My Grandparents lived a block away from the Huntington Library. My Grandfather for a short time worked as a security guards at the library. As a child that house was full of wonder to me. My parents would walk the grounds and I would stay in the house walking up and down the staircase and pretending it was my house. I have some of my fondest childhood memories of that house. Many times before we would leave, we would pay our respects to Mr. and Mrs. Huntington at their mausoleum there on the grounds. My Grandfather loved birds-of-paradise and some how attained some from the library and had them planted in front of his house in San Marino. Thank you for this post
I've had the rare experience of staying in a great home that eventually became an art museum. Rienzi in Houston was the home of the Mastersons - aunt and uncle of one of my fraternity brothers. The butler wrote down our breakfast requests when we arrived, a footman discreetly offered a warm towel when stepping out of the shower. It was pretty grand. We were in town to party, and I should have paid more attention... 🎉
I was grateful to live close by as well. I lived on Mission Drive in San Gabriel, and I could walk a few blocks to the San Gabriel Mission and drive a couple of minutes to the Huntington library. I was only a few minutes from the LA Arboretum and close to Pasadena to the other museums in the area like the Norton Simon. I was very blessed to live in this area because I was able to shop and eat in some of the nicest places and visit some of the nicest cultural places without having to get on the Freeway 😊 My son and I lived a very nice time there.
Perhaps the most beautiful mansion in Los Angeles. Not just the house which is magnificent, but the beautiful grounds as well. I’m so glad it’s been saved.
He truly made this for her, his true love Arabella. She was a lover of fine art, decorating, plants and gardening. This is a shrine to his love for her, and her love of the beauty of the world. Arabella Duval Huntington, Has a story that is amazing, beautiful, and heartbreaking. She came from poverty but through hard work, a brilliant mind for business, and love. She became one of the richest women in the country for her time. She also had a handful of pretty fantastic “homes” (if you can call them that- more like mansions and palaces).
Wow!! Now that brought back some memories. As a contractor, I worked on the entire site from 2001-2010 and learned every inch of it. There is SO MUCH there that the average visitor does not know about and will never see. My company was part of the remodel of Huntington’s mansion into what is now the art museum and every picture of every room brings back memories. I was so afraid of messing with those chandeliers that I told them to hire someone else. 😬 Today, looking back, I feel what I did there for them and the trust they had in me to do it correctly, may very well be the highlight of my career. I can remember very well rolling up to work in the mornings at 7AM and feeling like I was working in a park. What a great place. Go see it, I am!!
My family used to visit often. We met a security guard (they were usually rather elderly men) who told us that there was a place on the grounds with cottages for several of the guards and their wives to live in. He said they would have picnics on the lawns once the grounds were closed for the day and loved to have their grandchildren to visit. In the summer, it would remain light well after closing time and the beautiful gardens were all theirs!
I had a neighbor in Hollywood in the 90s, he was quite old by then and quite the character. He was a Huntington and this was his childhood home. He used to tell stories of his mother starting the day standing between columns looking over the gardens. Thank you for this, it’s the first time I’m seeing what he used to describe.
I visited the Huntington in 2013. It’s so huge you need to schedule two days to see all the exhibits! During that same trip I also visited the Getty museum. Must sees!
I've been there and love it's Beaux Arts design. I'll never forget the dark clouds and thunder rumbling from the mountains above, which made the mansion feel haunted and ethereally beautiful. It's wonderful how it's been so well preserved.
Growing up and still living in Southern California I have spent many hours walking the grounds of the botanical gardens and walking endlessly through the rooms of the mansion admiring the art. My favorite room holds Gainsborough’s famous “Blue Boy” and normally opposite it hangs Thomas Lawrence’s contrasting “Sarah Goodin Barrett Moulton” normally called “Pinkie.” But my favorite hangs at the end of the room: Sir Joshua Reynold’s “Sarah Siddons as the Tragic Muse.” The actress was a very famous British actress of the 18th Century. I’ve sat on a bench in that room at the Huntington gazing at that painting for as long as an hour at a time. Extraordinary place!
