The Montalvo Arts Center is a non-profit center for the arts in Saratoga, California, United States. Open to the public, Montalvo comprises a cultural and arts center, a park, hiking trails and the historic Villa Montalvo, an Italian Mediterranean Revival mansion nestled in the foothills of the

Santa Cruz Mountains The Santa Cruz Mountains, part of the Pacific Coast Ranges, are a mountain range in central and Northern California, United States. They form a ridge down the San Francisco Peninsula, south of San Francisco. They separate the Pacific Ocean from ...

. The mansion and estate were constructed from 1912 to 1914 by California statesman and businessman

James Duval Phelan James Duval Phelan (April 20, 1861 – August 7, 1930) was an American politician, civic leader, and banker. He served as nonpartisan Mayor of San Francisco from 1897 to 1902. As mayor he advocated municipally run utilities and tried to protect ...

. After Phelan's death, the entire estate was donated to California as a park and then a cultural and arts center as it exists today. The arts center maintains the estate in partnership with

Santa Clara County Santa Clara County, officially the County of Santa Clara, is the sixth-most populous county in the U.S. state of California, with a population of 1,936,259, as of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. Santa Clara County and neighboring Sa ...

. The mansion is a historic landmark, and in 1978 it was awarded inclusion in the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

Mansion and grounds

The grounds of the villa now encompass , more than the original purchased by Phelan. The estate boasts several large structures as well as gardens and untouched natural areas. Montalvo includes two theaters, an art gallery, the historic Villa Montalvo, an artist residency complex, hiking trails and gardens. The mansion itself boasts 19 rooms and two stories. The first floor of the mansion used to host art exhibits, but is now open only for the many weddings and other occasions that are held there. The grounds include several gardens embellished with marble sculptures and garden structures. The Front Lawn is sometimes used as a theater for some of Montalvo's dramatic presentations, and the woods behind are open to the public. Since its bequest to the people of California, hiking trails through the surrounding

Redwood Sequoioideae, popularly known as redwoods, is a subfamily of coniferous trees within the family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affini ...

-speckled hills have been added.

History

In 1911,

James D. Phelan James Duval Phelan (April 20, 1861 – August 7, 1930) was an American politician, civic leader, and banker. He served as nonpartisan Mayor of San Francisco from 1897 to 1902. As mayor he advocated municipally run utilities and tried to protect ...

, a three-term mayor of San Francisco who would go on to be California's first popularly elected

US Senator The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and powe ...

, purchased in the Saratoga countryside and foothills. Phelan began construction of the mansion in 1912. The initial supervising architect was William Curlett. When he died in 1914, his son, Alex Curlett, took over supervision along with partner

Charles E. Gottschalk Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was "f ...

. The construction of the building was completed that same year. During his lifetime, Phelan hosted many celebrities and notables of the era as guests at Montalvo.

Jack London John Griffith Chaney (January 12, 1876 – November 22, 1916), better known as Jack London, was an American novelist, journalist and activist. A pioneer of commercial fiction and American magazines, he was one of the first American authors to ...

Ethel Barrymore Ethel Barrymore (born Ethel Mae Blythe; August 15, 1879 – June 18, 1959) was an American actress and a member of the Barrymore family of actors. Barrymore was a stage, screen and radio actress whose career spanned six decades, and was regarde ...

Mary Pickford Gladys Marie Smith (April 8, 1892 – May 29, 1979), known professionally as Mary Pickford, was a Canadian-American stage and screen actress and producer with a career that spanned five decades. A pioneer in the US film industry, she co-founde ...

