Phillips Mansion facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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Phillips Mansion
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Phillips Mansion, August 2008
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 Location in the Los Angeles metropolitan area
Location in California
Location in the United States
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| Location | 2640 W. Pomona Blvd., Pomona, California |
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| Built | 1875 |
| Architectural style | Second Empire |
| NRHP reference No. | 74000525 |
| Added to NRHP | November 6, 1974 |
The Phillips Mansion is a historic house in Pomona, Los Angeles County, California. It was built in 1875 by Louis Phillips. By the 1890s, he had become the richest person in Los Angeles County. The mansion is built in the Second Empire style, which was popular in the late 1800s.
The Phillips Mansion was located along the old Butterfield Stage route. This made it a busy center for the communities of Pomona and Spadra. In 1974, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places. This means it is a very important historical site.
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Meet Louis Phillips
The Phillips Mansion was built in 1875 by Louis Phillips (around 1830-1900). Louis was born in Prussia (a country that used to be in Europe). He moved to California in the early 1850s and changed his name to Phillips.
In 1862, he moved to Spadra, which is now part of Pomona. He started raising sheep and cattle. In 1864, he bought 12,000 acres (about 48.5 square kilometers) of land from the old Rancho San Jose for $30,000.
In 1867, Louis married Esther Blake. They had three sons and two daughters. Louis also bought a lot of land in other parts of Los Angeles County. This included buildings in the Los Angeles business area. By 1892, a newspaper called the Los Angeles Times said that Louis Phillips was "the richest man in Los Angeles County." They reported he was worth at least $3,000,000. Besides his land, his ranch produced wool, honey, and wheat.
The Mansion's Design
The Phillips Mansion was built in 1875. It cost over $20,000, which was a lot of money back then! People have described its style as "Second Empire" or like a "Classic Haunted Mansion."
The house has very tall 16-foot (about 4.9 meters) ceilings and six fireplaces. The bricks used to build it were made right there on the property. Some people say the house looks like it was moved from a street in a French city. Others think it looks like a grand house a rich banker would build in a small American town.
The inside of the mansion is decorated with beautiful cherry and maple wood. This wood was brought all the way from San Pedro by horse and wagon.
The Phillips Mansion was special for the Pomona Valley in many ways:
- It was the first home built with fired bricks.
- It was the first home to have gas lighting.
- It was the first example of a mansard roof in the area.
Besides two very old adobe buildings from the Mexican era, the Phillips Mansion is the oldest house still standing in the Pomona Valley. It has even been called "one of the ten most stately mansions in Southern California."
Mansion History
Rancho San Jose Land
The land where the Phillips Mansion stands was once part of a huge 22,000-acre (about 89 square kilometers) area called Rancho San Jose. This land was given as a grant in 1837. Before the mansion was built, there was an adobe house on the property in the 1860s. Even then, the group of buildings near San Jose Creek was seen as the center of life on the ranch.
Louis Phillips' Time
In 1864, Louis Phillips bought 12,000 acres (about 48.5 square kilometers) of the ranch for $30,000. In 1874, the Southern Pacific Railroad finished a train line to Spadra. This made people interested in buying land in the area.
In 1875, Phillips built his mansion. He also sold most of his 12,000 acres to be divided into smaller plots. This is how the town of Pomona started. Phillips and other land promoters helped plan the town of Pomona in 1875. The new town was named after the goddess of fruit trees. However, Phillips liked Spadra more than Pomona. He kept 2,241 acres (about 9 square kilometers) around his mansion. He used this land as a cattle and sheep ranch.
The mansion was an important stop for stagecoaches. It was where the Butterfield Stage Route met the San Bernardino-Los Angeles Stage Road. Phillips also became the postmaster for the Spadra area. This meant the mansion became both the post office and a place for social gatherings for the people living in the Pomona Valley in the late 1800s.
New Owners Over Time
Louis Phillips passed away at the mansion in 1900. His wife, Esther, lived there until 1916. The mansion stayed in the Phillips family until 1931. Then, their grandson, Cecil George, sold it to Paul T. Boyle. At that time, the property included the house and 40 acres (about 16 hectares) of land.
In 1942, the house was sold to C.H. Brandmyer. The property then had the house and 21 acres (about 8.5 hectares) of citrus trees. The Los Angeles Times reported that the home had never been changed or updated.
During World War II, the house was turned into an apartment building. It was divided into four apartments, and the dark wood inside was painted over. By 1959, Earl Isbil owned the property.
Saved by the Historical Society
By the 1960s, factories and businesses started to grow around the Phillips Mansion. In 1966, the mansion was badly damaged by vandals. There were plans to sell the land to build a paint factory.
The Historical Society of Pomona Valley, led by Fred W. Sharp, started a campaign to save the old mansion. They bought the mansion and restored it. They wanted it to be a museum about the "Yankee period" (American settlement). This museum would go well with the Ygnacio Palomares Adobe, which was a museum about the Mexican period.
The restored mansion opened for public tours in 1978. Later, the ownership of the mansion was given to the City of Pomona. Now, the city and the Historical Society work together to run the mansion.
In 1973, the house was used as a filming location for the movie Lemora: A Child's Tale of the Supernatural.
In 1981, a time capsule was buried at the entrance to a new community called "Phillips Ranch." This community has 3,000 new homes and was built on the land that used to be Louis Phillips' ranch. The time capsule holds bricks and nails from the Phillips Mansion.
The Phillips Mansion was damaged by earthquakes in 1990 and 1991. The chimney fell, and cracks appeared throughout the house. The house reopened for tours in October 1991, but visitors had to wear hard hats for safety.
From 2002 to 2008, the Historical Society and the City of Pomona worked hard to fix up the house. It was closed during this time. In July 2008, the mansion was damaged again by the Chino Hills earthquake. This caused more cracks and delayed its reopening. However, the Mansion is now open for events and tours!
See also
