86 PUNCHMAGAZINE.COM home—and whenever Willis’ design schemes spiraled into extravagance, it was often Agnes who kept him in check. “Polk came in with these very grand designs,” Willa notes. “The Bourns had a slightly humbler vision.” What makes for a “humble” mansion? Willa points to the entry as a prime example. “You’re not immediately greeted by a very impressive horseshoe staircase as you might get in some other grand estates,” she explains. “The stairs are actually off to the side, which just doesn’t feel as overthe-top or in-your-face.” That’s not to say that their mansion lacked luxury. The reception room had a lady’s and gentleman’s cloakroom where guests could freshen up before being ushered into the entertaining space by the Bourns’ English butler (“at the time, very fashionable,” Willa notes). {home & design} Filoli. She notes that this wasn’t the couple’s first house—it was their sixth. “Their move down the Peninsula was in line with this fashion for a lot of wealthy San Franciscan families to build country estates where there was more land.” It was also an escape from the “chaos of the city” after the 1906 earthquake and fire. The Bourns turned to their friend and renowned architect Willis Polk, who had already designed several buildings on their ABOVE: (from left) Painting of Agnes Bourn; The Bourns’ architect Willis Polk. PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF: LIBERTÉ REILLY - FILOLI / SAN FRANCISCO HISTORY CENTER, SAN FRANCISCO PUBLIC LIBRARY behalf, including a home on Webster Street in San Francisco. That previous project “is in this heavy, dark, clinker brick style that’s very different from Filoli,” Willa notes. Not one to be tied down by just one aesthetic, “Willis was willing to mix and match styles to create something new.” He styled this new home as a Georgian mansion with California sensibilities (like its “Flemish bond” brickwork and Spanish tile roof). Equally influential in the building’s conception was the lady of the manor. “We talk a lot about Agnes, actually,” Willa says. “I know often, when you’re hearing about grand estates, you hear about the male founder who’s made the money, but Filoli was really Agnes’s vision in a lot of ways.” Agnes worked closely with Willis on the details of the
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