California's Historic Bidwell Mansion Destroyed by Raging Fire

The landmark Bidwell Mansion in Chico, California, was destroyed in a fire in the early morning hours of Wednesday, December 11.

The Victorian mansion and museum, which was the center of the Bidwell Mansion State Historic Park, was closed to the public while undergoing a large-scale restoration project.

Video filmed by local resident Tony Sonday shows the mansion engulfed in flames early on Wednesday.

“This is the fire at Bidwell Mansion just shortly after the first alarm arrived,” Sonday told Storyful. “The second alarm had just been dispatched, but had not arrived on scene yet. I was there before the news crew even arrived.”

A KRCR report said firefighters arrived to find the building already engulfed in flames and at risk of collapse.

The City of Chico said the cause of the fire was under investigation.

According to California State Parks, the 26-room mansion was built by John and Annie Bidwell, a pioneering high-society couple who used it to entertain high-profile guests such as United States President Rutherford B Hayes, women’s suffrage leader Susan B. Anthony, and the “father” of the US National Parks, John Muir. Credit: Tony Sonday via Storyful