Villa Philmonte facts for kids
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Villa Philmonte Historic District
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The façade of the Villa Philmonte
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 Location in New Mexico
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| Nearest city | Cimarron, New Mexico |
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| Area | 2 acres (0.81 ha) |
| Built | 1926 |
| Architect | Edward Buehler Delk |
| Architectural style | Mission / Spanish Revival |
| NRHP reference No. | 95001018 |
Quick facts for kids Significant dates |
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| Added to NRHP | August 18, 1995 |
The Villa Philmonte is a big ranch house near Cimarron, New Mexico. It's part of the Philmont Scout Ranch, which belongs to the Boy Scouts of America. This special house was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1995. This means it's an important historical place! The area listed, called the Villa Philmonte Historic District, includes the main house, a guesthouse, two courtyards, a pool, a pergola (a garden structure), and a pond.
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History of Villa Philmonte
Who Built the Villa?
The Villa Philmonte was built in 1926 by a very rich oil businessman named Waite Phillips. He used it to manage his huge cattle ranch in northeast New Mexico. His ranch was about 300,000 acres, which is a lot of land!
The house was built in a style called Mediterranean Revival. Over the years, layers of plaster were added, making it look like an adobe house. Phillips named the house by combining the first part of his name, "Phil," with "monte," which is the Spanish word for "mountain."
Phillips' Other Retreats
Besides the Villa, Waite Phillips built other special places on his ranch. These included Fish Camp, located on the Agua Fria Creek. He also built a Hunting Lodge near Cimarroncito. Today, these areas are part of the Philmont Scout Ranch camps.
Gift to the Boy Scouts
In 1941, Phillips gave the Villa Philmonte to the Boy Scouts of America. He also donated 91,538 acres of land and the Philtower office building in Tulsa, Oklahoma. This gift added to an earlier donation from 1938. That first gift of 35,857 acres had created the Philturn Rocky Mountain Scout camp.
The Boy Scouts of America has managed the property ever since. They have opened the Villa to Scouts and other visitors as a museum. You can take tours of the Villa during the summer months.
Inside the Villa
Furnishings and Collections
The Villa Philmonte is filled with beautiful furniture and decorations. Many of Phillips' original items are still there. You can see impressive displays of old antiques and different kinds of weapons.
The house has a large courtyard with a fountain in the middle. There are also big columns and many covered walkways called porticoes. The inside of the Villa has a mix of styles from Europe, America, and the Southwestern United States. The grand piano in the entrance room is very valuable.
Special Window and Display
Waite Phillips had a small window added to the second floor of the house after it was built. He wanted this window so he could look out at a large rock formation on a nearby mountain. That rock was later named Window Rock.
On the stairs between the first and second floors, there is a display window. It shows a scene with saguaro cacti and a wagon pulled by horses. However, wagons on the Santa Fe Trail were actually pulled by oxen, not horses. Also, saguaro cacti do not grow naturally in New Mexico.
See also
