Exploring the Huntington Mausoleum + Library, Art Museum, and Gardens

[Music] the Huntington Library in San Marino California was once the private residence of railroad tycoon Henry Edward Huntington and his wife Arabella established in 1919 the library continues to operate as an educational and research institute that houses an extensive collection of art and rare books the property also consists of over a dozen themed botanical gardens where guests are free to wander through nature's splendor the Huntington's built the small paradise on their estate and it is here they are entombed in an elegant greco-roman mausoleum that served as a prototype for a national memorial in Washington DC come walk with me and explore the lives and legacies of Henry and Arabella Huntington at age 21 henry huntington entered the railroad business when he went to work with his uncle Collis p huntington who was one of the men who helped build the first transcontinental railroad in the united states in 1892 henry moved to san francisco with his wife and four children there he co managed the holding company for the southern and Central Pacific railroads in the spring of the same year he visited Southern California for the first time impressed with the area's potential to become a major commercial and cultural center huntington immediately went to work developing its resources he invested in real estate and public utilities and began consolidating the city's many electric railway systems to form the Interurban Pacific Electric Railway Company known locally as the red car system at its height the red car boasted 2700 scheduled trains per day it connected the Greater Los Angeles area to Orange County in the south and extended as far east as San Bernardino and Redlands by putting manufacturers within reach of the labor force the red car helped usher in one of the greatest economic booms in modern history [Music] by age sixty Huntington was ready to devote most of his time to his lifelong passion of collecting rare books and art he sold off most of his interest in the Pacific Railway and began amassing one of the greatest research libraries in the world he purchased the San Marino ranch in 1903 but it wasn't until 1911 that he built the sprawling beaux-arts mansion overlooking the San Gabriel Valley it was followed ten years later with a large library to house his book collection soon after railroad cars from New York filled with priceless books began arriving at San Marino the collection includes an original copy of the Gutenberg Bible and an illustrated edition of Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales printed in the early 15th century it is the most complete copy of the tales known to exist there are editions of Shakespeare's plays printed during his lifetime as well as the first published folio of his works the library also possesses a copy of John Jay Audubon's birds of America with spectacular life-size illustrations all colored by hand and these are just a tiny part of a collection that continues to grow in 1913 Henry Huntington who by then had been divorced from his first wife for several years was married a second time he did not venture far out of his family to find his bride who was the widow of his uncle Collis Arabella Duval Huntington was 34 when she married Collis who was 62 the details of her humble beginning are somewhat mysterious which is exactly the way she wanted it her father died when she was young and her mother owned a boarding house after Collis Huntington's death she inherited over 150 million dollars making her one of the richest women in the world Arabella was also known for her philanthropy and supported a wide range of programs from cancer research to causes for african-americans she had a taste for the finer things in life including art which had a great influence on Henry her personal collection is part of the European art collection located in the main house there are works by French and British masters such as John Antoine who Don Joshua Reynolds and George Romney there are paintings by Thomas Gainsborough including the cornerstone of the collection the Blue Boy it was purchased by Henry Huntington in 1921 for the then record price of seven hundred and twenty-eight thousand dollars the San Francisco Chronicle tacked on a little extra for their headline the gallery also has the blue boys traditional companion painted by Thomas Lawrence it is the portrait of Sarah Barrett Moulton best known as pinky there seems to be no end to the assemblage of 18th century portraiture and landscapes [Music] a separate gallery houses American artwork where you will find John Singleton Copley as well as works by Mary Cassatt Edward Hopper and Andy Warhol the Estates gardens were developed by Huntington superintendent William Hurt Rick who combined a working ranch and botanical gardens that included rare and exotic plants from the world over one of the most anticipated events of the library is the blooming of the odiferous corpse flower a native from the rainforests of Sumatra the plant gets its name from its foul odor despite the smell people travel from around the world in the hopes of seeing it in bloom which is a rare event occurring once every few years [Music] before we move on to the mausoleum let's step outside and take a short tour of just a few of the huntington spectacular gardens [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] you the Huntington San Marino home was carefully planned and supervised by Henry and Arabella during their lifetimes but they rarely spent more than a month here every year Huntington believed that the 1920s would see the beginning of a new renaissance and he wanted his library and art collection to be at the center of it so in 1919 Henry and Arabella gave their estate with all its treasures as a gift to the public a trust was established to manage the library and to ensure that the collections would continue to grow the vice chairman of the trust was Huntington's close friend and business associate George S Patton senior who was also the father of General Patton in this photo we see the Huntington spending a quiet afternoon with the patents on their back porch young George who was on leave from the Virginia Military Institute can be seen on the left standing between his mother and Arabella George's Patton senior was featured in grave explorations video on San Gabriel Cemetery a link to that video has been added to the description below through the early 1920s the Huntington's made frequent trips from California to New York and Paris even as arabela's health began to fail in 1924 she paid her last visit to the San Marino estate before returning to her home in New York it was there on September 16th of that year she died at the age of 74 arabela's body was sent to California for burial and in remembrance to her marriage to call us P Huntington this Senate after her was erected close to his resting place at Woodlawn Cemetery in New York meanwhile Henry Huntington hired celebrated architect John Russell Pope to build his mausoleum constructed of Colorado Yule marble Pope's design was in the form of a circular peristyle Greek temple capped with a dome he believed that the design was suited to the grounds because it provided the perfect front from every angle Pope would later revisit this concept on a much larger scale when he designed the Jefferson Memorial in Washington DC on the mausoleums inner colonnade are panels representing the four seasons of life and nature they were sculpted by John Gregory who also made the winged figure on the sarcophagus [Music] henry huntington would never see the finished mausoleum he died in philadelphia following surgery on May 23rd 1927 the passing of this great philanthropist was a cause of great sadness throngs of mourners were on hand to greet his body when it arrived in California for interment he was laid to rest beside his beloved Arabella but it wouldn't be for another two years that their mausoleum was finally completed and it is from this peaceful hilltop abode that the library's benefactors keep watch over their ever-growing legacy that continues to educate and lighten and inspire and will do so for generations to come thank you for watching if you liked what you saw give it a thumbs up and if you enjoy these stories and are interested in becoming a sponsor please visit my patreon page by clicking the link in the description even the smallest contribution will go a long way to creating more content and if you haven't already subscribe to my channel now for more grave explorations

Channel: Grave Explorations

Views: 15,342

Rating: 4.9640102 out of 5

Keywords: Thomas Gainsborough, blue boy, famous graves, Pacific Electric Red Car, Railroad history, cemetery

Id: jeHV-9EhxD0

Length: 14min 24sec (864 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 22 2018