Filoli, Country estate in Woodside, United States
Filoli is a red-brick Georgian-style country house in Woodside, California, built 1915–1917 to Willis Polk's design, with a hipped tiled roof, four tall chimneys, dormer windows and a white columned portico. Its 16 acres of formal gardens lie southeast of the house, rising up a gentle slope as a series of enclosed rooms framed by brick walls and clipped hedges, with gravel paths, reflecting pools and terracotta pots.
A mining entrepreneur commissioned the estate in the years before World War I and hired a Californian architect to design the main house. Later the property came into the hands of another family who added new sections to the gardens.
The gardens follow a clear structure of paths, terraces and enclosed areas combining Italian symmetry with English planting ideas. Visitors can see how different garden rooms are separated by hedges and walls, each creating its own character.
Access starts at the main entrance where paths lead both to the house and to the gardens. Those planning to walk between the garden rooms should wear comfortable shoes, as paths have different surfaces.
One section of the grounds holds old fruit varieties that local growers donated during a restoration in the late nineties. These trees produce fruit rarely found in ordinary shops.
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