One city block in Riverside, California hides a maze of towers, domes, and Spanish arches: What we know so far

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It’s bigger than it looks from the street
One city block in downtown Riverside, California holds a building that has been growing since the 1870s. The Mission Inn Hotel & Spa is the largest Mission Revival style building in the United States, and it carries the weight of three landmark designations to prove it. Spanish arches meet Mediterranean domes meet castle towers, and the whole thing just keeps going. You don’t visit the Mission Inn so much as you get lost in it, which turns out to be exactly the point. Shutterstock
One man spent 40 years building this place
It started as a small adobe boarding house in the 1870s, nothing remarkable. Then Frank Miller took over and started adding. Through the early 1900s and on into the 1930s, he kept building, kept traveling the world, and kept bringing things back. Furniture, relics, art, ideas. Each new wing picked up what the last one left off, and none of them quite match. That patchwork quality is what makes the building feel alive rather than designed. You can feel the decades in it. Shutterstock
Five stories of open air and wrought-iron stairs
A five-story open-air rotunda sits at the heart of the hotel, wrapped by a curving wrought-iron staircase that you’ll want to climb slowly. Outside, flying buttresses and castle towers and a bell tower compete for your attention. Narrow passageways thread between buildings, and a sky bridge crosses above street level connecting sections that shouldn’t logically connect. Look for the medieval-style clock. Look for the arches and hidden courtyards tucked where you least expect them. And keep looking up. Wikimedia Commons/Adam Jones
The chapel’s Tiffany windows glow like colored fire
The St. Francis Chapel is the kind of room that stops people mid-sentence. A gold-covered altar anchors one end, and on either side, stained-glass windows made by Louis Comfort Tiffany pull the light apart into color. Those windows didn’t start here. They were saved from a New York church and brought across the country to Riverside. The chapel still hosts weddings today, and if you catch it lit up in the evening, the windows do something the daytime can’t quite match. Wikimedia Commons/Johnwayne Stroud
Frank Miller collected more than 800 bells from around the world
Scattered across the property, Frank Miller’s bell collection turns a walk through the grounds into a kind of scavenger hunt. He gathered more than 800 of them over the years.

One carries the year 1247, which some have called the oldest bell in Christendom. Near the courtyard sits the Nanjing Bell, a Chinese temple bell that weighs about 3,500 pounds. You can walk right up to it. Most visitors don’t realize what they’re standing next to until someone points it out. Shutterstock
Ten presidents checked in and left their mark
Richard Nixon married Pat here. Ronald and Nancy Reagan spent their honeymoon in this hotel. Ten U.S. presidents have visited over the years, and the Presidential Lounge keeps track of them with portraits lining the walls. One piece stands out on its own: an oversized chair built specifically for President William Howard Taft, who needed more room than a standard chair could give. It sits on display, large enough that most adults look like children sitting in it. Shutterstock
Amelia Earhart’s signature is cast in copper on this wall
Near the courtyard, close to the chapel doors, a gated wall honors the people who shaped the history of flight. Copper wings carry the signatures of aviation pioneers, and among the names you’ll find are Amelia Earhart and Buzz Aldrin. It’s a quiet stop, easy to miss if you’re moving fast. Most people walk right past it. Slow down, read the names, and think about what it meant to fly when flying was something new and terrifying and no one knew if it would work. Shutterstock
Secret tunnels run beneath the whole hotel
Before air conditioning, Frank Miller solved the summer heat problem with underground passages running beneath the Mission Inn. He didn’t just use them for moving around. He used them to display his collection of art and antiques, turning the tunnels into private galleries below ground level. Hidden nooks and secret doors are still down there. Special tours sometimes open this part of the hotel to the public, and if you get the chance to go, take it. It’s a different building entirely below street level. Shutterstock
The guided tour finds things you’d walk right past
The Mission Inn works as both a hotel and a living museum, and the difference between seeing it on your own and taking a docent-led tour is significant. Guides walk you through the art, architecture, and history, pointing out spaces that most guests miss entirely. A separate museum nearby holds artifacts from the hotel and the city going back to the boarding house days. If the sprawling layout starts to blur together, the tour gives you a frame for all of it.

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The courtyards slow you down the right way
The Spanish Patio and the Oriental Courtyard sit at different ends of the property, and both reward you for stopping. Fountains run, tilework covers the floors, and plantings fill the space so completely it doesn’t feel like Southern California anymore. The upper walkways look down over the courtyards below, giving you a second angle on the same space. Art and antiques line the walls in the hallways connecting them. These are the places in the Mission Inn where you stop moving and just sit with it for a while. Wikimedia Commons/Aaron Guzman
Millions of lights turn this block into something else entirely
Each winter, starting in late November and running through early January, the Mission Inn covers itself in lights. Millions of them. It ranks as one of the largest holiday light displays in the country, and animated figures join the building itself as part of the show. The 2026 Switch-On Ceremony takes place Saturday, Nov. 21, which is when the season officially starts and when the crowd is at its thickest. Coming on a weekday evening after the opening week gives you the full display with a little more room to stand and take it in. Wikimedia Commons/Aaron Guzman
Few buildings in America pack this much into one block
Walk the Mission Inn from one end to the other and you’ll feel like you covered a small city rather than a single address. Presidential history, Tiffany glass, bells from 1247, underground tunnels, aviation legends, and a sky bridge connecting it all. The building rewards curiosity at every turn. It has been pulling in famous guests and first-time visitors for generations, and it works for both. You leave having seen something you won’t easily explain to someone who hasn’t been there. Shutterstock
Visit the Mission Inn Hotel & Spa in Riverside
The Mission Inn Hotel & Spa sits at 3649 Mission Inn Ave. in downtown Riverside, about 55 miles east of Los Angeles. You can walk the outdoor spaces and take in the architecture for free any time. Guided interior tours run regularly and give you access to the history and rooms you can’t reach on your own. Check the official website for current tour times, admission prices and Festival of Lights dates before you go, as seasonal hours can vary. This article was created with AI assistance and human editing. Read more from this brand:

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The post One city block in Riverside, California hides a maze of towers, domes, and Spanish arches appeared first on When In Your State.