“Filoli is too beautiful to be private.”—Lurline Roth
In 1975, Lurline Matson Roth gifted her beloved Filoli House and Garden to the National Trust for Historic Preservation. One year later, Filoli, located at 85 Canada Road, Woodside, California, opened to the public. It remains open to this day.
The entrance to the Filoli House. (Courtesy of Karen Gough)
The Bourn and Roth Families
William Bourn (1857–1936) was a leading investor in the Empire gold mine in Grass Valley, the San Francisco Gas and Electric Company, and the Spring Valley Water Company in San Francisco. A brilliant and successful entrepreneur, William envisioned the Filoli estate, naming it after the verbs in his personal motto: “FIght for a just cause; LOve your fellow man; LIve a good life.”…