Alice Parsons Millard (May 4, 1873 – July 15, 1938) was an American bookseller and promoter of culture in the
Arroyo Seco region of
Los Angeles County
Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles and sometimes abbreviated as LA County, is the most populous county in the United States, with 9,663,345 residents estimated in 2023. Its population is greater than that of 40 individua ...
. She is widely known for commissioning
Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright Sr. (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator. He designed List of Frank Lloyd Wright works, more than 1,000 structures over a creative period of 70 years. Wright played a key ...
to build her house (
La Miniatura) in
Pasadena
Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial d ...
.
Millard was born in
Jefferson City, Missouri
Jefferson City, informally Jeff City, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital of the U.S. state of Missouri. It had a population of 43,228 at the 2020 United States census, ranking as the List of cities in Missouri, 16th most popu ...
. She had one sister, Emily.
Chicago
After a few years, Millard's family moved to
Chicago
Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
. In 1896 she and her sister were educated in Europe; Alice studied art in
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
. On a visit home to Chicago, she wandered into the Chicago book store operated by
A.C. McClurg and asked for a book on
William Morris
William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was an English textile designer, poet, artist, writer, and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts movement. He was a major contributor to the revival of traditiona ...
. George M. Millard, who worked in the Rare Book Department, "was pleased to help the attractive young woman who had interests similar to his own," according to
Ward Ritchie
Harry "Ward" Ritchie (Los Angeles, California June 15, 1905Laguna Beach, California January 24, 1996) was an American printer, book designer, book collector and writer of around 100 books. He was part of the "Golden Age" of fine printing that took ...
.
A romance ensued and in 1901, Parsons accompanied Millard on a book-buying trip to England. Parsons was 28 when she married Millard (age 55) in St. Bridge's in London. The couple had one child, a daughter born in 1904 whose disabilities meant an institutionalized life.
In 1906, their friend Frank Lloyd Wright designed a house for them in the Prairie School style (now called the
George Madison Millard House) located in the
Highland Park suburb of Chicago.
Pasadena
George and Alice Millard moved to Pasadena after George's retirement in 1913. The couple converted a bungalow on Huntington Drive in
South Pasadena into a book salon. When George died in 1918,
[https://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/c8mk6k08/] Alice carried on with their book-buying business, along with antique furniture. She commissioned Frank Lloyd Wright. According to Ritchie, "Wright was not interested in doing a traditional house on the traditional flat lot in a respective neighborhood which Alice had already purchased. He searched the area and found a tree-covered ravine leading into the Arroyo which he persuaded Alice to buy. He snugly fit the house therein."
Alice Millard was “one of the most important American booksellers of the 20th century, advising, teaching, and influencing such affluent disciples as William Andrews Clark, Templeton Crocker, Caroline Boeing Poole, and Estelle Doheny."
[Michele V. Cloonan. "Alice Millard and the Gospel of Beauty and Taste". In ]
She died in 1938. Much of the Millards’ collection of books was given to the
Huntington Library
The Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens, known as The Huntington, is a collections-based educational and research institution established by Henry E. Huntington and Arabella Huntington in San Marino, California, United State ...
.
See also
*
Artists of the Arroyo Seco (Los Angeles)
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Millard, Alice
1873 births
1938 deaths
American booksellers