Virginia Robinson Estate/ Gardens

This historic estate is the first mansion built in Beverly Hills for Virginia Robinson. The residence was completed in 1911 and was the home of Virginia and her husband, Harry, the son of the founder of J.W. Robinson Department Store. Harry died in 1932, but Virginia continued to reside in the home, where she became known for throwing lavish parties, until age 99 in 1977. The property was bequeathed to Los Angeles County in 1977, and today, guided tours are offered with advance reservations. The Beaux Arts style house has become a museum from the 1940s/1950s era and features landscaped gardens and a 1924 playhouse pavilion/ pool house. The Virginia Robinson Estate became a National Register of Historic Places listing in 1978 and is a Beverly Hills as well as a California Historical Landmark.

Harry Winchester Robinson was the son of Joseph Winchester Robinson, the founder of J. W. Robinson Department Store in Los Angeles. He and his wife, Virginia resided in Beverly Hills on about twenty acres north of the end of Elden Way. Their home, built from 1908 to 1911 in Beaux Arts style, was the first residence constructed in Beverly Hills; it was designed by Nathaniel Dryden, a self-taught architect and Virginia's father. The Robinsons moved into the home in the fall of 1911. The reinforced concrete house was built at a cost of around $25,000.

The one-story, twelve-room house with a balustraded parapet featured a central porch supported by paired columns and topped with urns. The rear elevation featured French doors, casement windows, and a broad, bay window. The interior was decorated with crystal chandeliers, marble fireplaces, antique furniture from their travels around the world, and antique Oriental rugs. Harry passed away in 1932 at age 54 but Virginia remained in the home and served on the board of directors of the department store until the 1960s. Virginia became known for throwing lavish parties at the house and was jokingly called in the newspapers the "First Lady of Beverly Hills." The opening night party for the Hollywood Bowl was always held in the Robinsons' backyard. She once joked that she always had at least four butlers to wait on her, and that since she had fun at parties, her guests did, too. Virginia died in 1977 at age 99, just two months away from the philanthropist's 100th birthday, after living in the area since she was ten years old.

The couple added a playhouse pavilion/ pool house to the property in 1924, about 100 yards from the house, with Palladian and French details and a reflecting pool. A marble terrace was built in the rear yard of the main house for entertaining. The servants lived in a separate building on the property, next to the house, behind the kitchen; the two-story building in Florentine Renaissance style featured a driveway arch and enclosed pavilions at either end on the second floor.

Harry and Virginia, along with landscape architect Charles Gibbs Adams, created a series of patio gardens with fountains on the terraced slopes of the property; the gardens were planted with flowers (including a separate rose garden), shrubs, and fruit or eucalyptus trees. A grove of palms was established northeast of the house. Connecting the house with the playhouse pavilion was a grassy mall lined with Italian cypress trees. A series of footpaths and brick steps connected the gardens.

The property was down to about six acres by the late 1970s. Virginia bequeathed the Beverly Hills estate with her 6,000-square-foot mansion to Los Angeles County with an endowment. A charitable foundation, the Friends of Robinson Garden, was organized in 1982 to help in repair and upkeep of the property. The property is run by the L.A. County Department of Parks and Recreation. The group has installed a new HVAC system and renovated the tile-lined reflecting pool. The house museum is furnished as it looked in the 1940s and 1950s. Some programs at the Virginia Robinson Gardens include working with at-risk youth and giving tours to the county's third graders to teach horticulture.

Michelsen, Alan. Robinson, Harry Winchester and Virginia Dryden, House, Beverly Hills, CA, Pacific Coast Architecture Database (PCAD). January 1st, 2023. Accessed July 17th, 2023. https://pcad.lib.washington.edu/building/5098/.

Ruble, Marcella. Virginia Robinson Set the Style in Beverly Hills, Part I, Friends of Robinson Gardens. August 1st, 2020. Accessed July 17th, 2023. https://www.robinsongardens.org/virginia-robinson-forms-her-style-in-early-los-angeles-part-1/.

Snider, Sandra L. NRHP nomination of Virginia Robinson Estate. National Register. Washington, DC. National Park Service, 1978.

The Ultimate Tour: A Digital Look of Virginia Robinson Gardens . TV is OK Productions, Inc.. Performed by Tim Lindsay, Maralee Beck. U.S. 2014. YouTube Video.

Virginia Robinson Gardens Story. L.A. County Dept. of Public Works. Performed by Tim Lindsay, Maralee Beck. U.S. YouTube video.