Thank you for featuring The Huntington! I first visited on a field trip from San Diego while I was in High School. Just randomly seeing Gainsborourgh and Sir Joshua Reynolds paintings throughout the place was a thrill. I also recall Constable and Turner on the second floor. There is now a temperature controlled area in the basement for the special collections of books, some of which are over 200 years old. I went again in my 20s (with a friend who was an Art History major), and was amazed to see not one, but three original Audubon Birds of North America giant volumes. I do admit the collections and the gardens surpass the building itself for me. The gardens are greatly expanded since I was last there, and there are photos and more information on their website. I didn't actually realize that Henry married his aunt...
Used to go there as a child - my dad, a rare succulent enthusiast, often volunteered at at their succulent sales. (Volunteers got to take home leftover plants and cuttings.) My family was more impressed with the gardens than with the museum. In the old days, they allowed kids to catch tadpoles in the ponds, and when I was older, I often had tea in the tea room with my mother. I loved the Chinese garden, with its giant bell, and the trellised walkway, but my favorite was the strange, twining oak tree, whose branches grew low to the ground and spread out in every direction. In summer, the leaves were so thick, you could crawl under them and be completely hidden. Thank you for posting this.
Visited while in high school, and loved it.. I imagine I would appreciate it more as an adult, but never found the time to re-visit.. Still, the experience has stayed with me for many decades..
Grew up down the street from the Huntington. It was like it was our backyard...beautiful grounds and a historical cacti garden. Also spent time at the Huntington Hotel, its another name now. 🙏
I’d like to try living in a museum. ( or settle for just the library 😂). I toured this a decade ago and loved it. Wonderful that he was able to acquire the Blue Boy and Pinky paintings. Thanks, Ken for another wonderful episode!
My daughter and I used to go to the Huntington quite a bit. We would walk through the gardens. It is absolutely magnificent. I wish we could go back and visit again.
Could you imagine back in the day, the scent of the Orange Goves wafting through the air. Your videos make wish for possibilitie of time travel. Pure BRILLIANCE sir.
We are members of the Huntington. It's probably one of the most beautiful places on Earth. I've always wished they had enough money to live next to it so I can go everyday
#1 on my bucket list to visit. Henry and Arabella shared the same taste in art: British. This is where two unrelated paintings were placed opposite each other and have been paired in people's minds ever since. As shown in 2 photos of the gallery, one wall has Gainsborough's Blue Boy while across from it hangs Lawrence's Sarah Moulton "Pinkie." A lot of the money Henry made for himself came from buying up farms and unoccupied tracts of land, then running his rail line to it so he could create suburbs and sell the land for huge profits. The estate is as well, if not better, known for its gardens and research library. Excellent video.
Phil Goldman, now deceased, bought Huntingtons private railroad car, the "HENRY E. HUNTINGTON ". I was fortunate to ride on that car twice as well as going through it in San Antonio where it was being refurbished after being moved from A siding in Santa Barbara, CA. I also have photos of my 54 Cadillac Limousine next to the car in Santa Margarita on a sidetrack waiting To head South over Cesta grade through the tunnels there heading into San Luis Obispo. Great memories of private railcar trips back in the day!!
I was pleased to be able to visit the Huntington Library as I grew up in Los Angeles. The beautiful home and elegant gardens were a pleasure and a delight.
If you visit California, you MUST go to the Huntington library and gardens. It's MAGNIFICENT. I've been three times. This video is an EXCELLENT story of his life.
Henry purchased the original "Blue boy" & "Pinky" paintings and they're on display in the home. The grounds are beautiful with different themes including an authentic Japanese garden & home that was purchased & moved to the grounds. Henry & Arabella are buried on the grounds in a beautiful round Romanesque Pavilion where AB said while she was alive "I want to be buried right here where I'm standing". If you visit the Huntington plan on spending at least 2 days... One in the house & Library & one in the gardens. ❤️🙏
HOUSE STILL THERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! CONTENTS STILL THERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! DECLARE THIS A DEMOLITION FREE ZONE IMMEDIATELY, AND LONG LIVE THIS HOUSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Years ago living in Southern California I always had an annual pass to the Huntington Library. Most Fridays I was able to start and finish work early and arrive there at 2 pm. I would park the car, roll down the windows and take a half hour nap in the parking lot under the trees. I would then head to the gardens and as I strolled through there, read my Bible and the stress from the work week would fall off. They had great food there at the cafe and I would also have a late lunch under the trees. That place is the best place to walk around at to relax and relieve stress.
I used to go to Huntington Library almost every weekend. You can only look at the paintings and library so many times, but the gardens, that's why I went so often.
