1929 Pasadena Mansion Used by the American Red Cross 1962-2017
430 Madeline Drive, Pasadena, CA 91105
Age
All Ages
Cost
$
Privately owned. The estate is closed to public daily access; access is by special event or private arrangement only. The Shadowlands entry's reference to San Gabriel reflects the former American Red Cross 'San Gabriel and Pomona Valleys' chapter that operated from this Pasadena address.
Access
Limited Access
Private estate; no public ground access
Equipment
No Photos
Est. 1929 · Pasadena Cultural Landmark · Landmark of Historical Significance · Pasadena Showcase House · American Red Cross Heritage
The Cravens Estate sits on tree-lined Madeline Drive at the southern end of Pasadena's Orange Grove Boulevard, the corridor historically known as Millionaires' Row. The 20,000-square-foot mansion was completed in 1929 for John S. Cravens, president of Edison Electric Co., one of the predecessors of Southern California Edison, and his wife Mildred Mary Myers Cravens, daughter of George S. Myers, a co-founder of the Liggett & Myers Tobacco Company. The architect was San Francisco's Lewis P. Hobart, whose other designs include Grace Cathedral on Nob Hill.
A Los Angeles Times article from February 6, 1955, identified the home as the most expensive ever built in Pasadena. Mildred Cravens died in 1943 at age 72; the property passed through several owners after the couple's deaths and was eventually donated to the American Red Cross in 1962 by industrialist Simon Zervos. The Red Cross used the estate as headquarters for its San Gabriel and Pomona Valleys chapter for fifty-five years.
The estate was honored with the Pasadena Beautiful Foundation Award in 1965, designated a Pasadena Cultural Landmark by the Pasadena Heritage Society, and listed by the city of Pasadena as a Landmark of Historical Significance, the city's highest preservation category. It served as the 2010 Pasadena Showcase House of Design, one of the longest-running designer showcase events in the country, and has appeared as a filming location for several productions including the ABC series Commander in Chief.
The Red Cross sold the property in 2017 for approximately $7 million. The Shadowlands entry's identification of San Gabriel reflects the chapter name rather than the actual address; the Cravens Estate is in Pasadena, not San Gabriel.
Sources
The folklore associated with the Red Cross Mansion is unusually polite. Where most haunted-mansion narratives turn on tragedy or violence, the reports here describe a household courtesy preserved past its end. Doors close themselves softly when guests leave them open, as if a servant were following behind. Soft voices have been reported in the kitchen, framed in the original Shadowlands entry as 'whispering, as if not to disturb anyone.' Telephones in unoccupied rooms, including the underground tunnel that connects portions of the basement and the attic spaces, are said to ring intermittently. Lights and electrical fixtures in the kitchen reportedly turn on and off without cause.
A male figure has been observed in window glass after the last people leave the building. The folkloric attribution, repeated in Shadowlands and several California aggregator listings, identifies the presences as servants from the Cravens era who continued in the household routine after death.
None of these reports appear in published investigations of the property, in articles by the Pasadena Showcase House of Design coverage, in real-estate marketing materials, or in coverage of the 2017 sale. The estate's documented history focuses on architecture, philanthropy, and design rather than on paranormal claims.
View the gates and exterior of the Cravens Estate at 430 Madeline Drive in Pasadena, on the historic 'Millionaires' Row' along Orange Grove Boulevard. The 20,000-square-foot 1929 mansion served as headquarters for the American Red Cross San Gabriel and Pomona Valleys chapter from 1962 until its 2017 sale. The estate is now privately owned.
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