Maryhill

Samuel Hill was an interesting character.  He is known for building the Peace Arch on the US-Canadian border and the Stonehenge War Memorial in the Columbia River Gorge. He was also something of a fanatic about building highways throughout the Pacific Northwest.  He traveled a great deal, spoke several languages, and collected an eclectic variety of artwork from all over.

Maryhill is a grand house build in 1914 not far from his Stonehenge War Memorial on a ledge above the Columbia River.  It doesn’t fit at all architecturally with its surroundings.  It is a grand house built to impress and had garage parking for 24 vehicles.  It was never occupied.  At the suggestion of a sometime mistress and friend, it was re-purposed as a museum and dedicated as such in a ceremony in 1926.  After several setbacks it finally opened to the public in 1940.

The art collection is only mildly interesting.  The Rodin “sculptures” are mostly working pieces, castings in plaster or bronze that were laying around Rodin’s studio and which he handed off to friends.  They found their way to Maryhill through various friend connections.  There are a few finished works, but most of the pieces are far from a finished state.  I’ve visited many times the Cantor Arts Center at Stanford and also the Musée Rodin in Paris, and these spectacular collections can only thrill.  Maryhill does a good job with what it has, however, and takes pains to use its collection to illustrate the process of making bronze sculpture.

The rest of the collection is rather forgettable.  The collection of chess sets is, ah, interesting, I suppose, if that is what you’re into.  The current special exhibition of James Lee Hansen sculpture I found very interesting.  His pieces have a certain Greek or Etruscan influence, particularly the animals.

The architecture of the recent addition was very pleasant, although a bit incongruous.  It’s always a little jarring to have classical and modern architecture mixed, no matter how well done.  Nonetheless, this modern expansion makes perfect use of the site and captures the view assets of the location perfectly.  Lunch on one of the south-facing terraces is spectacular, and tasty too.