When I was growing up in nearby Pasadena in the 1970s, I used to ditch school and ride my bicycle down to the Huntington Library and Art Gallery and I would just hang around the place all day. They have one of the neatest gardens there!
Several art pieces from the Whitemarsh Hall auction are part of the Huntington. The dining room chairs were once at Whitmarsh Hall. The same green upholstery is on them today. I see two familiar paintings also.
I know that the oil paintings are the highlight of the collection along with the rare books. But I was intrigued by his collection of English watercolors from the eighteenth and nineteen centuries. Some are exquisite and otherworldly.
im embarrassed to say that I used to walk around this house picking out my bedroom and wishing I could live here. If you are Pasadena I highly recommend a visit to the house and the extensive gardens AND if you have the money and time have tea in the teahouse (reservations required) surrounded by roses.
Living in n LA, I've enjoyed this museum several times. The property is vast. There are two homes, the Huntington's, and a smaller one he had built for his daughter and husband.
The Huntington' Family founded the city of San Marino in the 1820s along with the Shorbs and the Pattons. General George Patton, then known as 'Georgie" grew up on the property. When the Huntington Mansion was being readied to be the Museum an underground passage between the Huntington and Patton family homes was discovered. As there was an anteroom between the two it was speculated the tunnel might have been used during prohibition. However the tunnel predated that era by several decades.
Great work as always, Ken! Mr Huntington has many similarities to Isabella Stewart Gardner, who also built a grand mansion to house her fine art collection.
Very good presentation. Haven't been there in years, but would add that there (to my mind) at least 5 distinct attractions - the Mansion/Museum; the Huntington Library (a separate structure containing many 1st editions); the Japanese Gardens; the Huntington Cactus & Succulents Garden; and the Tea House, serving lunch & a proper English Tea.
The photo at 1:33 looks like the view from 1st and Alameda looking west at J-Town. The building behind the Pacific Electric Trolley must be where JANM is now. Notice the Moline Plow and Universal Tractor in the background. This photo is amazing!
Happy to say a painting of one of my maternal ancestors hangs there. We stopped going years ago when they had a series of violent attacks, one idiot took a sledge hammer to the sculptures and I believe it was a Venus and baby Cupid damaged as well. After that the hours were randomly cut and twice we found the museum closed on an open day. The only complaint I ever had was the older women who went there doused themselves in so much perfume, we couldn't enjoy the flower gardens that last spring. 😢 Perhaps we'll try again this next Spring.
In Henry's Will, he provided that admission to the museum was to be "free". Alas, the provision has basically been nullified with, amazingly, court approval. I'm a Life Fellow there and made it my business to go into the bowels of the Los Angeles Superior Court files for his probate proceeding; there were numerous volumes, e.g. numbering 60 in the 1980s, but I found the provision. Just goes to show, you can't take it with you and your wishes/directive may be completely ignored.
Great report, Ken. I don't think I'd like living in a museum, but if it worked for Huntington and other industrial trailblazers ok. I was drawn to his attention to detail with this mansion. I liked the garden room best.
At the start, the house wasn't a museum even though Huntington invisioned it as such. Consequently, Huntington didn’t live in a museum until he acquired most of the books and paintings. 😮😊😅
I wonder if William Randolph Hearst got some of his ideas for the outdoor displays of statues for Hearst castle from the Huntington museum. There seems to be similarities between the two. Both men loved collecting treasures in Hearst’s case art and antiques, while Huntington collected artwork and the Gutenberg Bible of course is his most famous in his collection.
My good late friend, A.O. Smith of Milwaukee Wisconsin, childhood home is now a museum in the city of Milwaukee. Check it out. I would love to see a video of his home.
An excellent video, but it didn't approach what it's like to actually experience it. There's the art, then the Gutenberg bible, the pre-folio Shakespeare texts, and the amazing grounds with an Elizabethan-era rose garden - so wonderfully scented! - the Japanese garden, and cactus garden. And, of course, the mansion. Henry Huntington left us not only this great cultural legacy, but a complete public transportation system as well...which, however, is gone.
Not to mention the gardens, she loved to garden. The whole house is made for her. Her opinion and happiness being the main concern and driving force behind this entire house.
