Filoli: Family Home; Historic Garden; Living Museum

By Julia Bly DeVere

Built more than sixty years after the California Gold Rush that inspired massive migration to Northern California, and ten years after the devastating 1906 earthquake and fire in San Francisco, Filoli represented a desire to create a magnificent and enduring country estate. Designed between 1915 and 1917 and set against the dramatic backdrop of the northern Santa Cruz mountains in Woodside, California, just south of San Francisco, Filoli is an excellent example of the Golden Age of American garden design and country house architecture.

Opened to the public in 1976, and now in its centenary, Filoli is recognized as one of the finest remaining country estates of the early 20th century and is a cherished resource for the community, valuing education, volunteering and diversity. Beautifully illustrated throughout, this is the story of a prime example of the California eclectic style and an inspiring vision of a new Eden, with bountiful land, plentiful resources and an emphasis on self-sufficiency.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
• Release date: Jan 12, 2017
• ISBN: 9781784421557

Book preview

CONTENTS

FOREWORD

THE FAMILIES

THE HOUSE

THE GARDEN

HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE AND FUTURE VISION

GLOSSARY

FOREWORD

Built more than sixty years after the California Gold Rush which inspired massive migration to Northern California, and ten years after the devastating 1906 earthquake and fires in San Francisco, Filoli (pronounced Fie-low-lee) represented a desire to create a magnificent and enduring country estate. Its eclecticism reflects a Golden Age in California’s history, free from the conventional rules of design, and exuding a pride in creativity and expression.

Filoli was built for Mr. and Mrs. William Bowers Bourn I, prominent San Franciscans at the turn of the twentieth century. Mr. Bourn arrived at the unusual name Filoli by combining the first two letters from the key words of his personal credo: FIght for a just cause; LOve your fellow man; LIve a good life.

Construction of Filoli began in 1915, and the Bourns moved into the house in 1917. Filoli’s extensive formal garden was built between 1917 and 1929. Both Mr. and Mrs. Bourn died in 1936. In 1937, the estate was purchased by Mr. and Mrs. William P. Roth, owners of the San-Francisco-based Matson Navigation Company. Under the Roths’ supervision, the property was maintained, and the formal garden gained worldwide recognition. Mrs. Roth made Filoli her home until 1975, when she donated the house and formal garden to the National Trust for Historic Preservation, for the enjoyment and inspiration of future generations. The remaining acreage was later given to Filoli Center. For more than forty years the two nonprofits have co-stewarded the historic estate.

Located thirty miles south of San Francisco, Filoli is nestled on an eastern slope in the northern Santa Cruz Mountain range, and is surrounded by more than 23,000 acres of the protected Peninsula Watershed. (Koptervision)

MISSION STATEMENT

Today, Filoli is dedicated to the preservation, interpretation, and stewardship of the cultural traditions and natural history of this country estate, for public education and enjoyment.

CELEBRATING 100 YEARS

From groundbreaking to completion, the house at Filoli took nearly three years to complete, with the garden and other key features of the estate soon to follow. Filoli is celebrating its centennial over a similar three-year span, from 2015 to 2017. Each year features an aspect of the property: the land in 2015, the house and collections in 2016, and the garden in 2017. Throughout the three years, the connections between all four owners of the property, including the Bourns, the Roths, The National Trust for Historic Preservation, and Filoli Center, will be highlighted.

THE FAMILIES

THE BOURNS’ VISION FOR A COUNTRY ESTATE

For many members of the Bourns’ social class, the prospect of creating a country house was solved relatively simply by hiring one architect who would develop the design, manage the construction, and even decorate the interiors. The creation of Filoli followed a very different model. One could view the creation of Filoli as an entrepreneurial enterprise in which William Bowers Bourn I had a vision for a particular goal, and then sought, hired, and managed the best available talent to achieve each one. To create Filoli, Bourn used various private architects and his business associates at the Spring Valley Water Company. Bourn himself functioned as a nexus for all of the participants.

Four notable San Francisco Bay Area architects and designers were involved in the creation of Filoli: Willis Polk, Arthur Brown Jr., Gardner Dailey, and Bruce Porter. At times, there were different professionals involved sequentially, or even simultaneously, working on different projects. For Bourn, and his wife Agnes, the design and construction process began with his first letter to Willis Polk before World War I, and continued on through the 1920s.

The specific location for the house and its access roads was carefully selected by the Bourns. The beauty and privacy of the land appears to have played a major role in their decision to build in the remote upland valley, away from El Camino Real and the commuter railroad along the San Francisco Bay shore. The Bourns found a landscape that reminded them of Muckross House, the nineteenth-century Victorian estate on the shores of Muckross Lake in Ireland, which they had purchased for their daughter Maud as a wedding gift in 1910.

The floor plan and exterior appearance of the house were also of concern to the Bourns. The house needed to recall the English country houses built in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries.

San Francisco society writers described the Roth twins Lurline and Berenice as being launched into society like luxury liners during their 1939 debut ball at Filoli.

