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 is a special place in Menlo Park, California. It has artist studios, shops, a restaurant, and beautiful gardens. It was started in 1928. People use it for different events, both public and private. A group called the Allied Arts Guild Auxiliary runs it. They help raise money for the Lucile Packard Children's Hospital. This money helps children get care they need.
Contents
History of the Allied Arts Guild
How the Guild Began
In 1928, Delight and Garfield D. Merner bought about 3.5 acres of land. They were art lovers from Hillsborough. They wanted to create a place for artists to work. They had seen similar art groups, called craft guilds, in Europe.
The Merners worked with architect Gardner Dailey and artist Pedro Joseph de Lemos. They designed the buildings in a Spanish Colonial Revival style. This style looks like old Spanish buildings. They even used some old farm buildings already on the land.
Goals of the Founders
The Merners had clear goals for the Guild. They wanted to give artists a place to create. They also wanted to encourage making beautiful everyday objects. They supported all kinds of folk art, especially art from early California.
Art and Photography at the Guild
Ansel Adams, a very famous photographer, took the first pictures of the Guild. He photographed the inside and outside of the buildings. Many decorative tiles and art pieces came from Spain, Tunis, and Morocco. The de Lemos family and Maxine Albro created more tiles, mosaics, and wall paintings. Pedro de Lemos designed the Guild's logo. He was also the first president of the Guild from 1930 to 1932.
Helping Children's Hospital
In 1932, the Merners wanted to help the Stanford Home for Convalescent Children. This hospital is now called Lucile Packard Children's Hospital. They invited a group from the hospital to serve lunch at the Guild. The money from these lunches went to help the hospital.
The Merners stopped running the Guild in 1935. They leased it to the hospital's Senior Auxiliary group. Today, the Allied Arts Guild Auxiliary still runs the complex. They continue to support the Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford.
Renovations and Repairs
The Guild buildings were updated in 2004. This big project cost $8.5 million. The renovations made the buildings safer for earthquakes. They also fixed other structural problems. Even the broken roof tiles were replaced by hand. New tiles were made to look exactly like the old ones.
Garfield D. Merner: The Founder
Early Life and Family
Garfield David Merner was a successful businessman and art lover. He also traveled the world and gave money to good causes. He was born on January 31, 1883, in Cedar Falls, Iowa. His parents were David C. Merner and Emma Pfeiffer.
He married Benetta Delight Ward on August 23, 1905. They had two sons and two daughters. They lived in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1910. After his first wife passed away in 1958, he married Ruth Conklin in 1959.
His Home and Philanthropy
In 1924, Garfield Merner built a unique house in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. It was a one-and-a-half-story Tudor Revival style home. It is known as the Garfield D. Merner House or "Hob Nob."
He was also the past president of the Pfeiffer Medical Research Foundation in New York City. Garfield Merner passed away on February 27, 1972, in San Francisco, California. He was 89 years old.
See also
