Manitou's Victorian Secret: Your Complete Guide to Miramont Castle

Most visitors to Manitou Springs never find it. They walk the Incline, taste the mineral springs, browse the galleries on Manitou Avenue—and head back to their hotel without ever looking up Capitol Hill. That's exactly where Miramont Castle sits: a turret-topped, 46-room Victorian mansion that locals pass every day without blinking, because they've grown accustomed to the fact that their town contains a castle. For everyone else, a first glimpse of Miramont stops you cold.

Built in 1895 by a French-born Catholic priest, designed in nine different architectural styles simultaneously, and now operating as one of Colorado's most singular small museums, Miramont Castle is the kind of hidden gem that makes Manitou Springs unlike any other mountain town in the West. This is your guide to finding it, understanding it, and making the most of a visit.

The Man Who Built a Castle in the Rockies

Father Jean Baptiste Francolon arrived in Manitou Springs in the early 1890s as a Catholic priest assigned to the region. He was also, by all accounts, a man with extraordinary ambitions for his private residence. Working with local materials and a vision that seems to have rejected the concept of architectural consistency entirely, he constructed a 46-room mansion at 9 Capitol Hill Avenue that drew from nine distinct architectural traditions—Queen Anne, Romanesque Revival, Shingle Style, Chateauesque, Tudor, Flemish, Byzantine, Moorish, and Medieval. The result is a building that looks different from every angle, that shifts character as you walk around it, and that defies easy categorization in a way that was almost certainly intentional.

Francolon built the castle partly for his own use and partly for his mother, who suffered from respiratory illness and had come to the mountains seeking the altitude's therapeutic air—a common motivation for Manitou Springs residents of the era. The high-altitude dry climate drew health seekers throughout the late 1800s, and the town's springs were believed to have curative properties. Father Francolon departed Manitou Springs in 1900, and the castle changed hands several times over the following decades before the Manitou Springs Historical Society took over its operation and opened it as a museum.

Inside the Castle: What to Expect

The Museum

The Manitou Springs Historical Society has transformed Miramont's interior into a museum focused on the castle's history and the Victorian era in Colorado. The rooms vary dramatically in size, shape, and style—a testament to Francolon's nine-architecture approach. Some chambers are intimate and low-ceilinged; others open into dramatic vaulted spaces. The walls are lined with period furnishings, historic photographs, and interpretive exhibits that trace both the castle's history and the broader story of Manitou Springs as a Victorian health resort destination. Allow at least 45 minutes for a thorough self-guided walk-through; the layout is labyrinthine enough that exploration feels genuinely rewarding.

The Queen's Parlour Tea Room

The most beloved feature of a Miramont visit—and the detail most likely to surprise first-time visitors—is the Queen's Parlour Tea Room, which operates inside the castle and serves traditional Victorian afternoon teas. The tea service includes finger sandwiches, scones with clotted cream and jam, petit fours, and a rotating selection of loose-leaf teas, all served on period china in a room that feels like it was lifted directly from an 1890s English manor. It's an experience that doesn't exist anywhere else in Colorado—a genuine Victorian tea in a genuine Victorian castle at 6,400 feet. Reservations are strongly recommended for the tea service, especially on weekends.

The Haunted Reputation

No guide to Miramont Castle is complete without addressing the ghost stories, because they've become an integral part of the castle's identity—and because they're genuinely interesting independent of whether you believe in the supernatural. Miramont appears on virtually every list of Colorado's most haunted historic sites, and the castle regularly hosts ghost tours that draw visitors from across the Front Range. The specific legends vary by telling: a former resident's spirit in the upper rooms, cold spots in the basement, unexplained sounds in the corridors at night. The castle's history of illness, isolation, and multiple owners creates exactly the kind of layered human story that ghost traditions tend to attach themselves to.

The Manitou Springs Historical Society runs specialized ghost tours of the castle, typically on Friday and Saturday evenings, that combine the building's documented history with its supernatural reputation in a format that's entertaining for skeptics and true believers alike. If you're visiting in October, the haunted tours are booked weeks in advance—plan accordingly.

The Castle Exterior and Grounds

Before you go inside, take a full circuit of the exterior. The building genuinely looks different from each vantage point—the east facade presents one architectural personality, the west another, with turrets, gabled dormers, arched windows, and rough-cut stone walls appearing and disappearing as you walk. The surrounding grounds sit at a natural overlook above the town, with views down Manitou Avenue toward the canyon and, on clear days, west toward the Collegiate Peaks. In spring and early summer, the hillside gardens bloom in patterns that suggest the Victorian formality Francolon likely intended. In fall, the aspen groves on the hillside behind the castle turn gold against the stone walls in a combination that stops photographers cold.

Practical Information

Miramont Castle is located at 9 Capitol Hill Avenue, Manitou Springs—a ten-minute uphill walk from The Outrider. The museum is open Tuesday through Sunday; hours vary by season and are listed at miramontcastle.org. Admission to the museum is modest and includes self-guided access to all open rooms. The Queen's Parlour Tea Room operates separately from the museum admission and requires advance reservations. Photography is allowed in most areas of the museum with the exception of certain artifact displays. The castle is not fully accessible for mobility-limited visitors due to its Victorian-era stairways and uneven floors—check with the museum in advance if accessibility is a concern.

Miramont Castle pairs naturally with a full afternoon in the upper part of Manitou Springs—combine your castle visit with a walk through the Soda Springs Park mineral springs along Manitou Avenue, a browse through the galleries on Ruxton Avenue, and dinner at one of the restaurants within walking distance. The castle is rarely crowded on weekday mornings, making Tuesday through Thursday visits ideal for anyone who wants the building to themselves.