Spencer Mansion: the Arklay Mansion Where Resident Evil Began

The Spencer Mansion is a large mansion hidden in the forests of the Arklay Mountains outside Raccoon City, and the setting of the original Resident Evil. It was built for Oswell E. Spencer, co-founder of the Umbrella Corporation, as a cover for the Arklay Laboratory underneath. In July 1998 an outbreak of the t-Virus turned it into a death trap, and the S.T.A.R.S. officers sent to investigate were picked off one by one. (Resident Evil (1996); Resident Evil (2002))

What was the Spencer Mansion for?#

On paper the mansion was a retreat for Umbrella's executives in the American countryside. In practice it was a front. Beneath the house and its grounds lay the Arklay Laboratory, where Umbrella developed the t-Virus and the creatures built from it, out of sight of the city a few miles away. The house gave Umbrella a reason for staff and supplies to come and go. (Resident Evil (1996); Resident Evil (2002))

Some of Umbrella's best-known scientists worked there. Files and flashbacks show Albert Wesker and William Birkin at the Arklay lab as young researchers, years before the outbreak. (Resident Evil 0; Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles)

Why the mansion is full of puzzles and traps#

The house is famous for being strange. Doors are sealed with crests and odd keys, statues hide switches, a piano piece opens a secret room, and some rooms are built to kill whoever walks into them. In the 2002 remake, the files explain why: the architect, George Trevor, was known for exactly this kind of trick building, and Spencer added more secrets of his own that even Trevor did not know about. (Resident Evil (2002))

The remake also tells what happened to Trevor. Once the house was finished, Spencer had him and his family seized so nobody would know its layout. Trevor died lost inside his own design, his wife Jessica died from Umbrella's experiments, and their daughter Lisa was kept alive as a test subject for decades. In 1998 Lisa still roams the grounds in chains. Her story ends at her mother's coffin, deep beneath the estate. (Resident Evil (2002))

The Mansion Incident of 1998#

In 1998 the t-Virus leaked inside the Arklay Laboratory. The staff were infected and turned into zombies, and creatures such as Umbrella's dogs escaped into the forest and started killing people outside Raccoon City. Files left by the staff show their slow collapse, from itching and hunger to the final diary entries. (Resident Evil (1996); Resident Evil (2002))

S.T.A.R.S. Bravo Team flew out to investigate on 23 July and lost contact. Medic Rebecca Chambers survived the night that followed, which is the story of Resident Evil 0. (Resident Evil 0)

On the evening of 24 July, Alpha Team went after them. Dogs killed Joseph Frost, pilot Brad Vickers fled in the helicopter, and Chris Redfield, Jill Valentine, Barry Burton and Captain Wesker ran into the mansion. Inside they found zombies, the bodies of Bravo Team and Umbrella's creatures, from giant snakes and spiders to Hunters. The full night is told in the Resident Evil 1 story. (Resident Evil (1996))

Wesker was working for Umbrella. He had brought S.T.A.R.S. to the mansion so the creatures could be tested against trained soldiers. In the lab he released the Tyrant, which ran him through. The survivors beat it, the lab's self-destruct system began counting down, and they fought it once more on the helipad before Brad picked them up. The mansion and the lab were destroyed as they flew away. (Resident Evil (1996); Resident Evil (2002))

How the 2002 remake changes the Spencer Mansion#

The 2002 remake rebuilt the house in far more detail and added to its story. (Resident Evil (2002))

• Lisa Trevor and her family's history are new, as are the Trevor files explaining the house's design. (Resident Evil (2002))
• Crimson Heads make the mansion more dangerous: zombies that are put down but not burned or beheaded can get back up faster and deadlier. (Resident Evil (2002))
• New areas include a graveyard, a crypt, Lisa's cabin and caves beneath the estate. (Resident Evil (2002))

Is the Spencer Mansion in other games and films?#

The original mansion was destroyed in 1998, so it doesn't return in later games set after that. Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles revisits it in flashback chapters. Resident Evil 5's Lost in Nightmares chapter is often mistaken for a return, but it takes place at Spencer's estate in Europe, a separate house that deliberately echoes the Arklay mansion. (Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles; Resident Evil 5)

In the films, Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City (2021) brings Chris, Jill and Wesker to the Spencer Mansion, where Wesker plays the piano to open a hidden passage, a nod to the original puzzle. See Welcome to Raccoon City explained. (Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City)