I've read about wealthy people marrying their cousins but this the first time I've heard of a nephew marrying his aunt. I wonder marrying his aunt was to get that huge inheritance. I wouldn't be surprised if he had several mistresses! 🤫🤭😉😂😂😂
Sadly, the house no longer looks beautiful on the inside. They’ve wall-boarded all the paneling to make it look like a modern museum. I used to run all over that house when I was little. Now, you can’t see any of the beauty inside, nor walk onto the terraces anymore.
Arabella had three very important men in her life, her three great loves of her life… Her first love, her protector and caretaker, her lover, her business partner, then husband, and the father of her child Collis. Her son, her heart and soul, and her entire world Archer. And then her second husband, love of her life, her cherished, her rock, her true love Henry.
My Grandparents lived a block away from the Huntington Library. My Grandfather for a short time worked as a security guards at the library. As a child that house was full of wonder to me. My parents would walk the grounds and I would stay in the house walking up and down the staircase and pretending it was my house. I have some of my fondest childhood memories of that house. Many times before we would leave, we would pay our respects to Mr. and Mrs. Huntington at their mausoleum there on the grounds. My Grandfather loved birds-of-paradise and some how attained some from the library and had them planted in front of his house in San Marino. Thank you for this post
Thank you for sharing your experience there. I truly enjoy reading comments like yours who mention their experiences of such places like this.
I've had the rare experience of staying in a great home that eventually became an art museum. Rienzi in Houston was the home of the Mastersons - aunt and uncle of one of my fraternity brothers. The butler wrote down our breakfast requests when we arrived, a footman discreetly offered a warm towel when stepping out of the shower. It was pretty grand. We were in town to party, and I should have paid more attention... 🎉
I was grateful to live close by as well. I lived on Mission Drive in San Gabriel, and I could walk a few blocks to the San Gabriel Mission and drive a couple of minutes to the Huntington library. I was only a few minutes from the LA Arboretum and close to Pasadena to the other museums in the area like the Norton Simon. I was very blessed to live in this area because I was able to shop and eat in some of the nicest places and visit some of the nicest cultural places without having to get on the Freeway 😊 My son and I lived a very nice time there.
Perhaps the most beautiful mansion in Los Angeles. Not just the house which is magnificent, but the beautiful grounds as well. I’m so glad it’s been saved.
He truly made this for her, his true love Arabella. She was a lover of fine art, decorating, plants and gardening. This is a shrine to his love for her, and her love of the beauty of the world.
Arabella Duval Huntington, Has a story that is amazing, beautiful, and heartbreaking. She came from poverty but through hard work, a brilliant mind for business, and love. She became one of the richest women in the country for her time. She also had a handful of pretty fantastic “homes” (if you can call them that- more like mansions and palaces).
Wow!! Now that brought back some memories.
As a contractor, I worked on the entire site from 2001-2010 and learned every inch of it. There is SO MUCH there that the average visitor does not know about and will never see. My company was part of the remodel of Huntington’s mansion into what is now the art museum and every picture of every room brings back memories. I was so afraid of messing with those chandeliers that I told them to hire someone else. 😬 Today, looking back, I feel what I did there for them and the trust they had in me to do it correctly, may very well be the highlight of my career. I can remember very well rolling up to work in the mornings at 7AM and feeling like I was working in a park. What a great place. Go see it, I am!!
My family used to visit often. We met a security guard (they were usually rather elderly men) who told us that there was a place on the grounds with cottages for several of the guards and their wives to live in. He said they would have picnics on the lawns once the grounds were closed for the day and loved to have their grandchildren to visit. In the summer, it would remain light well after closing time and the beautiful gardens were all theirs!
It is an absolutely astonishing home. So glad it has survived the ages.😊
I had a neighbor in Hollywood in the 90s, he was quite old by then and quite the character. He was a Huntington and this was his childhood home. He used to tell stories of his mother starting the day standing between columns looking over the gardens. Thank you for this, it’s the first time I’m seeing what he used to describe.
I visited the Huntington in 2013. It’s so huge you need to schedule two days to see all the exhibits! During that same trip I also visited the Getty museum. Must sees!
I've been there and love it's Beaux Arts design. I'll never forget the dark clouds and thunder rumbling from the mountains above, which made the mansion feel haunted and ethereally beautiful. It's wonderful how it's been so well preserved.
