Filoli: Difference between revisions
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Today, Filoli is open for public tours. Attractions include self-guided tours, guided tours, and nature hikes. Several areas of the formal gardens include some especially designed for weddings. The largest gardens are working gardens for the production of cut flowers for the mansion and for the growing of some vegetables. The gardens are largely maintained by local volunteers, one of whom may be seen in the image above carefully trimming the boundary hedge. |
Today, Filoli is open for public tours. Attractions include self-guided tours, guided tours, and nature hikes. Several areas of the formal gardens include some especially designed for weddings. The largest gardens are working gardens for the production of cut flowers for the mansion and for the growing of some vegetables. The gardens are largely maintained by local volunteers, one of whom may be seen in the image above carefully trimming the boundary hedge. |
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Filoli has served as the set for many [[Hollywood, Los Angeles, California|Hollywood]] [[film|movies]].<ref>It was the mansion featured in ''[[Heaven Can Wait (1978 film)|Heaven Can Wait]]'' and ''[[The Game (film)|The Game]]''. The garden was used as a set in ''[[George of the Jungle (film)|George of the Jungle]]'', ''[[The Joy Luck Club (film)|The Joy Luck Club]]'', and ''[[The Wedding Planner]]''.</ref> Most famously, it is the mansion seen from the air in the opening credits of the [[television series]] ''[[Dynasty (TV series)|Dynasty]]''. The mansion's plush interiors were also featured in the first episodes of the series but were subsequently replicated on sound stages at the Fox Studios, Century City. However the entire mansion served as the setting for the |
Filoli has served as the set for many [[Hollywood, Los Angeles, California|Hollywood]] [[film|movies]].<ref>It was the mansion featured in ''[[Heaven Can Wait (1978 film)|Heaven Can Wait]]'' and ''[[The Game (film)|The Game]]''. The garden was used as a set in ''[[George of the Jungle (film)|George of the Jungle]]'', ''[[The Joy Luck Club (film)|The Joy Luck Club]]'', and ''[[The Wedding Planner]]''.</ref> Most famously, it is the mansion seen from the air in the opening credits of the [[television series]] ''[[Dynasty (TV series)|Dynasty]]''. The mansion's plush interiors were also featured in the first episodes of the series but were subsequently replicated on sound stages at the Fox Studios, Century City. However the entire mansion served as the setting for the CBS Television special ''[[Dynasty Reunion: Catfights & Caviar]]'' in which cast members reunited to discuss their memories of the series. It was the first time many of the cast members had been to the actual estate. |
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[[Image:FiloliStaircase.JPG|thumb|left|300px|The Grand staircase at Filoli.]] |
[[Image:FiloliStaircase.JPG|thumb|left|300px|The Grand staircase at Filoli.]] |
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Revision as of 00:14, 30 January 2010
Filoli is a country house set in 16 acres (6.5 ha) of formal gardens surrounded by 654 acres (265 ha) estate, located in Woodside, California, about 25 miles (40 km) south of San Francisco, at the southern end of Crystal Springs Lake, on the eastern slope of the Santa Cruz Mountains.
Filoli was built between 1915 and 1917 for William Bowers Bourn II and his wife, Agnes Moody Bourn. The principal designer, San Francisco architect Willis Polk, used a free Georgian style that incorporated the tiled roofs characteristic of California.[1] Polk had previously designed Bourn's houses in Grass Valley and on Webster Street in San Francisco. Bruce Porter was commissioned to collaborate with the Bourns in planning the gardens, which were laid out 1917-1922.
Filoli served as one of the Bourns' residences from 1917 to 1936. Mr. Bourn was president of the Spring Valley Water Company, which owned Crystal Springs Lake and the surrounding area. The name of the estate is an acronym formed by combining the first two letters from the key words of William Bourn's credo: "Fight for a just cause; Love your fellow man; Live a good life."
Following the deaths of William and Agnes Bourn in 1936, the estate was sold to Mr. and Mrs. William P. Roth, owners of the Matson Navigation Company, in 1937. The Roth family built Filoli's botanic gardens. In 1975, Mrs. Roth donated the estate in its entirety to the National Trust for Historic Preservation.[2]
The 16 acres (6.5 ha) of gardens are structured as a series of garden spaces that open one from another, providing long axial views, in which profuse naturalized plantings of hardy and annual plants contrast with lawns, paving, formal reflecting pools, framed in walls and clipped hedging (illustration, right) and punctuated by many narrowly columnar Irish yews, originally grown on the estate from cuttings. Filoli is an outstanding example of the Anglo-American gardening style that was pioneered at the end of the nineteenth century by Edwin Lutyens and Gertrude Jekyll in British gardens and exemplified in the U.S. by designs of Charles A. Platt and Beatrix Farrand.[citation needed]
Today, Filoli is open for public tours. Attractions include self-guided tours, guided tours, and nature hikes. Several areas of the formal gardens include some especially designed for weddings. The largest gardens are working gardens for the production of cut flowers for the mansion and for the growing of some vegetables. The gardens are largely maintained by local volunteers, one of whom may be seen in the image above carefully trimming the boundary hedge.
Filoli has served as the set for many Hollywood movies.[3] Most famously, it is the mansion seen from the air in the opening credits of the television series Dynasty. The mansion's plush interiors were also featured in the first episodes of the series but were subsequently replicated on sound stages at the Fox Studios, Century City. However the entire mansion served as the setting for the 2006 CBS Television special Dynasty Reunion: Catfights & Caviar in which cast members reunited to discuss their memories of the series. It was the first time many of the cast members had been to the actual estate.
Among the many striking mature trees on the grounds are a row of immense Italian Stone Pines and scattered specimen native Coast Live Oaks over 250 years in age, the latter of which are the backdrop for Warren Beatty's outdoor scenes in Heaven Can Wait.
The Filoli estate recently went through extensive rehabilitation and a new visitor center and café were built. San Francisco architecture firm, Architectural Resources Group designed the new visitor and education center as well as oversaw seismic strengthening of the historic main house. The new facility includes a 255 seat assembly room, main lobby orientation room, a café, offices and a catering kitchen.
Filoli was featured in Bob Vila's A&E Network production, Guide to Historic Homes of America,[4] as well as in a November 1996 segment of A&E's America's Castles: Garden Estates, the latter being shown continuously at the visitor center.[5]
37°28′13.44″N 122°18′38.53″W / 37.4704000°N 122.3107028°W
References
- ^ Papoulias, Alexander (April 28, 2008), "'Country Elegance' in Woodside", Palo Alto Online
{{citation}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link) - ^ Seehaus, Karen (March 9, 2005), "Spring Fling: Ring in spring at one of the Bay Area's own historic treasures.", The Wave Magazine, vol. 05, no. 05, San Jose, California, p. 30
{{citation}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link). - ^ It was the mansion featured in Heaven Can Wait and The Game. The garden was used as a set in George of the Jungle, The Joy Luck Club, and The Wedding Planner.
- ^ Bob Vila (1996). ""Guide to Historic Homes of America."" (HTML). A&E Network.
- ^ America’s Castles "Garden Estates" was filmed at Filoli from April 14 to April 18, 1996. It was first aired on A&E November 24, 1996, Sunday, at 10 p.m. EST. The show featured three homes — Filoli in Woodside, California; Bellingrath Home and Gardens in Mobile, Alabama; and Maymont in Richmond, Virginia. America’s Castles was produced by S. Alex Alexander at Cinetel Productions.
See also
External links
