The Virginia Robinson Gardens are the period landscape, historic mansion, and

botanical garden A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens, an ...

s located at the Virginia Robinson Estate () in Beverly Hills, California,

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

History

The Virginia Robinson Gardens is the earliest estate in Beverly Hills, California. It was the private residence of Virginia Dryden Robinson (1877–1977) and Harry Winchester Robinson (1878–1932), heir to J. W. Robinson's Dept. Store. The main house was designed in 1911 by architect Nathaniel Dryden (1849–1924), who was Virginia's father, in a Beaux Arts style.Pacific Coast Architecture Database: Dryden, Nathaniel
/ref> The residence is furnished with antiques and artifacts collected from around the world. The

Renaissance Revival Renaissance Revival architecture (sometimes referred to as "Neo-Renaissance") is a group of 19th century architectural revival styles which were neither Greek Revival nor Gothic Revival but which instead drew inspiration from a wide range o ...

pool pavilion was built in 1924 and is modeled after the

Villa Pisani Villa Pisani at Stra refers to the monumental, late-Baroque rural palace located along the Brenta Canal ( Riviera del Brenta) at Via Doge Pisani 7 near the town of Stra, on the mainland of the Veneto, northern Italy. This villa is one of the lar ...

in the

Veneto it, Veneto (man) it, Veneta (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = ...

region of Italy The regions of Italy ( it, regioni d'Italia) are the first-level administrative divisions of the Italian Republic, constituting its second NUTS administrative level. There are twenty regions, five of which have higher autonomy than the rest. U ...

. Decorative panels of

sgraffito ''Sgraffito'' (; plural: ''sgraffiti'') is a technique either of wall decor, produced by applying layers of plaster tinted in contrasting colours to a moistened surface, or in pottery, by applying to an unfired ceramic body two successive laye ...

ornamentation adorn the Roman arches at the entry to the pavilion's solarium. The

pavilion In architecture, ''pavilion'' has several meanings: * It may be a subsidiary building that is either positioned separately or as an attachment to a main building. Often it is associated with pleasure. In palaces and traditional mansions of Asia ...

overlooks a long pool with mosaic tile

wainscoting Panelling (or paneling in the U.S.) is a millwork wall covering constructed from rigid or semi-rigid components. These are traditionally interlocking wood, but could be plastic or other materials. Panelling was developed in antiquity to make ro ...

Gardens

The Virginia Robinson Gardens range in style and plant type from

Italian Renaissance The Italian Renaissance ( it, Rinascimento ) was a period in Italian history covering the 15th and 16th centuries. The period is known for the initial development of the broader Renaissance culture that spread across Europe and marked the trans ...

Mediterranean to Tropical Oceanea. The estate has five distinctive gardens: * The

Terrace Garden, with views of mature specimen trees and the

Citrus ''Citrus'' is a genus of flowering trees and shrubs in the rue family, Rutaceae. Plants in the genus produce citrus fruits, including important crops such as oranges, lemons, grapefruits, pomelos, and limes. The genus ''Citrus'' is native to ...

Terraces. Planted under large magnolia trees are a variety of

camellia ''Camellia'' (pronounced or ) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Theaceae. They are found in eastern and southern Asia, from the Himalayas east to Japan and Indonesia. There are more than 220 described species, with some controv ...

s, gardenias, and azaleas. * The Formal Mall Garden, with perennial flower borders and rare specimen

cycad Cycads are seed plants that typically have a stout and woody (ligneous) trunk with a crown of large, hard, stiff, evergreen and (usually) pinnate leaves. The species are dioecious, that is, individual plants of a species are either male o ...

'palms'. * The Rose Garden, with heirloom

rose A rose is either a woody perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred species and tens of thousands of cultivars. They form a group of plants that can be ...

s. * The

Kitchen Garden The traditional kitchen garden, vegetable garden, also known as a potager (from the French ) or in Scotland a kailyaird, is a space separate from the rest of the residential garden – the ornamental plants and lawn areas. It is used for grow ...

or Potager, with

vegetable Vegetables are parts of plants that are consumed by humans or other animals as food. The original meaning is still commonly used and is applied to plants collectively to refer to all edible plant matter, including the flowers, fruits, stems, ...

s and an

herb garden The traditional kitchen garden, vegetable garden, also known as a potager (from the French ) or in Scotland a kailyaird, is a space separate from the rest of the residential garden – the ornamental plants and lawn areas. It is used for grow ...

. * The Tropical

Palm Palm most commonly refers to: * Palm of the hand, the central region of the front of the hand * Palm plants, of family Arecaceae **List of Arecaceae genera * Several other plants known as "palm" Palm or Palms may also refer to: Music * Palm (ba ...

Garden, including a grove of king palms ( Archontophoenix cunninghamiana), reportedly the largest in the continental

. The tropical area also contains gingers, bananas, and

plumeria ''Plumeria'' (), known as frangipani, is a genus of flowering plants in the subfamily Rauvolfioideae, of the family Apocynaceae. Most species are deciduous shrubs or small trees. The species variously are endemic to Mexico, Central America, and ...

Access

The Robinson Gardens are managed by the

County of Los Angeles Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles, and sometimes abbreviated as L.A. County, is the most populous county in the United States and in the U.S. state of California, with 9,861,224 residents estimated as of 2022. It is th ...

and open to the public for docent tours by advanced reservation only. The Friends of Virginia Robinson Gardens support this landmark. It was listed in 1978 on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

. It is also a state listed

California Point of Historical Interest California Points of Historical Interest are sites, buildings, features, or events that are of local (city or county) significance and have anthropological, cultural, military, political, architectural, economic, scientific or technical, religious, ...

, and on the City of Beverly Hills Local Register of Historic Properties.Supervisor Yaroslavsky blog: "Beverly Hills cultivates some history." February 2013
accessed 2.9.2013

References

External links

''Virginia Robinson Gardens''
– County of Los Angeles Department of Parks and Recreation
Friends of Virginia Robinson Gardens
– tours + information {{DEFAULTSORT:Virginia Robinson Gardens Gardens in California Botanical gardens in California Museums in Los Angeles County, California Architecture museums in the United States Historic house museums in California Open-air museums in California Houses in Beverly Hills, California Parks in Los Angeles County, California Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in California Buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Los Angeles County, California Houses completed in 1911 1911 establishments in California 1910s architecture in the United States History of Los Angeles County, California Landscape design history of the United States Sumner Hunt buildings Beaux-Arts architecture in California Renaissance Revival architecture in California

History

Gardens

Access

See also

References

External links