Rispin Mansion Capitola CA Sat 10/30/21
The Rispin Mansion in Capitola California is a historic mansion, registered on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.
I've been at this site countless times over the years, oh how I regret not to have posted my previously taken photos, lost in the mists of time (and annals of my old laptops somewhere)! Wish I had a review written back in a day. And I'll tell you why, in a second.
Around 75% of the Rispin Mansion had been destroyed by fire about 10 years ago. It was soon after the Capitola City Council approved a 55-year lease that would repair the grounds and turn it into a 25-room boutique hotel, back in May of 2009. The project was billed at $14 million, however, just before the construction started, a fire broke out. And now you know the rest of the story!
So the grounds are fenced with the chicken wire and abandoned on the day of my today's visit on Saturday October 30, 2021.
The building was constructed in 1921 by San Franciscan Henry Allen Rispin. It was built with four stories, 22 rooms, and over 7,100 square feet, on the grounds of what was called "Camp Capitola".
Described as being "cursed," Rispin Mansion was first used as a real-estate showroom, and then, at various times, as a residence, a nunnery, a SWAT practice ground, and even as a ghost hunting site!
Why is it on the National Register, what's historic about it? Well, I'm glad that you asked. It's because Henry Allen Rispin was one of the founding fathers of Capitola. He saw its large potential as a vacation spot and tourist attraction.
Rispin owned or controlled most of the land in the new city of Capitola. During the Great Depression, he lost his fortune and had to sell the mansion. It went to his business partner Robert Hays Smith through foreclose, then got sold to the Oblates of St. Joseph and became a convent, until 1959. For many decades thereafter, Rispin Mansion stayed unoccupied, neglected, vandalized with graffiti, ghosted.
That is until the city purchased the property in 1985 for mere $1.35 million and eventually placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1991.
It attracts supernatural interest from the ghost hunters who visit the property during the middle of the night, to film the paranormal activities.
So I thought it was most fitting to pen my review on Halloween 2021 to bring your attention to Rispin Mansion and its ghosts of the past.
Cheers!
Review #654 posted with 6 pictures on October 30, 2021
Rispin Mansion Capitola CA Sat 10/30/21
®
It don't mean a thing, if it ain't got that swing
doo-ah, doo-ah, doo-ah, doo-ah, doo-ah
It don't mean a thing all you got to do is sing
doo-ah, doo-ah, doo-ah, doo-ah, doo-ah
It makes no difference
If it's sweet or hot
Just give that rhythm
Everything you've got
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