Tucked behind one of NAU's parking garages is an oasis of greenery called Riordan Mansion State Historic Park. Most visitors drive right past it. They are missing the centerpiece: a 13,000 square foot mansion built in 1904, designed by architect Charles Whittlesey for brothers Timothy and Michael Riordan, owners of Flagstaff's big lumber mill. Two brothers from Chicago married two sisters from Cincinnati, Caroline and Elizabeth Metz, and the families shared one enormous house, two nearly mirror-image 6,000 square foot wings joined in the middle by the billiards room.
Who were the Riordan brothers?
Two of Flagstaff's so-called Town Fathers. Beyond running one of the area's largest employers, both men helped build schools and churches and worked to bring electricity and a stable water supply to the growing community, alongside families like the Babbitts. Most accounts paint Tim as the fun-loving, prankish one. Michael's path here was harder: he had early intentions of becoming a Jesuit priest before tuberculosis derailed the plan, and he came to Flagstaff to heal his lungs. The story goes that he fell in love with Walnut Canyon, and the mountain air kept him.
Life on the estate
In its heyday the Riordan property sat on open land with wide views of the Peaks. Timothy and Michael's children rode horses across the 50-plus acre estate, and Tim designed himself a three-hole golf course, each hole with three different approaches. That little course mattered later: when Flagstaff went looking for land for its first real country club in the 1920s, Tim Riordan was the man the committee called. Walk the landscaped grounds today and it is easy to let the modern town fall away. I do it every time I visit, and I never quite want to come back.
Is Riordan Mansion haunted?
Depends on who you ask. Like most families of that era, the Riordans had their share of tragedy, and the worst of it happened within the mansion's four walls. Some say that loss left the house haunted. Others disagree, firmly. Either way, the family persevered and lived out their days alongside their fellow Flagstaffians, and the house they left behind is one of the best-preserved windows into early Flagstaff you can step through.
Riordan Mansion State Historic Park runs its own tours of the house and grounds. Check the park's website for current dates and times.
Walk this story
The Riordans helped raise the downtown that our guides walk every night. If you want the darker side of the families who built this mountain town, join the Flagstaff Haunted History Tour, nightly at 7 PM with an 8 PM walk added Fridays and Saturdays. It runs 75 minutes and costs $29 for adults, and the stories only get stranger after dark.
Keep reading
- The Babbitt Brothers: A Legacy in Flagstaff's History
- The Original Flagstaff Country Club
- 20th Century Flagstaff
