Harry Houdini’s Brother Leo Owned This Connecticut Mansion

By Tom Interval

Are you a Houdini geek? A Connecticut history buff? No? Then the video below probably isn’t for you. It might sound kinda silly, but Houdini enthusiasts like me want to travel back in time to meet the legendary magician and escape artist himself. Of course we can’t do that since we don’t have a time machine, but the next-best thing is to visit in person or virtually different places Houdini has been.

There are a few obvious locations, such as Appleton, Wisconsin, where Houdini, then Ehrich Weiss, first lived when he moved to the United States from Budapest, his birthplace, with his family. And then there’s his home in Harlem, New York, at 278 West 113th Street, or even his summer home in Stamford, Connecticut. I could go on and on.

One of Houdini’s brothers, Leopold Weiss, owned a mansion surrounded by farmland in Ridgefield, Connecticut, about 16 miles north of Houdini’s summer place. Since it’s unlikely I’ll ever see that property, I thought it would be cool to “visit” it on Google Maps via Street View. Although you can see only the front of Leo’s property, with its imposing gate, there’s a great 360-degree photo taken from the mansion’s deck overlooking the pool and surrounding property. According to Connecticut Magazine, Houdini might have practiced some of his underwater escapes in that pool! As to finding out whether or not that claim is true, I’m not holding my breath (pun intended).

The following video shows that 360 photo, and I imagine myself as Houdini himself looking out over the grounds. As I said, you have to be a Houdini geek to appreciate this. Otherwise, the video will probably put you to sleep. Sweet dreams.