Tour a priest's castle built in nine architectural styles at once
Nine styles, one building
An 1895 four-storey greenstone house built by a French priest for himself and his mother, now run as a museum by the local historical society.
Why it's unique
Father Jean Baptiste Francolon, a French Roman Catholic priest, built this 14,000 square foot house in 1895 for himself and his mother, and he used nine distinct architectural styles across its four storeys: Romanesque, English Tudor, Flemish stepped gables, domestic Elizabethan, Venetian Ogee, Byzantine, Moorish, shingle-style Queen Anne and half-timbered chateau, all in locally quarried greenstone.
The styles are not blended into a coherent whole. They are used almost at random, because Francolon was working from memories of his family's houses and his diplomat father's travels rather than from a plan, and the result is a building that changes character as you walk round the outside of it.
Before you go
Walk the whole exterior before going in. The nine styles are far more legible from outside than from within, and most visitors go straight through the door and miss the point of the place.
The tea room is a genuine draw rather than a gift-shop afterthought, and it is worth building the visit around rather than treating as the exit. Booking the tea room gets $2.00 off tour admission, so book that first if you are doing both. The Manitou Springs Historical Society rescued the building in 1975 after decades of decline, and volunteers still run it.