Since we'd skipped out on the night walking tour, we opted for a bright and sunny morning tour of Manitou's Miramont Castle. This place is less than 100 yards from Deana's house and I've passed it many times but never taken the time to walk through.
The Castle was constructed in 1895, with an east wing addition (the right side of the picture) added in 1897. It was built as the home of Friar Francolon and his mother, who had come from France to serve in Santa Fe but whose ill health sent him to the purported healing springs of Manitou in 1892 as the parish priest of Our Lady of Perpetual Help. This house must be 10 times the size of the little church that sits further down the street. His first home, behind this one, was donated to the Sisters of Mercy as a sanitarium, called Montcalme. Within 3 years of the east wing addition, he and his mother left for France, never to return.
It sat empty for four years before the Sisters were able to purchase the building as part of the Sanitarium until the original building burned down in 1907 and the Castle functioned as the whole sanitorium for twenty more years.
From 1927 to 1946 the Castle was turned into a retreat and vacation home for the Sisters of Mercy, and then they sold the property to investors who turned it into nine apartments. For the next 30 years, ownership changed hands eleven times, the building growing more and more dilapidated and damaged.
Finally, in 1976 the Manitou Springs Historical Society was able to purchase the building and begin the long, arduous task of saving it from condemnation and restoring the property to its former glory. That work continues.
The building is a hodge podge of design, incorporating elements from nine different periods: Moorish, Byzantine, Half-Timber Chateau, Flemish Stepped Gables, Romanesque, Queen Anne, Tudor, Elizabethan, and Venetian Ogee.
This is the original staircase before the 1897 addition.
20 Ton red sandstone fireplace in the Hall
Behind the piano was the original conservatory and veranda.
The shingles are original African mahogany and the pillars have been stained to match.
Through the Moorish Arch, are the Parlor and the Music Alcove
The Dining Room has two foot thick and curved walls.
The tapestry incorporates every known patriotic symbol of the United States at the close of the Victorian era.
The Grand Staircase of the East Wing addition
What was originally the eight-walled dining room was converted into a Chapel by the Sisters.
Francolon's Smoking Room with its acute corners.
Off to the side of the dining room and under the staircase was the water closet. It is glassed off but you can see the original wallpaper, which was a blue Fleur de Lis set with a highly poisonous arsenic compound to keep the color from running.
This small poisonous closet from further back, next to what seems like a very creepy torture chamber for the sad nun.
The front stone walls through the archway (a chair lift for the disabled is just out of sight)
The Grand Staircase
From the landing looking up to the third level
Manitou Springs the town grew just a bit between the first picture and the second
One of the Gothic windows, right next to the 16' Tudor styled.
The Great Hall, and Francolon's Art Gallery
Looking from the great hall, where the exposed stone of the original building remains inside the east addition.
The seven-sided Solarium was originally complete with glass ceiling and served as the Conservatory before being converted into the surgery room of the sanitarium.
The Guest Suite is a 16 sided room.
Can you tell I like this space the best?
This area was first the covered veranda of the original and then enclosed by the addition.
The Victorian bathroom, with oak wainscoting.
The feet on the tub are alternating colors
The water closet is original to the Castle.
Mother Francolon's Dressing Room
Her Sixed-Sided Suite, in the original French blue it was painted. It is the only room with Oak trim.
The Great Hall from the other side. The floor is not flat. And the ceiling is hammered metal.
The Morrish Keyhole Windows were cut from red sandstone and sit at the end of the Great Hall that once housed Francolon's Native American collection of art
Looking behind us one more time into the Great Hall -- the ceiling rolls just a bit after its restoration.
The large stone archway leads to Francolon's bedroom.
The oak floors here are original.
The highest amount? $5.
The staircase to the Fourth floor and the Tower Room.
the exposed stone walls happened after a 1972 fire melted the plaster and cement to come off.
The area under the roof were the servants quarters with three bedrooms, none of which were ever counted in the official listing of the 28 rooms of the Castle.
The rooms are so small, they now have child-sized furniture in them.
This is the tiniest of the rooms, not open to the public. The original door is about 4 inches shorter from the door jab that was restored to allow for easier passage than stooping. This gap allowed me to snap a photo over the door. Someone lived in here.
Outside at the top are the gardens and a very busy hummingbird.
At the top above the gardens is the last remaining original isolation hut for tuberculosis patients that still stands.
The wall is all that is left of the original home and sanitarium
Apricots bending the boughs from their ripened weight
We will have to try the Queen's tea room next time.
Plum dwarf tree, I think.
Walking back to town.
The rest of the day:
Loved the early lunch we had here in the Phoenix. What a great space.
Driving through Garden of the Gods
The burn area got very close. We drove through before Deana got me back to Denver.
Good visit. :)
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