This year marks the 30th anniversary of Filoli Center and the Friends of Filoli
By Jane Knoerle
Almanac Lifestyles Editor
It’s been 30 years since Lurline Matson Roth bequeathed her Woodside mansion and gardens to the National Trust for Historic Preservation. In the years since 1975, Filoli has become a national treasure, visited by thousands each year, and staffed by hundreds of volunteers.
It has been the setting for movies, a television series, soirees, flower shows, Easter egg hunts, and nature hikes. It’s a place to be educated and entertained. It’s impossible to drive down the lane to the “big house,” surrounded by massive oaks, without feeling awe at the land’s beauty and serenity.
Ms. Roth gave her house and garden to the National Trust after it had been the Roth family home, from 1937 to 1975. She and her husband, William P. Roth, purchased the 654-acre estate, complete with furnishings, from William Bowers Bourn. Mr. Bourn had completed the mansion, designed by Willis Polk, in 1917 and named it Filoli (fight, love, live).
Mr. Roth was the president and, later, the chairman of the Matson Navigation Company until his death in 1963. Ms. Roth was one of the outstanding horsewomen in the United States. She was also an avid horticulturist who made Filoli’s gardens known worldwide. After living at Filoli almost 40 years, she wanted the house and gardens preserved for future generations to enjoy.
In the spring of 1976 the Filoli Center was founded along with the first Friends of Filoli volunteer board. When the movie “Heaven Can Wait,” starring Warren Beattie and Julie Christie, was filmed at Filoli in 1977, the studio “cleaned out” and refurbished the house, making it possible to begin offering public tours. That first year 10,000 visitors toured the house and garden.
Filoli was also the setting for other movies, and the pilot for the popular television series, “Dynasty,” was filmed at the estate. For years, an overview of the Filoli mansion and courtyard opened the television series.
During the past 30 years, the biggest project was building the Visitor and Education Center, which opened in 1996. The center provides up-to-date facilities for lunches, dinners, teas, classes, exhibits and events that now draw about 100,000 visitors a year. Friends of Filoli, too, has grown to 10,000 members with 1,200 active volunteers.
New events and programs fill Filoli’s calendar from opening day in February to the annual Holiday Traditions in late November. In 1981 the first Concert in the Courtyard was held. The first flower show took place in 1983. School programs were started in 1985. In 1988 the J.E. Wallace Sterling (former president of Stanford University) Library of Landscape Architecture opened, and the Filoli Nature Center was dedicated to Sally MacBride of Woodside, the first president of Friends of Filoli.
The first Easter egg hunt and Oktoberfest at Filoli took place in 1990, the first Fall Festival in 1995. In 1998, Melvin Martin of Los Angeles bequeathed his collection of fine furnishings, including 100 pieces of furniture and 27 museum-quality paintings, to the mansion.
And change keeps happening. Last year Susanne Pandich became Filoli’s new executive director. A remodeled and expanded Quail’s Nest Cafe opened in the Visitor and Education Center with a new tradition of serving monthly afternoon teas. This year, for the first time, Filoli will be open on Sundays.
With a little help from friends
Charles “Chuck” Huggins of Woodside is one of many community leaders who has helped Filoli grow while preserving its history and traditions. He recently retired as president and CEO of See’s Candies after 55 years with the organization.
Mr. Huggins first heard of Filoli through his late wife, Mime, who had joined the new Friends of Filoli. She brought him out to the estate, where he met with Richard Elkus, president of Ampex Corp. and head of the Filoli board of governors. “Dick convinced me to join the governing board. I wound up doing a lot of fundraising.”
Mr. Huggins headed several capital fund campaigns, calling on his other associates in industry. As a prominent businessman, he did a lot of networking with other people who run companies to raise funds for Filoli.
The most important projects with which he was involved were building the Visitor and Education Center and the mansion’s seismic retrofit following the 1989 earthquake. “Ned Gates of Woodside, the CEO of Swinterton and Wahlberg, made the construction process (on both projects) go very smoothly. He assigned top people to work with us,” says Mr. Huggins.
Mr. Huggins has served several terms on Filoli’s governing board, and is a current member. Other community leaders he has served with include Bill Lane, Leonard Ely, Bill Curtis, Bill Graham and Crawford Cooley.
The summer jazz concerts are a project close to Chuck Huggins’ heart. He and the late Tom Ford formed a jazz band, Tom Ford and the Model A, with Mr. Huggins as vocalist and drummer.
A great friend and fan of Turk Murphy, Mr. Huggins decided summer jazz concerts would be a great fundraiser for Filoli. See’s sponsored that first series 17 years ago and they’re still going strong.
Mr. Huggins met his second wife, Donna, through their mutual love of jazz when she was the chief fundraiser for the Jazz Foundation in San Francisco. She is a co-chairman of “Cabaret at Filoli,” the 1930s-era dinner-dance to be held in the mansion on Saturday, March 25.
A week of celebration
A week of events is under way at Filoli as it marks its 30th season:** On Tuesday, February 28, the house and furnishings were to be the topic of talks by Tom Rogers, curator, and Paul Price, Filoli volunteer.
** The garden is the theme for Wednesday, March 1. The greenhouses are open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. At 1 p.m. Lucy Tolmach, director of horticulture, will give a talk, “A garden timeline 1976-2006,” and at 2 p.m. garden manager Alex Fernandez will discuss planting and caring for a miniature knot garden.
** On Thursday, March 2, there will be education with watercolor and botanical illustrations, and cooking and transplanting demonstrations.
** The greenhouses will once again be open on Friday, March 3, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Diane West-Bourke will talk about stewardship and preservation at 10 a.m.; Molly Barker will discuss “Preserving Filoli in Paint” at 1 p.m.
** Volunteer Day is Saturday, March 4, and there will be a series of short talks by docents in different rooms of the house and areas of the garden. Timmy Gallagher and Tom Rogers will talk about the “Highlights and hiccups of Filoli’s early days” at 2 p.m.
A camellia tour will be given at 11 a.m. each day.
Cabaret at Filoli
Guests will step back in time to the 1930s when Filoli’s ballroom is transformed into a supper club on Saturday, March 25.The evening will be in the tradition of a 1933 post-prohibition dinner held by the Bourn family.
Cabaret singer Maude Maggart will entertain and guests are encouraged to come in 1930s attire. Serving as event chairs with Donna Huggins are Elena Grant, Lurline Roth’s granddaughter, and Suzanne Loomis, daughter of Sally MacBride.
Individual tickets are $250, $500 and $1,000 each. For more information, call 364-8300, ext. 508.
