Villa Philmonte
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| Villa Philmonte Historic District | |
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| (U.S. Registered Historic District) | |
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| Nearest city: | Cimarron, New Mexico |
| Coordinates: | Coordinates: |
| Built/Founded: | 1926 |
| Architect: | Edward Buehler Delk |
| Architectural style(s): | Mission/Spanish Revival |
| Added to NRHP: | August 18, 1995 |
| NRHP Reference#: | 95001018 [1] |
| Governing body: | Private |
The Villa Philmonte is a large ranch manor located outside of Cimarron, New Mexico, on the Philmont Scout Ranch property of the Boy Scouts of America.
The Villa was built in 1926 by oil magnate Waite Phillips who used it to oversee his 300,000 acre (1,200 km²) cattle ranch in northeast New Mexico. It was built in a Spanish-style motif befitting the American Southwest. Phillips named the house by combining the first half of his name with monte, the Spanish word for mountain. In addition to the Villa, Phillips built several other retreats on his ranch’s property, including Fish Camp on the Agua Fria Creek and a Hunting Lodge near Cimarroncito.
Phillips donated the Villa, along with 91,538 acres (370 km²) of land and the Philtower office building in Tulsa, Oklahoma, to the Boy Scouts in 1941, supplementing a 1938 gift of 35,857 acres (145 km²) that had created the Philturn Rockymountain Scoutcamp (sic). The Boy Scouts of America has retained control over the property since that time, opening the Villa to Scouts and visitors alike as a museum; it is open for regularly-scheduled tours during the summer months.
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[edit] Furnishings
The Villa is lavishly furnished, and retains many of Phillips’ original furnishings and collections, including particularly notable displays of antiques and weapons. The building features a large courtyard with a fountain in the center, large columns, and numerous porticoes. The interior was decorated using an eclectic mix of European, American, and Southwestern furnishings.
[edit] Interesting Facts
- A small window on the second floor that looks towards the ranch was an addition to the house by Phillips. He commissioned the window be put in so that he could view a large rock on the side of a nearby mountain. Therefore the rock is named Window Rock.
- The window on the stairs between the first and second floor shows a wagon being pulled by horses and saguaro cacti on the landscape. In reality, wagons on the Santa Fe trail were pulled by oxen, and there are no saguaro cacti in the area of the ranch.
- There is a grand piano in the entrance worth an estimated $200,000.
[edit] References
- ^ National Register Information System. National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service (2006-03-15).
