Looking out at the jagged roof with its many skylights and levels allows visitors to truly appreciate the consequences of constant remodeling and additions without blueprints. It is also where you might notice one of the oddest features of the house.
There are only 17 chimneys for the 47 fireplaces. But for all of its strange characteristics, the Winchester Mystery House was also very high tech in its heyday. An annunciator allowed Winchester to summon her servants and indicated to them where in the maze she was calling from. It had central heating, a self-sufficient sewer, a telephone, a wool wall, a needle shower (a very early version of a shower with directional jets), a dumb waiter, electric lights serviced by the estate's own gas manufacturing plant, and a conservatory whose drip pans and zinc subfloor directed plant-watering runoff down to the garden.
