Villa Mira Monte, National Historic Place in Morgan Hill, United States.
Villa Mira Monte is a house built in 1886 in Morgan Hill, California, designed in the Stick-Eastlake architectural style. It was constructed for Hiram Morgan Hill, the town's founder, and his wife Diana Helen Murphy Hill, a Californio heiress who inherited the land from her father, Daniel Murphy. The site also holds the Morgan Hill Museum, housed in a farmhouse John Acton built in 1911.
The house was built in 1886 for Hiram Morgan Hill, founder of Morgan Hill, and his wife Diana Helen Murphy Hill, a Californio heiress who inherited the land from her father, Daniel Murphy. The couple separated: Hiram became a cattle rancher in Nevada while Diana lived as a socialite in Washington, D.C. Their daughter Diana married Baron Hardouin Reinhach-Werth in 1911 and died in 1912; Hiram died in 1913, and Diana, later Lady Rhodes, died in Cannes in 1937.
The site also holds the Morgan Hill Museum, housed in a 1911 farmhouse built by John Acton. Its collections cover the Hill family: Diana Helen Murphy Hill, a Californio heiress, and her daughter Diana, who married Baron Hardouin Reinhach-Werth in 1911.
Villa Mira Monte stands in Morgan Hill, and the site also holds the Morgan Hill Museum in a 1911 farmhouse built by John Acton. The house has been on the National Register of Historic Places since May 25, 1978. Check opening arrangements with the Morgan Hill Historical Society before travelling, since access to the interiors is not continuous.
The site also holds the Morgan Hill Museum, housed in a farmhouse John Acton built in 1911, separate from the 1886 Hill house. The property passed through Diana Hill's family: her father Daniel Murphy left her the land, and her Irish-born grandfather had acquired Alta California land grants after arriving penniless via Canada.
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