History of Miramont Castle

Table of Contents:

1) Jean Baptiste Francolon
(Founder of Miramont Castle)

2) Angus Gillis
(Builder of Miramont Castle)

3) The Sisters of Mercy
(The Castle becomes Montcalme Sanatarium)

4) The Architecture
(...a remarkable structure with nine separate styles of architecture emerges)

5) Castle Construction

6) The Manitou Springs Historical Society

7) Philip Lawrence Hannum

8) Lawrence Voit

As the work of restoring the Castle to its original beauty and grandeur progresses, new (or more accurately, old) information concerning the structure becomes available almost daily. This material comes from individuals who have some past association with the Castle, from historical research, and from the actual work of restoration.

Because of this ever-changing profile, the data in this outline should be accepted with the qualification that it is the "current" truth.

After all these years, we have just recently learned a number of new facts which will be reflected in this edition. It is appropriate to emphasize that this, too, may not yet be the final version of the history of Miramont.

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Jean Baptiste Francolon

A Catholic priest born in Clermont, France, in 1854, Father Francolon was the son of an apparently wealthy and aristocratic family. His father was a diplomat and at one time was the French consul in what is now called Moscow.

He came to the United States in 1878 when he was 24 years old and traveled to Santa Fe, where he was secretary to Bishop Lamy. Later, he is known to have conducted eighteen missions in churches among the Indians in that area. The Lamy family and the Francolon family both came from the same area in France and apparently the Bishop summoned the young priest to serve with him in New Mexico.

In the early 1890's, Father Francolon suffered from some sort of abdominal complaint. As a result of this illness, in 1892 he was transferred to Manitou where he could avail himself of the many mineral waters in hope of restoring his health. His impending arrival was announced on April 23, 1892, in the local newspaper and he came sometime later that year.

Although it was long believed that the Castle was the priest's first home here, it was not. He originally built the frame structure located on the site of the Castle's upper parking lot as his new residence.

The Manitou Springs Journal dated Saturday, July 13, 1895, devoted its lead story to the gift of Father Francolon's home to the Sisters of Mercy for use as the Montcalme Sanatarium. The priest was lauded for his unprecedented generosity and, in a later issue, was referred to as the kind of man "who is a benefit to the community in which he lives."

He then began planning the Castle by describing to Angus Gillis, the contractor, the features he wanted in the building. It is thought that the unique architectural combinations used may have evolved from his childhood memories of living in different parts of the world with his diplomat father.

He intended the structure to be a home he could share with his mother, Marie, and it was to be called Miramont, meaning "look at (or see) the mountain."

His mother evidently arrived in Manitou sometime prior to July 1893, because in that month the newspaper noted that she was leaving to spend a month in Old Mexico. When she first came, she apparently brought her bed with her and several servants, because she did not speak English.

William Frizzell & Sons did the masonry work and the Gillis Brothers had the contract for the woodwork on the Castle which is first referred to as Miramont in the newspaper of April 18, 1896. The structure, which was expected to cost $15,000 (a magnificent sum in that period) was finished in November of 1896, because the Francolons held a charity costume ball in February on Washington's birthday, which may have celebrated the completion of the building.

Descriptions of some of the furnishings, a mahogany table inlaid with jewels, for example, indicate that the family was, indeed, aristocratic and wealthy.

Father Francolon (the locals pronounced it "Franklin") also collected tapestries, oils, statuary, antique vestments, and laces which were displayed in the gallery on the third level.

He added much to the social life of the community since he was an accomplished pianist and often entertained at parties and gatherings. He also took an active part in community affairs, serving on the Board of Directors of the free reading room (early library?) established by the Gillis Brothers in the St. Elmo Hotel on lower Ruxton. He was the first president of the Montcalme Sanatarium as well.

The two Francolons left Manitou rather unexpectedly in 1900 and it is believed that Mrs. Francolon died within a few months after returning to her native France. Father Francolon's activities between 1900 and mid-December 1922 are completely unknown; however, his will was offered for probate sometime at the end of 1922, so it appears that he probably died in November or December of that year.

Manitou Springs is eternally indebted to Jean Baptiste Francolon for his clarity of vision, his generous purpose and his incredible legacy, Miramont Castle.

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Angus Gillis

The year 1878 offered an interesting coincidence in relation to Miramont. As the priest came from his home in France that year, so came Angus Gillis from his home in Canada. Mrs. Lorene McMahon of Denver, his daughter, related that her father had been at sea for fifteen years when he decided to settle in America.

According to Mrs. McMahon, Angus had the princely sum of $10,000.00 in a money belt around his waist when he left his ship in Virginia. He was then about thirty.

Because he had no particular destination in mind, when he met a part traveling to Colorado he joined them.  It was much safer to travel with a group, and thus he found his way to Manitou.

