The Stansbury Home is a 19th-century Victorian-style home now open as a museum and symbol of Chico’s Victorian heritage.
The Stansbury’s Home’s History
The Stansbury Home is a Victorian home built in 1883 by Dr. Oscar Stansbury and designed by Sacramento architect, A.A. Cook. It is a classic example of Italianate Victorian — a style patterned after the sturdy square manor houses of the Italian countryside. The exterior of the house incorporates beautifully molded and arched windows accented with carved rosettes at their peak, angled bay windows flanked by colonettes; entrance porches rippled with slender fluted columns; carved balustrades and decorated pediments, all topped by bracketed cornices. Centered on the roof is a low decorative wrought iron fence accentuated by a fleur-de-lis design.
The home remained in the Stansbury family from the time it was occupied in 1883 until the death of the Stansbury’s oldest daughter, Miss Angeline Stansbury, on Christmas Day, 1974.
The home was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974, and in 1991 was listed as supporting the South Campus Historic District in Chico. In 1976, the historic old house was acquired by the City of Chico through a generous donation by the Stansbury family heirs combined with partial purchase. It is presently open to the public under the auspices of The Stansbury Home Preservation Association, Inc., and a community-wide non-profit organization whose goal is to assist the City to preserve, operate, and maintain this important symbol of Chico’s Victorian heritage.
Events
See upcoming events at The Stansbury here.
