Why You Must Visit Filoli

You may recognize the beautiful gardens at Filoli from the movie Heaven Can Wait, but the estate was built way before the movie, in the early 1900s for William Bourn, a prominent San Franciscan who made his fortune through the Empire Gold Mine.

What to know
Bourn chose Woodside, CA, as the setting and California architect Willis Polk as the architect. What the team ended up with was a gorgeous 36,000-square-foot Georgian-style mansion, with 43 rooms and a wisteria-draped Flemish bond brick exterior. European artisans crafted the interior elements, including a French escallette marble fireplace in the dining room and a hand-painted mural of an Irish lake and mansion in the ballroom. The Butler’s Pantry has the original dumbwaiter and electric call board used to summon staff.

But the piece de resistance of the estate is the world famous formal garden, where 16 acres of beauty include an English knot garden, a sunken garden with reflecting pool and a Chartres Cathedral window garden, with boxwood between flower beds to represent the lead outlines of stained glass. A Gentleman’s Orchard has some 7 acres of fruit trees including apples, pears and peaches.

After exploring, head to the garden shop. Though now filled with floral-themed decorative items and gifts, the shop was originally the garage and is still dominated by a Christopher Wren-inspired tower.

For more information on Filoli, visit https://filoli.org.

-Rose-