Angus started his contracting business after his arrival and is responsible for most of the significant structures in this area. A partial list includes the Cascade and Iron Springs Hotels (both destroyed by fire), the Cog Depot, the first part of the cog railway, the weather station atop Pikes Peak, the first water-powered planing mill, the first Protestant church, the first Catholic church, the Grandview Hotel, the first generator for electricity in El Paso County, numerous private homes and buildings, as well as Miramont Castle.

Joined later by his brother Archie and still later by his brother Jim, the skills of Angus Gillis are evident throughout the Pikes Peak region. He has marked this community as few men have ever been able to do. The Gillis family residence (shared by the families of both Angus and Archie) still stands at the lower end of Ruxton.

Mr. Gillis died at the age of ninety-seven from falling down a staircase.

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The Sisters of Mercy

The Sisters of Mercy came to Manitou at the behest of Father Francolon who had donated his "palatial and tastefully furnished" home and three lots for their use as a sanatarium. They received their first patient in August of 1895 and were so successful that by the first week in March 1896 they were beginning a large addition to the facility.

The Sisters were renowned "for the excellence of their table, the cleanliness of their rooms and their motherly care of the health-seekers." They did not, however, accept "acute" cases which they felt were better served by the hospital in Colorado Springs.

The Sisters, too, helped to expand the cultural horizons of Manitou society by offering "lessons on piano, violin, mandolin, guitar and banjo" according to an advertisement in the July 11, 1896, issue of the Manitou Springs Journal.

Miramont was vacant from 1900 until 1904 when the sisters, in association with a German doctor named Kneipp, obtained it for use in conjunction with the doctor's water cure. The "cure" consisted of drinking prodigious quantities of Manitou's mineral waters as well as bathing in them several times each day.

In 1904 fire destroyed the furnace room of the sanatorium and they then moved most of their patients into Miramont. They made a number of changes in the building to accommodate their patients and the patients' families, who lived together during the treatment period.

They changed the Castle name to Montcalme since they advertised in national publications and wanted to keep the familiar name. It remained until 1976.

Sometime in 1928 they apparently found it economically impossible to continue with the sanatarium. It was discontinued and the Sisters used the building for vacations and retreats until they sold it in 1946.

Right after the second World War, many large structures were turned into apartments and the Castle was no exception. For the next thirty years, each successive owner ran the building as an apartment house with ten large apartments rented.

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The Architecture

With Father Francolon incorporating all the features he liked into the Castle, a remarkable structure with nine separate styles of architecture emerged. From the medieval, castellated, crenellated battlements at the top of the beautiful Gothic front door, Miramont stands as a tribute to one man's dream.

Shingle-style Queen Anne, Romanesque, English Tudor, Flemish stepped gables, domestic Elizabethan, Venetian Ogee, Byzantine, Moorish, and half-timber Chateau are used randomly throughout the four stories. For example, the Grand Staircase has two sets of windows, each in a different architectural style.

With the building stair-stepping up the mountain, the front door is on the first level and the back door is on the fourth. When constructed, all floors had at least one exit to level ground.

Miramont has over 40 rooms, including an eight-sided room, a sixteen-sided room, two conservatory greenhouses, a number of arches, and rarely a room with four square corners. Some areas of the building have not yet suffered modern day exploration. A secret passage runs the entire length of the building behind the wall on the second floor.

It now appears that there were two additional rooms in the castle. One was located just outside the west door on the fourth floor and the other at the east end of the second level. Both areas are expected to undergo extensive examination in the near future.

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Castle Construction

The property on which Miramont Castle is located has an interesting historical background. Part of a parcel of land whose earliest deed dates back to 1862, it was once owned by one of Colorado's most controversial citizens, Colonel John Chivington, who commanded the infamous Sand Creek Massacre of 1864. His name first appears on the deed on December 1, 1865; the record notes that he sold the land in 1867 through his son-in-law who had power of attorney. He later filed suit, claiming that he had not given the power of attorney, and therefore he was still the owner of the land. The case was quickly decided against him, and the town authorities felt that the notoriety had served good advertising purposes for Manitou.
 

Another historically important name connected to this property is that of the Colorado Springs Company, founded by General William Palmer. He and his associates are listed on the deeds from 1871 until 1882, when they sold the property to the City of Manitou.

When Father Francolon decided to build the home of his dreams, he enlisted as contractors the well-known Gillis brothers, Angus and Archie. Their accomplishments included constructing the Cog Railway Station, the Wheeler Block, the Broadmoor Casino and the Iron Springs Hotel. Subsequently, they built the library in Colorado City and the El Paso County Courthouse.