Growing up and still living in Southern California I have spent many hours walking the grounds of the botanical gardens and walking endlessly through the rooms of the mansion admiring the art. My favorite room holds Gainsborough’s famous “Blue Boy” and normally opposite it hangs Thomas Lawrence’s contrasting “Sarah Goodin Barrett Moulton” normally called “Pinkie.” But my favorite hangs at the end of the room: Sir Joshua Reynold’s “Sarah Siddons as the Tragic Muse.” The actress was a very famous British actress of the 18th Century. I’ve sat on a bench in that room at the Huntington gazing at that painting for as long as an hour at a time. Extraordinary place!
Thank you for featuring The Huntington! I first visited on a field trip from San Diego while I was in High School. Just randomly seeing Gainsborourgh and Sir Joshua Reynolds paintings throughout the place was a thrill. I also recall Constable and Turner on the second floor. There is now a temperature controlled area in the basement for the special collections of books, some of which are over 200 years old. I went again in my 20s (with a friend who was an Art History major), and was amazed to see not one, but three original Audubon Birds of North America giant volumes. I do admit the collections and the gardens surpass the building itself for me. The gardens are greatly expanded since I was last there, and there are photos and more information on their website. I didn't actually realize that Henry married his aunt...
Used to go there as a child - my dad, a rare succulent enthusiast, often volunteered at at their succulent sales. (Volunteers got to take home leftover plants and cuttings.) My family was more impressed with the gardens than with the museum. In the old days, they allowed kids to catch tadpoles in the ponds, and when I was older, I often had tea in the tea room with my mother. I loved the Chinese garden, with its giant bell, and the trellised walkway, but my favorite was the strange, twining oak tree, whose branches grew low to the ground and spread out in every direction. In summer, the leaves were so thick, you could crawl under them and be completely hidden. Thank you for posting this.
Visited while in high school, and loved it.. I imagine I would appreciate it more as an adult, but never found the time to re-visit.. Still, the experience has stayed with me for many decades..
Grew up down the street from the Huntington. It was like it was our backyard...beautiful grounds and a historical cacti garden. Also spent time at the Huntington Hotel, its another name now. 🙏
I was there in ‘84 for a party on the lawn outside the museum. It was so beautiful!
I’d like to try living in a museum. ( or settle for just the library 😂). I toured this a decade ago and loved it. Wonderful that he was able to acquire the Blue Boy and Pinky paintings. Thanks, Ken for another wonderful episode!
Me too!
.
My daughter and I used to go to the Huntington quite a bit. We would walk through the gardens. It is absolutely magnificent. I wish we could go back and visit again.
Could you imagine back in the day, the scent of the Orange Goves wafting through the air.
Your videos make wish for possibilitie of time travel.
Pure BRILLIANCE sir.
We are members of the Huntington. It's probably one of the most beautiful places on Earth. I've always wished they had enough money to live next to it so I can go everyday
Wonderful video. One of our favorite places. We are grateful it's open to the public. 💕💕💕
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
When I was in High School as a senior we went on a field trip to the Huntington museum in 1974 and I remember it today!!!
#1 on my bucket list to visit. Henry and Arabella shared the same taste in art: British. This is where two unrelated paintings were placed opposite each other and have been paired in people's minds ever since. As shown in 2 photos of the gallery, one wall has Gainsborough's Blue Boy while across from it hangs Lawrence's Sarah Moulton "Pinkie."
A lot of the money Henry made for himself came from buying up farms and unoccupied tracts of land, then running his rail line to it so he could create suburbs and sell the land for huge profits. The estate is as well, if not better, known for its gardens and research library. Excellent video.
Phil Goldman, now deceased, bought Huntingtons private railroad car, the "HENRY E. HUNTINGTON ". I was fortunate to ride on that car twice as well as going through it in San Antonio where it was being refurbished after being moved from A siding in Santa Barbara, CA. I also have photos of my 54 Cadillac Limousine next to the car in Santa Margarita on a sidetrack waiting To head South over Cesta grade through the tunnels there heading into San Luis Obispo. Great memories of private railcar trips back in the day!!
From Ohio…..my daughter, living in CA, took me there……!❤️. Unbelievably BEAUTIFUL!!!!!❤️
This library brought me to the works of Walden as a teenager and my love of literature. 1976.
Went there as a kid. Thanks for the history lesson, now that I'm older I need to go again.
yep.