, Douglas Fairbanks, and

Edwin Markham Edwin Markham (born Charles Edward Anson Markham; April 23, 1852 – March 7, 1940) was an American poet. From 1923 to 1931 he was Poet Laureate of Oregon. Life Edwin Markham was born in Oregon City, Oregon, and was the youngest of 10 children; ...

were among Phelan's many guests. Though not his only home, Villa Montalvo was one of Phelan's favorites and is where he died. Some photographs, correspondence, and other mementos of his life are displayed in cases in the mansion's library and can be viewed if one happens to be attending an event for which the mansion is open. Upon his death, Phelan bequeathed Montalvo thus: The San Francisco Art Association (SFAA) assumed trusteeship of the estate in 1930. Within a year the association announced the intention to launch an artist residency program, the third program of its kind in the United States. The program began in 1939 with ten artists in residence. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, a shift in priorities for the SFAA left many people concerned about the future of Villa Montalvo. These citizens together formed the

Montalvo Association Montalvo may refer to: Places California * Montalvo Arts Center (Villa Montalvo), a non-profit center in Saratoga, California, United States * West Montalvo Oil Field, near Oxnard, California, US Ventura * Montalvo, Ventura, California, a former ...

. Trusteeship was transferred to the organization in October 1953 where it remains today. On April 11, 1971,

serial killer A serial killer is typically a person who murders three or more persons,A * * * * with the murders taking place over more than a month and including a significant period of time between them. While most authorities set a threshold of three ...

Karl F. Warner Karl Francis Werner (May 12, 1952 – May 5, 2015) was an American serial killer who was active in Santa Clara County in Northern California. He was convicted of the murder of three teenage girls during his period of activity from 1969 to 1971. ...

murdered his third and final victim, Kathy Bilek, 18, on the grounds of Villa Montalvo. It was the investigation into the Bilek slaying which led to his arrest and conviction for his string of three slayings of teenage girls throughout the southern Santa Clara Valley.

Montalvo Association

Today, the Montalvo Arts Center is a private non-profit cultural center maintained by the Montalvo Association through a partnership with

. The park and arts center are open to the public. Funding support is provided by the Friends of Montalvo memberships, as well as foundation grants, other private donations, and earned income via ticket sales and rental fees. More than 600 volunteers donate thousands of hours annually to support the arts programs and maintenance of the villa and grounds. Since 1939, the estate has hosted "artists-in-residence" who live and work on the property. Artists range from musicians, painters, actors, writers and architects. While in residence, the participants produce works and give performances. Since Montalvo started its artists-in-residence program, more than 600 artists from 20 countries have participated, including

Karla Diaz Karla Diaz is an American artist who collects recipes from prison inmates and recreates them in performance using only ingredients and utensils available to those incarcerated. Her multi-media participatory performance piece ''Prison Gourmet'' com ...

. In 2003 the residency program's board found Gordon Knox, who had initiated and run a remarkable arts residency for 11 years, the

Civitella Ranieri Foundation The Civitella Ranieri Foundation is an American artists’ community located at a 15th-century castle in the Umbria region of Italy. The Foundation provides four sessions of six-week long unstructured residencies every year to visual artists, ...

at a castle in Umbria, Italy. Knox envisioned and established a new international iteration of the Montalvo artist residency program designed for a new purpose-built residency campus. In the fall of 2004, Montalvo opened the Sally and Don Lucas Artists Programs, which offer facilities and staff that are supportive of the creative process as well as state-of-the-art technology. A small gallery, called the Project Space Gallery, as well as the box office, are located in the building between the mansion and the Carriage House Theatre. Montalvo and its arts programs serve nearly 200,000 visitors each year.

Arboretum

Still called "Villa Montalvo" by local area residents, the Montalvo Arts Center hosts a

arboretum An arboretum (plural: arboreta) in a general sense is a botanical collection composed exclusively of trees of a variety of species. Originally mostly created as a section in a larger garden or park for specimens of mostly non-local species, man ...

and

botanical garden A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens, an ...