William Frizzell supervised the masonry work. Like the Gillis brothers, he came to Manitou from Nova Scotia. He appears to have been a versatile entrepreneur in Manitou; newspaper advertisements list his services for delivering ice to the hotels in summer and coal in the winter. He also organized one of the volunteer fire companies which served Manitou. He and his sons had cleared land for building houses, built roads, and constructed the stone arch bridges over Ruxton and Fountain Creeks. When the construction of the Castle began, they quarried and hand-cut the native green sandstone for its two-foot thick walls.

No architect was hired to draw up plans for this building. Father Francolon had apparently collected ideas from his early years of traveling the world with his diplomat father, and he feared that no one else could interpret his artistic desires satisfactorily. According to a daughter of Angus Gillis, Father Francolon and her father sat at a table in the Gillis home for countless hours while these plans were described in detail for the builders.

This unique method of designing resulted in the use of nine distinct architectural styles: Romanesque, Gothic, Moorish, English Tudor, shingle-style Queen Anne, Flemish stepped gables, domestic Elizabethan, Venetian Ogee and half-timber Chateau.

Construction was begun in the fall of 1895 when the property was excavated and the foundation was begun. The Manitou Springs Journal reported progress on the construction in its issues through the spring and summer of 1896, and concluded its reports in November of that year by proclaiming it to be "one of the handsomest and most artistic buildings in Colorado."

Miramont, which means "look at the mountain," is built on four levels which cover a total of 14,000 square feet. Following the popular Victorian tradition of having rooms of unusual shapes, few of the 46 rooms have four square corners; one has eight sides and another has sixteen.

The Castle boasts five fireplaces, the largest being sixteen feet wide and weighing 400,000 pounds. It runs almost eight feet back into the side of the mountain on which the Castle is built.

The Castle featured running water and electricity when it was built. Electricity had become available in the late 1880's when Angus Gillis built El Paso County's first electrical generator in Manitou for Dr. Bell.

An addition was made to the Castle sometime after its original completion in 1896, but no records have been located to confirm the date. This newer part of the structure was added to the east of the serving kitchen and includes the chapel, grand staircase, and solarium areas.

Many of the facets of Father Francolon's personality appear to be puzzling, and his financial dealings involving the Castle were no exception. The Gillis Brothers had to resort to taking him to court for payment for their work on the Castle; Father Francolon took out a loan on the property in order to obtain these funds.

Each piece of history concerning the background of this property has contributed its individual touch to the mystique of the Castle, and each succeeding decade will continue to add to its continuing story.

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The Manitou Springs Historical Society

The Society was formed in 1971 and immediately began to work toward the acquisition of a building that could be used to preserve and display Manitou's remarkable and precious Victorian heritage.

The Castle was the unanimous choice and was purchased on February 17, 1976. The Society was able to match a grant from the Centennial-Bicentennial Commission and began the work of restoration. The project is expected to take several more years, although the work is both ahead of and behind schedule. The Society continues to raise funds for the restoration and to rely upon volunteer help to perform the actual physical labor.

It is suggested that those interested in any of the off­season activities call the Castle at 719-685-1011 for updated information.

Philip Lawrence Hannum

To qualify for the $7,500 Centennial-Bicentennial grant, it was necessary to provide a detailed plan for the work. Fortune smiled when it was possible to obtain the valuable services of Mr. Hannum, an architectural heritage restoration consultant.

Mr. Hannum spent several weeks in the building, documenting it and surveying the needed work. He took hundreds of photos which appear in the beautiful book he produced. The damage is marked and next to each picture are his recommendations for repairing it.

It would have been impossible to have undertaken the restoration without the remarkable knowledge, devotion, and inspiration provided by Mr. Hannum. His skillful document has supplied the vital "road map" so necessary to this project.

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Lawrence Voit

Much of the "new" information in this revised edition comes as a result of endless hours of research conducted by Miramont's good neighbor and friend, Larry Voit. He has been most generous in sharing his discoveries, in addition to his many and valuable restoration talents.

Volunteers

Over ninety-five percent of the interior restoration is being accomplished with the help of civic clubs, groups, and individuals who are contributing their precious time as well as their love to this work.

A number of Colorado-based businesses, both large and small, have donated thousands of dollars worth of materials and/or very generous discounts which have greatly accelerated the restoration timetable.

A substantial part of the expenses involved are paid by donations, by special fund-raising events, and by tours of Miramont.

Landmark Status

Miramont Castle was added to the National Register of Historic Places on May 3, 1977. Achieving national landmark status is a tribute to the building's historic heritage and architectural variety.

Access

Thanks to the generosity of Dr. and Mrs. Charles D. Smith, the Castle has two chairlifts which make most areas accessible for anyone with a physical problem which precludes climbing stairs.

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