FILOLI CENTENNIAL FEELS THE LOVE
Revelers flocked to the lush gardens of Filoli estate in Woodside recently to celebrate its centennial with a fete designed by Filoli board member Robert Fountain featuring a Taste Catering dinner. Among guests was a trio of ladies —
Ana Roth, Kathy Carver and Lolly Menzies — all first cousins, who still recall idyllic days of pony rides and, later, debutante balls, on the gorgeous grounds once owned by their grandparents, William P. Roth and his wife, shipping heiress Lurline Matson Roth.
Mrs. Roth donated the historic mansion in 1975 to the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Long before the TV soap opera “Dynasty” set its 1980sera fights and feuds on its well-groomed grounds, Filoli had reframed itself as a California historical monument and beloved local treasure featuring public tours, festivals, art shows and nature conservation programs.
The manse was originally built by Gold Rush mining baron William Bourn II .He sited his “country place” among 654 acres edging the southern banks of Crystal Springs Reservoir that he once owned to supply the water and electricity needs of then-burgeoning San Francisco.
Filoli’s unique name was derived by combining the first two letters from the first words of Bourn’s personal credo, “Fight for a just cause; Love your fellow man; Live a good life.” Bourn hired storied architect William
Polk to create the Georgian-style, 43room manor that he wanted modeled on “Muckross House,” Bourn’s other country residence that he owned in County Kerry, Ireland.
After Bourn’s death in 1936, the estate was sold to the Roths, who raised their children (Lurline Coonan and her late siblings, twin sister Berenice Spalding and William P. Roth) on the grounds where their mother (a skilled equestrian, philanthropist and self-taught horticulturist) lovingly tended the 16 acres of Filoli’s famed formal gardens.
“Aunt Lurline couldn’t make the centennial,” Ana Roth said of her nonagenarian relative. “She’s busy salmon fishing this summer.”
Ana Roth was also on the move, to the dusty playa of Black Rock Desert for Burning Man prep. But during a rare moment of cell reception, she checked in from the Nevada Museum of Art, where her family (including her husband, David
Shearer, and sister, Maggie Best) awaited the arrival of her brother-in-law, artistsculptor David Best, who arrived in his tricked-out Temple Bus.
Their clan attended the “Wild Wheels” conversation between Harrod
Blank and Philo Northrup about Burning Man’s art car legacy in conjunction with the museum’s current exhibition, “City of Dust: The Evolution of Burning Man.”
Now in its 31st year, Burning Man has also reached a cultural pinnacle: This ballyhooed exhibition travels early next year to the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C.
But standing in the dry desert heat, EssEff native Roth fondly recalled many magical family visits amid Filoli’s luxuriously verdant foliage.
“We moved to D.C. when I was 5 because my dad worked in the Kennedy administration,” she explained. “So waking up in Filoli and looking out on such a classic California landscape was incredibly special.”
Filoli was host to numerous family weddings and events, including debutante balls for her twin aunts and
cousins, many of which were created, designed and overseen by the late Tony
Duquette, a celebrated designer of interiors, jewelry and Hollywood costumes.
But the most enchanting time for Roth at Filoli was Christmas Eve when the kids joined a choir to sing carols that echoed off wood-paneled walls. Connemara ponies awaited riders, and the festooned tree still looms larger-than-life in her memory.
“Christmas at Filoli was magical. I adored my grandfather but he wasn’t well then,” recalls Roth. “So to cheer him up, I’d dance the twist, which always made him laugh.”
Makin’ change: More than $110K of it was recently raised at the San Francisco Design Center where Glide Memorial Church hosted its eighth Legacy Gala for Glide Foundation’s health, wellness,
anti-poverty and meals programs that sustain less fortunate San Francitizens.
The rollicking soiree, featuring DJ KingMost and Glide Ensemble and the Change Band, also honored the work of local community heroes committed to social equity.
Malala Fund co-founder and Now Ventures founding general partner
Shiza Shaid received the Janice Mirikitani Award. Prison activist-and-author
Shaka Senghor was honored with the Rev. Cecil Williams Award. And artist
Greg Kloehn, who builds tiny homes for the formerly homeless, was heralded with the Community Hero Award.
Catherine Bigelow is The San Francisco Chronicle’s society correspondent. Email: missbigelow@sfgate.com Instagram: @missbigelow