Huntington Park

Huntington Park occupies the exact site where one of the city's most opulent Gilded Age mansions once stood. In the late nineteenth century, this block belonged to railroad tycoon Collis P. Huntington, whose home featured a massive Neoclassical design complete with marble steps and tall Corinthian columns. After the 1906 earthquake and fire leveled the mansion, the site spent years as a desolate, empty lot that served as a makeshift refugee camp for citizens displaced by the disaster. By 1915, Huntington's widow, Arabella, decided to break from the tradition of private estate ownership and donated the entire block to the city, stipulating that it become a public park for all residents to enjoy.