Filoli Photo Journal

By Liza Karimova

The tour begins! Here we see the front facade of the 1920’s house. It was based on the Muckross house in Ireland, as an attempt by the owner to make their daughter and Irish husband live in America. Only the front 2 columns were made out of marble to cut costs, and all materials are locally sourced. The walls are 4ft thick and hollow in the middle. Fi-lo-li is short for Fight, Love, Live, words that the original owners lived by.

Many of the rooms in the house, just like this one, are replicas of famous libraries and chambers from all around Europe.

The house is known for it’s numerous charcoal portraits by John Singer Sargent.                                             To avoid disturbing the line of sight, the light switches are hidden in the columns!

There are 16 acres of gardens!

Thousands of tulips are planted every year. Right now they are in full bloom.

The garden remains mostly unchanged from what it was in the 1920’s. Except for the addition of an olive tree grove, and some fruit and vegetable species.

Irish yew trees are strategically scattered around the garden to anchor the view.                                                                                          Hairy tulips!

Percy, the only inhabitant of the gardens!

To learn more about Filoli and how to plan your own visit, head on over to their website!