Huntington Library LA California - library, art collections, and botanical gardens

Huntington Library Art Collections and
Botanical Gardens Los Angeles California

Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens was founded in 1919 and opened to the public in 1928. It is a private, nonprofit institution. The Huntington Library is a research and educational center set among 120 acres of gardens. The Huntington houses three art galleries and a library showcasing magnificent collections of sculptures, paintings, manuscripts, rare books, and decorative arts.

The Huntington Library is one of the largest and most complete research libraries in the United States in its specialized field of British and American history. The Library has on display for the general public some of the finest rare books and manuscripts of Anglo-American civilization. There are about six million items and displays. The Huntington has a literary research center as well as research centers for the study of American and British history, a research center for women's studies, the study of Science and Technology, and the Huntington Fund for the Heritage of Civil Engineering.

There are manuscript collections of Jack London, Christopher Isherwood, Joseph Rickard and The First Negro Classic Ballet, as well as the Los Angeles area court records of 1850-1894. Highlights of the Library's collection include a Gutenberg Bible, the Ellesmere manuscript of Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, the double-elephant folio edition of Audubon’s Birds of America, and a world-class collection of the early editions of Shakespeare’s works. As well, The Huntington is among the nation’s centers for the study of the American West. It was a treat to be able to see the first stages of writings from famous authors with their proof marks on the pages. There is a collection of materials that span the full range of American western settlement, including the overland pioneer experience, the Gold Rush, and the development of Southern California. Click any picture to see a bigger version.

The Huntington Gallery contains a comprehensive collection of British and French art from the eighteenth and nineteenth century. The art collections are housed in three separate galleries distinguished by their specialized character and elegant settings. The art collections of the galleries are absolutely awesome. We could not believe how the rooms kept winding around exposing more wonderful works. Art collection highlights are Thomas Gainsborough's The Blue Boy, Sir Thomas Lawrence's Pinkie, Edward Hopper's The Long Leg, and Rogier van der Weyden's Madonna and Child.

The botanical collection features over 14,000 different species of plants and are divided into more than a dozen thematic areas including the Rose Garden, Shakespeare and Herb Gardens, Desert Garden, Japanese Garden, Australian Garden, Subtropical and Jungle Garden, Palm Garden, North Vista, Camellia Collection, Children's Garden and Conservatory.

The Botanical Education Center features a children’s garden, a teaching greenhouse, and the Rose Hills Foundation Conservatory for Botanical Science. Seated in the heart of the botanical gardens are the Café and Rose Garden Tea Room. The Tea Room offers a traditional English tea. In the Café you can order hot sandwiches, salads, snacks, and drinks.

Travel Info - The Huntington 1151 Oxford Road, San Marino, CA 91108. The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens is located near Pasadena in the city of San Marino, approximately twelve miles northeast of downtown Los Angeles. There is no RV parking. There are two entrance gates, one on Oxford Road, and a second at Allen Avenue, just south of California Boulevard.

Jason's thoughts - Stunning and worth every penny of the $15 to get in. Seriously there are many incredible plants, gardens, museums, galleries, restaurants, enclosed specialty atriums and conservatories, plenty of shade, Japanese sunken gardens, ponds, huge bonsai collections, acres of rare and gigantic cactuses, bamboo forests, and the most incredible library of rare books in the world. Just reading the wording, the poetry, the syntax of the early writings was profound. You DEFINITELY need all day to see this place and possibly two days. Go early, drink up as they do not allow drinks or food to be carried onto the grounds. I can't think of many places that would be better for a first date, or a second or a third.
Kelly's thoughts - Totally awesome. I could not believe we spent all day on this property and at the end of the day we were rushing through trying to get the last bit of pleasure from it all. Everything is mind blowing and really too much to take in for one day. We took so many pictures that we went through four batteries. If I had been prepared for such awesomeness I would've been battery prepared. The Desert Garden and Japanese Garden tie for my favorite of the day. Actually, seeing original life-size oil paintings of The Blue Boy and Pinkie was surreal.

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