Allied Arts Guild facts for kids
| Nickname | Allied Arts |
|---|---|
| Formation | 1928 |
| Founder | Garfield D. Merner |
| Founded at | Menlo Park, California |
| Purpose | Art studios, shops, restaurant, gardens |
| Location |
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The Allied Arts Guild started in 1928. It is a special place in Menlo Park, California. Here you can find art studios, shops, a restaurant, and beautiful gardens. People use it for both public and private events.
The Allied Arts Guild Auxiliary runs this place. They raise money for the Lucile Packard Children's Hospital. This money helps pay for medical care and special projects for children.
A Look Back: The Guild's History
In 1928, Delight and Garfield D. Merner bought some land. They were art lovers from Hillsborough. They wanted to create a center for making crafts. They got the idea from craft guilds they saw in Europe.
They worked with architect Gardner Dailey and artist Pedro Joseph de Lemos. Together, they designed the buildings in a Spanish Colonial Revival style. They even reused some old farm buildings. The Merners hoped to:
- Give artists a place to work.
- Encourage the creation of beautiful everyday objects.
- Support folk art, especially from early California.
The famous photographer Ansel Adams took the first pictures of the Guild. He photographed the buildings inside and out.
Some of the decorative tiles and art came from Spain, Tunis, and Morocco. The de Lemos family and Maxine Albro created more tiles, mosaics, and frescoes. Pedro de Lemos also designed the Guild's logo. He was the first president of the Guild from 1930 to 1932.
In 1932, the Merners wanted to help the Stanford Home for Convalescent Children. This is now the Lucile Packard Children's Hospital. They invited a group called the Palo Alto Auxiliary to serve lunch at the Guild. The money from the lunches went to the Home.
The Merners stopped running the Guild in 1935. They leased it to the Home's Senior Auxiliary. Today, the Allied Arts Guild Auxiliary still runs the complex. They continue to support the Lucile Packard Children's Hospital. The Guild buildings were updated in 2004. This made them safer for earthquakes and fixed other problems. Even the roof tiles were made by hand to match the old ones!
Who Was Garfield D. Merner?
Garfield David Merner was a very interesting person. He was a businessman, an art supporter, and he traveled the world. He also gave a lot of money to good causes.
He was born on January 31, 1883, in Cedar Falls, Iowa. His parents were David C. Merner and Emma Pfeiffer. On August 23, 1905, he married Benetta Delight Ward in Allison, Iowa. They had two sons and two daughters.
In 1924, he built a house in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. It was a Tudor Revival style house. People called it the Garfield D. Merner House, or "Hob Nob."
After his first wife died in 1958, he married Ruth Conklin in 1959. Garfield Merner was also the past president of the Pfeiffer Medical Research Foundation in New York City.
He passed away on February 27, 1972, in San Francisco, California. He was 89 years old.
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