Presently, a truly MAGNIFICENT manor. This is the best destination to visit in Pasadena❤
I was pleased to be able to visit the Huntington Library as I grew up in Los Angeles. The beautiful home and elegant gardens were a pleasure and a delight.
Wonderful legacy!
Used to visit frequently in the '60s and '70s but haven't been there since around 1980. Wonderful experience.
If you visit California, you MUST go to the Huntington library and gardens. It's MAGNIFICENT. I've been three times. This video is an EXCELLENT story of his life.
Henry purchased the original "Blue boy" & "Pinky" paintings and they're on display in the home. The grounds are beautiful with different themes including an authentic Japanese garden & home that was purchased & moved to the grounds. Henry & Arabella are buried on the grounds in a beautiful round Romanesque Pavilion where AB said while she was alive "I want to be buried right here where I'm standing".
If you visit the Huntington plan on spending at least 2 days... One in the house & Library & one in the gardens. ❤️🙏
HOUSE STILL THERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! CONTENTS STILL THERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! DECLARE THIS A DEMOLITION FREE ZONE IMMEDIATELY, AND LONG LIVE THIS HOUSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Years ago living in Southern California I always had an annual pass to the Huntington Library. Most Fridays I was able to start and finish work early and arrive there at 2 pm. I would park the car, roll down the windows and take a half hour nap in the parking lot under the trees. I would then head to the gardens and as I strolled through there, read my Bible and the stress from the work week would fall off. They had great food there at the cafe and I would also have a late lunch under the trees. That place is the best place to walk around at to relax and relieve stress.
I used to go to Huntington Library almost every weekend. You can only look at the paintings and library so many times, but the gardens, that's why I went so often.
When I was growing up in nearby Pasadena in the 1970s, I used to ditch school and ride my bicycle down to the Huntington Library and Art Gallery and I would just hang around the place all day. They have one of the neatest gardens there!
Several art pieces from the Whitemarsh Hall auction are part of the Huntington. The dining room chairs were once at Whitmarsh Hall. The same green upholstery is on them today.
I see two familiar paintings also.
Cactus garden is my favorite area of the grounds. New Chinese formal garden is epic. Well worth several visits.
Thanks for featuring this Pasadena area gem! 💎
I know that the oil paintings are the highlight of the collection along with the rare books. But I was intrigued by his collection of English watercolors from the eighteenth and nineteen centuries. Some are exquisite and otherworldly.
My mother was a Huntington. Fascinating family history
Remarkable family history.
Arabella was such a strong and brilliant woman. Her story isn’t told enough.
Thank you for making these videos 😊
Beautiful building, as are the Huntington Gardens in San Marino, CA
fantastic
I love the library!😅
im embarrassed to say that I used to walk around this house picking out my bedroom and wishing I could live here. If you are Pasadena I highly recommend a visit to the house and the extensive gardens AND if you have the money and time have tea in the teahouse (reservations required) surrounded by roses.
Hermoso y Elegante contenido de historia para compartir ❤️ Felicidades ❤ de Venezuela 🇻🇪🙏🌹
Just amazing!
Finally a house I’ve been to many times.
Thank you
Glad to see some love for my hometown!!!
Living in n LA, I've enjoyed this museum several times. The property is vast. There are two homes, the Huntington's, and a smaller one he had built for his daughter and husband.
The Huntington library is a gorgeous place. It's about an hour away from me
The Huntington' Family founded the city of San Marino in the 1820s along with the Shorbs and the Pattons. General George Patton, then known as 'Georgie" grew up on the property. When the Huntington Mansion was being readied to be the Museum an underground passage between the Huntington and Patton family homes was discovered. As there was an anteroom between the two it was speculated the tunnel might have been used during prohibition. However the tunnel predated that era by several decades.
Great work as always, Ken! Mr Huntington has many similarities to Isabella Stewart Gardner, who also built a grand mansion to house her fine art collection.
Very good presentation. Haven't been there in years, but would add that there (to my mind) at least 5 distinct attractions - the Mansion/Museum; the Huntington Library (a separate structure containing many 1st editions); the Japanese Gardens; the Huntington Cactus & Succulents Garden; and the Tea House, serving lunch & a proper English Tea.
The photo at 1:33 looks like the view from 1st and Alameda looking west at J-Town. The building behind the Pacific Electric Trolley must be where JANM is now. Notice the Moline Plow and Universal Tractor in the background. This photo is amazing!