CALIFORNIA IN THE GILDED AGE

At the time the Bourns acquired the land which was destined to become Filoli, the San Francisco Peninsula was in the middle of a period of splendid architectural and artistic renewal. Morphing from the early Spanish Presidio and Mission, to a boomtown gold rush port, the city had matured into a thriving metropolis. With great pride and determination, San Francisco and its suburbs were rebuilt after the Great Quake and fires of 1906. Almost every facet of cultural expression resonated with positive excitement at the heroic results.

At the northern tip of the Peninsula, the fantastic structures created for the Panama–Pacific International Exposition were nearing completion. They impressed the world with their grandeur. The Exposition had been fully supported by both the Bourn and Matson Roth families, in its creation, spirit, and financing, as both William Bourn and Captain Matson were influential in San Francisco society at the time. A first-time visitor to San Francisco in the teens could not help but notice the vibrant, stimulating atmosphere—from the frantic activity at the port, to the exotic dream that was the newly reconstructed Chinatown. This vision of a city reborn was unique and as many newspaper journalists of the time noted, unforgettable.

Both of Filoli’s future families—the Bourns and Matson Roths—were highly active in the civic, cultural, and social life of San Francisco. Both families had made their fortunes alongside San Francisco as it grew and developed. Bourn and Captain Matson were members of the Bohemian Club, a gentlemen’s club originally established in 1872 for journalists, artists, and musicians who wished to stimulate a fraternal connection among men who enjoyed the seven arts (architecture, sculpture, painting, music, poetry, dance, and performing). Although Bourn and Matson were members at the same time, there is no direct record of their friendship, but the two men must have known each other. The Bohemian Club would eventually welcome businessmen, entrepreneurs, and military leaders, who often functioned as patrons for the more artistic members. Fellow members of the club, who would ultimately leave their mark on Filoli, included Willis Polk, Bruce Porter, Arthur Brown Jr., and Ernest Peixotto.

To travel south on the Peninsula, most people went by steam train. In 1907, a series of railroad tunnels opened along the shore of the Bay, shaving seventeen minutes from the trip. The shorter commuting time and heavy promotion encouraged many families to make the new suburbs to the south their permanent home. The Bourns followed suit, and rented the Sky Farm estate from the Crocker family in Hillsborough, between 1908 and 1917. Around the same time, the Matson Roth family was also moving into their own summer country home, the Why Worry Farm in Woodside, a sprawling Tudor Revival with plenty of acreage for their show horses. Many extraordinary houses were built on the Peninsula, mostly in the vicinity of Hillsborough. It is interesting to note, how distinct each one was from another. It was as if the owners had purposely made sure their individuality would not be compromised.

A view of the newly completed Filoli house, as seen from Cañada Road in 1918.

At the time of Filoli’s construction, a trip to the watershed lands in the hills above San Mateo took at least another thirty minutes of driving along narrow rural roads. Maps from the era show two possible routes up to the Filoli property from El Camino Real, though neither was particularly easy. According to Bourn, it was his wife Agnes who selected the site, cloistered in the oak-studded valley, with inspirational views of the lakes and mountains. In every respect, the changes the Bourns made to the land they found showed a deep appreciation for the beauty that was there before them.

THE BOURNS

The Bourn family came to America from England in 1630. Six generations later, on June 21, 1813, William Bowers Bourn was born, the sixth child of Francis Bourn I and Mary Bowers. Growing up in Somerset, Massachusetts area, young Bourn saw firsthand the fortunes a man could earn in the cargo-shipping business. He was barely seventeen when he first dipped his toes in the maritime trade.

It was many years later, after opening an office in New York City, the thirty-two-year-old Bourn met Captain George Chase, with whom he formed both business and personal ties through a partnership in shipping high-demand goods to the California gold country, and through marriage to Captain Chase’s daughter, Sarah. Bourn married Sarah Esther Chase on July 20, 1849, at the Episcopal Church of the Holy Trinity in Brooklyn, New York.

In 1850, Bourn came west to San Francisco to join Captain Chase. Bourn originally intended to stay in San Francisco for only six months, so his wife did not travel with him, but due to the multitude of business opportunities, his return to Massachusetts was delayed by four years. Shortly after his arrival, Bourn invested in additional shipping cargo businesses, mercantile trade, agriculture, San Francisco’s first gas light company, and the Empire Mine—a hard rock gold mine in Grass Valley—as well as other gold and silver mines in both California and Nevada. He later bought control of the Empire Mine, which would eventually become the chief source of the Bourn family’s wealth. Bourn was also interim president and director of the Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company. In San Francisco’s financial district he was known for having Bourn’s luck, in that everything he touched turned to gold. Even by today’s standards, William Bowers Bourn would be considered a very successful investment banker.

Although he missed his wife, Bourn felt the young and booming San Francisco had not yet settled enough to send for Sarah until May, 1854. Her trip west took nearly twenty-nine days of travel, onboard steam ships after crossing Nicaragua; a route Bourn had recommended as it was shorter, and the weather was often more favorable and less likely to expose her to fevers. Arriving in San Francisco, Sarah found very little to