Villa Montalvo in Saratoga, California, was the summer home of the late U.S. Senator and
San Francisco mayor, James Duval Phelan. When Phelan, California’s first popularly elected
Senator, passed away in 1930, he left his villa and the surrounding land as a public park
for the advancement of art, literature and music. This 175-acre oasis with a 19-room
Mediterranean-style home, built in 1912, is just minutes from the hectic heart of the
Silicon Valley.
Today, you can walk the wooded trails or admire the gardens with their
prolific statuary seven days a week. This is also an official Audubon bird sanctuary.
Montalvo is home to the oldest Artist Residency Program on the West Coast – artists, poets,
composers and writers from around the world are housed here for one to three months. The
park is open daily year-round, and admission is free. The Villa, however, is not open to
the public due to the volume of events.
For more information, call (408) 961-5800 or visit
villamontalvo.org.
