The Unfinished Dressing Room

Before heading into this room by way of the 'secret passage,' I recommend hanging back in the Séance Room for a moment to take photos or get a better look around without the crowd.

Once you pass through the secret door, you'll find yourself crowded into a dark room with little to see. The guide will discuss the giant sprinkler pipes hanging from the ceiling (installed in the forties), and then you'll move on to the next room.

One interesting fact about the unfinished dressing room is that its at least a foot higher in elevation than the seance room, despite the fact that they adjoin. In fact, the entire second floor of the mansion sits on three different levels, roughly corresponding to the height of the original structures that became part of the house. The front rooms of the mansion match the original farmhouse that sat on the property at the time of Mrs. Winchester's arrival, while the middle rooms are built around a water tower enveloped during construction. The back rooms, which end with the séance room are roughly on level with the barn structure that originally occupied the rear portion of the site.

Note that the 'Unfinished' room was completed at one point. If you look closely at the gaps between the strips of wood ('laths') that make up the walls, you'll see bits of plaster clinging to the walls. The finished plaster was stripped off at some point, leaving bare wooden walls. Since most of the actual building of the house took place prior to 1906, much of the later work consisted of remodeling. Mrs. Winchester likely ordered this room rebuilt, but lost interest in it or died before the refurbishing could be completed.