by Svara Jayasinghe
On the weekend of the 24th-25th of August, my family and I drove to Pasadena for the weekend. On Saturday (24th), we decided to do a little sight-seeing at the Huntington Library. The Huntington Library, is a museum that consists of many different buildings including gift shops, art exhibits, rose gardens, etc. Its official name is The Huntington, Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens. Most of the land the library is situated on used to be the home of Henry and Arabella Huntington. The European Art Gallery, part of the Huntington Library, used to be the mansion that Henry and Arabella lived in.
Henry E. Huntington was born February 27th, 1850. Henry was an American railroad baron, who owned the Pacific Electric Railway. He also enjoyed collecting art and rare books. He and his second wife, Arabella, developed most of Los Angeles. Before Henry and Arabella died, they both signed papers to turn over their property to the city, to become a public museum. They left specific instructions in their wills so that the property would be preserved and maintained the way they envisioned. Henry died on May 23 1927, and Arabella died on September 16th, 1924. Their estate was then turned into what is now, The Huntington Library.
by Kiran Jayasinghe
We made our first stop at the Huntington library. The library includes a giant collection of books that were all bought and kept by Henry Huntington. The library also houses several exhibits, such as one of the first printed Gutenberg Bibles. We also took a look at the contract Henry and Arabella Huntington signed to make the library into a public attraction.
Then we walked to the Huntington Art Gallery, which was originally the Huntington family mansion. Huntington’s full collection of art includes 36,000 different pieces, including artistic objects, photographs, and paintings. The mansion had been converted to house over 1,200 pieces of European paintings, including the original The Blue Boy painting that is currently being restored. While displaying several paintings, the house was also kept in its original layout. We got to see the Huntington’s dining room and reading room in the same way the Huntington’s used it!
by Simran Jayasinghe
After viewing all the artwork, we walked to the Rose Gardens, as we had made a reservation earlier that day, at the Rose Garden Tea Room. The Huntingtons had planted a large collection of different types of roses, and some other flowers on the grounds of their estate, with walkways, fountains, and benches here and there making it a great place to stop and take a photo or two! The rose gardens seem to wrap around the small shop that is the Rose Garden Tea Room. We spent our tea time in the little tea room, relaxing and spending time together. We all drank multiple cups of tea, and had sweet and savory scones, cucumber, salmon, and egg sandwiches, and delicious desserts! After we had finished, we strolled back through the gardens, our dad stopping to take pictures of random flowers every now and then, back to the entrance to the grounds before they locked us in! We spent some time browsing around the gift shop located at the main entrance, before we walked off to our car, having spent a relaxing and fun evening together at The Huntington Library!
To visit The Huntington’s Website, click here.