Summary
The Mortimer Fleishhacker House, also known as Green Gables, the Fleishhacker Estate, or the Mortimer Fleishhacker Country House is an historic estate with an English manor house, built between 1911 and 1935, and located at 329 Albion Avenue in Woodside, California.[2] The house has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since September 26, 1986.[3][4]
| Mortimer Fleishhacker House | |
|---|---|
 Mortimer Fleishhacker House (circa.1933), rear view. | |
| Location | 329 Albion Avenue, Woodside, California |
| Coordinates | 37°25′58″N 122°16′07″W / 37.432792°N 122.268711°W |
| Built for | Mortimer Fleishhacker Sr., Bella Gerstle Fleishhacker |
| Architect | Greene and Greene |
| Governing body | National Trust for Historic Preservation |
| Official name | Green Gables – Fleischhacker, Mortimer, Country House |
| Designated | September 26, 1986 |
| Reference no. | 86002396[1] |
  Mortimer Fleishhacker House Fleishhacker House  Mortimer Fleishhacker House Mortimer Fleishhacker House (California)  Mortimer Fleishhacker House Mortimer Fleishhacker House (the United States) | |
History edit
The Fleishhacker family edit
Mortimer Fleishhacker Sr. (1866–1953) was a lumber, paper, banking and hydroelectric power entrepreneur and he co-founded (with his brother Herbert Fleishhacker) the Great Western Power, which later became part of Pacific Gas and Electric and City Electric Company, American River Electric Company, Truckee River General Electric Company.[5][6][7] He served as a director of the San Francisco Opera, San Francisco Symphony, the Museum of Modern Art, Temple Emanu-El, the Hebrew Orphanage, and others.[8] Fleishhacker had a home at 2418 Pacific Avenue in San Francisco, California.[8]
House edit
In 1911, Fleishhacker Sr. and his wife Bella Gerstle Fleishhacker (1875–1963), commissioned Charles Sumner Greene of the architectural firm Greene and Greene to design a country home for them on a 45-acre property.[2][9] This was the largest of all Greene and Greene designs.[7] The interior of the house was designed by Elsie de Wolfe of New York and the San Francisco design house of Vickery, Atkins and Torrey.[10]
When designing the home, Greene also took in to account the design of the landscaping and the driveway.[11][12] The main house is two stories tall, and was created in an English manor-style with an imitation thatch roof, a gunite exterior, and consisting of ten bedrooms.[7][13]
Landscaping edit
The garden was Italian style and features four levels of terracing and a lily pond, a Roman reflecting pool, and a piano-shaped swimming pool.[7][11] This may have been the first free-form swimming pool designed in California. The property's rolling green lawns were inspired by the Fountains Abbey of Studley Royal Park in 18th-century England, which Greene had visited in 1909.[12] The garden has natural materials used and design elements that complement the landscape such as terraces, walls, arcades, balustrades, and planting urns.[14]
Current edit
Over the years, Fleishhacker family built out the estate, adding new structures and land.[15][16] As of 2019, the estate is 74 acres in size.[15][17][18] The property has been used to host family weddings, corporate retreats, and historic summits - including the 20th birthday of the United Nations in 1965.[19] The estate was used and remained in the Fleishhacker family for five generations.[9] As of 2024, the estate was placed for sale.[19] Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes rented a house on the property from March 2021 until November 2022.[20]
See also edit
References edit
- ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
- ^ a b "Green Gables - Fleishhacker House, Woodside California". Historic Structures. Retrieved 2020-11-05.
- ^ "NPGallery Asset Detail, Green Gables--Fleischhacker, Mortimer, Country House". NPGallery, Digital Asset Management System, National Park Service. Retrieved 2020-11-05.
- ^ "National Register #86002396: Fleishhacker Estate in Woodside, California". noehill.com. Retrieved 2020-11-05.
- ^ "M. Fleishhacker, Manufacturer, 86; Head of Paper Box Firm in San Francisco Dies ---' Was Civic Leader, Philanthropist". The New York Times. July 15, 1953. Retrieved 2020-11-07.
- ^ Zinko, Carolyne (2016-08-03). "Delia Fleishhacker Ehrlich, noted SF philanthropist, dies at 85". SFGATE. Retrieved 2020-11-05.
- ^ a b c d "National Register of Historic Places Inventory—Nomination Form, Green Gables (Country Residence of Mortimer Fleishhacker)". United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service. 1986-09-26. Retrieved 2020-11-04.
- ^ a b Bloomfield, Anne; Bloomfield, Arthur. "Mortimer Fleishhacker Sr. Lived Here - FoundSF". foundsf.org. Retrieved 2020-11-05.
- ^ a b "Design guru Julia Berger gives us a detailed history of her historic family estate". The Nob Hill Gazette. 2018-09-30. Retrieved 2020-11-05.
- ^ Michelson, Alan. "Mortimer Fleishhacker, House, Woodside, CA". Pacific Coast Architecture Database (PCAD), University of Washington. Retrieved 2020-11-05.
- ^ a b "Green Gables". The Gamble House, Architecture As a Fine Art. Retrieved 2020-11-05.
- ^ a b Streatfield, David C. (Spring 2012). "The San Francisco Peninsula's Great Estates, Part II Mansions, Landscapes, and Gardens in the Late 19th and Early 20th Centuries" (PDF). Eden, Journal of the California Garden & Landscape History Society. 15 (2): 11.
- ^ Wood, Barbara (November 19, 2013). "Historic Woodside estate is still a summer home for the Fleishhacker family". Almanac News. Retrieved 2020-11-05.
- ^ Bloomfield, Anne (1988). "The Evolution of a Landscape: Charles Sumner Greene's Designs for Green Gables". Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians. 47 (3): 231–244. doi:10.2307/990299. ISSN 0037-9808.
- ^ a b van Romburgh, Marlize (February 28, 2019). "Photos: This massive old-money estate in Woodside could break the Bay Area's $117M price record". Bizjournals.com. Retrieved 2020-11-05.
- ^ "Silicon Valley estate expected to become most expensive in Bay Area". ABC30 Fresno. KGO-TV. February 26, 2019. Retrieved 2020-11-06.
- ^ Clarke, Katherine (2018-10-18). "The Estate That Wants to Be Silicon Valley's Priciest Home". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2020-11-05.
- ^ Hansen, Louis (2019-02-25). "Century-old Bay Area family estate could fetch record price". The Mercury News. Retrieved 2020-11-05.
- ^ a b "Green Gables - The Estate". The New York Times.
In 1965, the United Nations selected Green Gables as the site for its 20th anniversary commemoration gala.
- ^ Khorram, Yasmin (7 September 2021). "Elizabeth Holmes is living on the grounds of a $135 million Silicon Valley estate during her trial". CNBC. Retrieved 15 September 2021.
External links edit
- Mortimer Fleishhacker House photographs from Columbia University Libraries
- An Interview with Delia Ehrlich (granddaughter of Mortimer) from 640 Heritage Preservation Foundation
