housed Peninsula School since 1929.
Los Angeles, CA
The five-acre property at 2400 Laurel Canyon Boulevard in Hollywood Hills West was built in 1915 for Ralph M. Walker, not Harry Houdini. The connection to Houdini is real but indirect: while filming for Lasky Pictures in 1919, Houdini and his wife Bess rented the guest cottage across the street. That cottage burned in the late 1950s. The Walker Estate — which survived — became known as the Houdini Estate through decades of conflation. The main mansion burned in the 1959 Laurel Canyon fire; the surviving gardens, caves, and terraced grounds were later developed into a special events venue.