, located behind the center. It is free and open to the public during daylight hours and run as part of a non-profit organization for art, artists, and the local community. The arboretum is adjacent to the villa and is an Audubon Society bird sanctuary. There are dirt paths leading out of a redwood canyon to Lookout Point at altitude . A number of forest types are represented, including

chaparral Chaparral ( ) is a shrubland plant community and geographical feature found primarily in the U.S. state of California, in southern Oregon, and in the northern portion of the Baja California Peninsula in Mexico. It is shaped by a Mediterranean c ...

evergreen In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has foliage that remains green and functional through more than one growing season. This also pertains to plants that retain their foliage only in warm climates, and contrasts with deciduous plants, which ...

, and

redwood Sequoioideae, popularly known as redwoods, is a subfamily of coniferous trees within the family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affini ...

. Trees native to the Santa Cruz Mountains include

bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a Gulf (geography), gulf, sea, sound (geography), sound, or bight (geogra ...

, California nutmeg,

Douglas fir The Douglas fir (''Pseudotsuga menziesii'') is an evergreen conifer species in the pine family, Pinaceae. It is native to western North America and is also known as Douglas-fir, Douglas spruce, Oregon pine, and Columbian pine. There are three va ...

, big-leaf

maple ''Acer'' () is a genus of trees and shrubs commonly known as maples. The genus is placed in the family Sapindaceae.Stevens, P. F. (2001 onwards). Angiosperm Phylogeny Website. Version 9, June 2008 nd more or less continuously updated since http ...

, tanoak, and coast live oak. Other plants common in the area are broom, mountain mahogany, chamise,

coyote brush ''Baccharis pilularis'', called coyote brush (or bush), chaparral broom, and bush baccharis, is a shrub in the family Asteraceae native to California, Oregon, Washington, and Baja California. There are reports of isolated populations in New Mexi ...

(''Baccharis pilularis''), madrone, manzanita,

monkey flower Erythranthe, Monkey flower can refer to: *Several genera of plant family Phrymaceae, including: ** ''Diplacus'' ** ''Erythranthe'' ** ''Mimulus'' *Various snapdragon-like Lamiales, including: ** ''Linaria vulgaris'' ** ''Phyllocarpus septentrionali ...

, pitcher sage,

poison oak Poison oak refers to two plant species in the genus ''Toxicodendron,'' both of which can cause skin irritation: *''Toxicodendron diversilobum'' or Western poison oak, found in western North America *''Toxicodendron pubescens ''Toxicodendron pub ...

, and toyon.

Name

Phelan named Villa Montalvo in honor of the popular 16th-century Spanish writer Garci Ordonez de Montalvo. Montalvo coined the name "California" in one of his fables. In it he described an

island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

rich with gold and

jewels A gemstone (also called a fine gem, jewel, precious stone, or semiprecious stone) is a piece of mineral crystal which, in cut and polished form, is used to make jewelry or other adornments. However, certain rocks (such as lapis lazuli, opal, a ...

, peopled by

Amazons In Greek mythology, the Amazons (Ancient Greek: Ἀμαζόνες ''Amazónes'', singular Ἀμαζών ''Amazōn'', via Latin ''Amāzon, -ŏnis'') are portrayed in a number of ancient epic poems and legends, such as the Labours of Hercules, ...

ruled by a queen named Calafia. The Amazons in the fable employed

griffin The griffin, griffon, or gryphon (Ancient Greek: , ''gryps''; Classical Latin: ''grȳps'' or ''grȳpus''; Late Latin, Late and Medieval Latin: ''gryphes'', ''grypho'' etc.; Old French: ''griffon'') is a legendary creature with the body, tail ...

s in battle. Images of griffins can be found throughout the arts center grounds, "standing guard".

References

External links

Villa Montalvo official web site

* {{Authority control Houses completed in 1914 Arts centers in California Historic house museums in California History of Santa Clara County, California Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in California Houses in Santa Clara County, California Museums in Santa Clara County, California National Register of Historic Places in Santa Clara County, California Saratoga, California Italianate architecture in California Villas in the United States Art in the San Francisco Bay Area