Happy to say a painting of one of my maternal ancestors hangs there. We stopped going years ago when they had a series of violent attacks, one idiot took a sledge hammer to the sculptures and I believe it was a Venus and baby Cupid damaged as well. After that the hours were randomly cut and twice we found the museum closed on an open day. The only complaint I ever had was the older women who went there doused themselves in so much perfume, we couldn't enjoy the flower gardens that last spring. 😢 Perhaps we'll try again this next Spring.
The cactus/succulent part of the gardens is remarkable.
In Henry's Will, he provided that admission to the museum was to be "free". Alas, the provision has basically been nullified with, amazingly, court approval. I'm a Life Fellow there and made it my business to go into the bowels of the Los Angeles Superior Court files for his probate proceeding; there were numerous volumes, e.g. numbering 60 in the 1980s, but I found the provision. Just goes to show, you can't take it with you and your wishes/directive may be completely ignored.
Great report, Ken. I don't think I'd like living in a museum, but if it worked for Huntington and other industrial trailblazers ok. I was drawn to his attention to detail with this mansion. I liked the garden room best.
For a special treat have high tea at the Huntington's Rose Garden Tea Room.
At the start, the house wasn't a museum even though Huntington invisioned it as such. Consequently, Huntington didn’t live in a museum until he acquired most of the books and paintings. 😮😊😅
Never heard of it. Thanks
I wonder if William Randolph Hearst got some of his ideas for the outdoor displays of statues for Hearst castle from the Huntington museum. There seems to be similarities between the two. Both men loved collecting treasures in Hearst’s case art and antiques, while Huntington collected artwork and the Gutenberg Bible of course is his most famous in his collection.
My good late friend, A.O. Smith of Milwaukee Wisconsin, childhood home is now a museum in the city of Milwaukee. Check it out. I would love to see a video of his home.
I could live in a museum, but I wouldn’t want to clean it🤣
An excellent video, but it didn't approach what it's like to actually experience it. There's the art, then the Gutenberg bible, the pre-folio Shakespeare texts, and the amazing grounds with an Elizabethan-era rose garden - so wonderfully scented! - the Japanese garden, and cactus garden. And, of course, the mansion. Henry Huntington left us not only this great cultural legacy, but a complete public transportation system as well...which, however, is gone.
The interiors and art collection were the work of Huntington’s wife Arabella.
Not to mention the gardens, she loved to garden.
The whole house is made for her. Her opinion and happiness being the main concern and driving force behind this entire house.
they don't make 'em like that anymore!
First rule. Be born into fabulous wealth.
Or, create Your Own!
Yes, you can ...
🎉
👍
I've read about wealthy people marrying their cousins but this the first time I've heard of a nephew marrying his aunt. I wonder marrying his aunt was to get that huge inheritance. I wouldn't be surprised if he had several mistresses! 🤫🤭😉😂😂😂
Always bury your loved ones on your property and the govt can never take it away
I would prefer a smaller museum house such as Grant's home in Galena, Illinois, or Tinker Cottage in Rockford, Illinois to live in
Before I met my wife, the Huntington was a great cheap date.
Sadly, the house no longer looks beautiful on the inside. They’ve wall-boarded all the paneling to make it look like a modern museum. I used to run all over that house when I was little. Now, you can’t see any of the beauty inside, nor walk onto the terraces anymore.
The male vocal fry is so annoying, I had to stop watching! That last world urrrr, is distracting!
Anyway you can change that awful narrator’s voice? Any speech teacher can help him change inflection, tone, etc.
Too much.
He married his uncle's widow? WTF??
There was a large age gap between Colis and Arabella, but Henry and his Aunt through marriage to his Uncle were about the same age.
@@scottnielsen1553 and of course they were not blood relatives.
@@barbarageorge8984 And further, it kept the family's wealth within the family. As long as they At Least liked each other, what's the harm?
Arabella had three very important men in her life, her three great loves of her life…
Her first love, her protector and caretaker, her lover, her business partner, then husband, and the father of her child Collis.
Her son, her heart and soul, and her entire world Archer.
And then her second husband, love of her life, her cherished, her rock, her true love Henry.
she be bull dozed
such brilliance. you should run for president
This place needs to be torn down to make room for low income housing ‼️🤣🤣🤣