Leland Stanford Mansion State Historic Park

The home at 800 N Street was originally built in 1856 by Sacramento merchant Shelton C. Fogus, with Renaissance Revival detailing attributed to architect Seth Babson. Leland Stanford — railroad magnate and future California governor, U.S. senator, and university founder — purchased the property for $8,000 in June 1861, shortly before being elected governor; it served as the de facto state executive office during his term.

The Stanfords undertook a massive 1871-1872 remodel that raised the entire structure twelve feet to escape downtown Sacramento's repeated floodwaters and added stories above and below the original house. The work expanded the home from 4,000 to roughly 19,000 square feet and redesigned the exterior in the Second Empire style, with a prominent Mansard roof. The Stanfords' only child, Leland DeWitt Stanford Jr., grew up in the house and at the family's Palo Alto estate before dying of typhoid fever on March 13, 1884, at age 15, while traveling with his parents in Florence, Italy. His death prompted the Stanfords to found Leland Stanford Junior University in his memory.

After Leland Sr.'s death in 1893, his widow Jane Lathrop Stanford continued to oversee the Sacramento property. In 1900 she donated it to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sacramento, and the Sisters of Mercy operated it as the Stanford and Lathrop Memorial Home for Friendless Children — a Catholic orphanage. The building reportedly served as a hospital during the 1918 influenza pandemic. From 1932 to 1978, the Sisters of Social Service ran it as a residence for dependent high-school girls.

The State of California acquired the mansion in 1978. A 14-year, roughly $22 million restoration was completed in 2005, and the property reopened to the public as Leland Stanford Mansion State Historic Park. The mansion now functions as both a museum (with free docent-led tours) and the State of California's official reception center, used by sitting governors for state ceremonial functions.