Miraflores Park | |
---|---|
![]() Miraflores Park in 2012 | |
![]() | |
Location | 800 Hildebrand San Antonio, Texas |
Coordinates | 29°27′54″N98°28′03″W / 29.46500°N 98.46750°W |
Area | 4.5 acres (1.8 ha) |
Created | c. 1921 |
Miraflores Alumni Park | |
Architect | Dionicio Rodriguez |
Architectural style | Faux bois sculpture |
MPS | Sculpture by Dionicio Rodriguez in Texas MPS |
NRHP reference No. | 04001176 [1] |
Added to NRHP | June 14, 2006 |
Miraflores Park, originally called just Miraflores and sometimes called Miraflores Alumni Park, is a sculpture garden in San Antonio, Texas. Originally established about 1921 as a private garden for Aureliano Urrutia, it features several works by Mexican-American artist Dionicio Rodriguez. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on June 14, 2006.
Miraflores is located about 3 miles (4.8 km) northeast of downtown San Antonio, near the corner of East Hildebrand Avenue and Broadway. The San Antonio Zoo is immediately across from the San Antonio River on its west side. Today, only about 4.6 acres (1.9 ha) of the original 15 acres (6.1 ha) have been preserved. [2] The park is currently undergoing major restoration works that aim to uncover the old pathways, restore the fountain, replant greenery, and add a new entrance into Brackenridge Park. [3]
Although many of Rodriguez's works have not survived or have moved, several remain in the garden. These include the faux bois entry gate; a covered bench; two other faux bois sculptures; and a grotto. Other features of the garden include a life-size statue of Urrutia himself, which used to sit in the center of the fountain; and a replica of Winged Victory of Samothrace . [2]
Limited information is available about the prehistory of the site. An archaeological dig performed in 2009 near the San Antonio River uncovered artifacts dated to the Archaic period, between 3700 B.C. and 300 A.D. [4]
Aureliano Urrutia immigrated to San Antonio from Mexico during the Mexican Revolution and had a long, successful career as a doctor. In 1921, Urrutia purchased the 15 acres (6.1 ha) of land that would become Miraflores. Urrutia was inspired by his birthplace of Xochimilco in Mexico City, which is known for its gardens and canals. [5]
In 1923, he added a small 1-story guesthouse, called Quinta Maria, on the northwestern side of the park, next to Hildebrand Avenue. Urrutia commissioned Dioncio Rodriguez, who had newly arrived in San Antonio, to furnish the garden with sculptures. These works were some of Rodriguez's first in the United States. The garden was used as both a private retreat for the Urrutia family and for a place for them to entertain guests and host events. A fountain, which was latter dismantled, was used by Urrutia as a swimming pool every morning.
In 1962, the United Services Automobile Association (USAA) purchased Miraflores. The eastern half of the park was demolished, and overtop, USAA built an office complex and parking lot for their headquarters. The Southwestern Bell Telephone Company purchased the site in 1974 and restored Quinta Maria in 1981. The original tile entry gate, also constructed by Rodriguez, was moved to the San Antonio Museum of Art in 1998. In 2001, Miraflores again changed hands to the University of the Incarnate Word, which is located across the street from the park. [2] In 2006, the City of San Antonio obtained the park from the university, and since 2007 has been restoring the park. The Texas Historical Commission surveyed the site right after the purchase and made an inventory of all sculptures and features. [3]
Fair Park is a recreational and educational complex in Dallas, Texas, United States, located immediately east of downtown. The 277-acre (112 ha) area is registered as a Dallas Landmark and National Historic Landmark; many of the buildings were constructed for the Texas Centennial Exposition in 1936.
Brookgreen Gardens is a sculpture garden and wildlife preserve, located just south of Murrells Inlet, in the U.S. state of South Carolina. The 9,100-acre (37 km2) property includes several themed gardens featuring American figurative sculptures, the Lowcountry Zoo, and trails through several ecosystems in nature reserves on the property. It was founded by Archer Milton Huntington, stepson of railroad magnate Collis Potter Huntington, and Anna Hyatt Huntington, his wife, to feature sculptures by Anna and her sister Harriet Randolph Hyatt Mayor, along with other American sculptors. Brookgreen Gardens was opened in 1932. It was developed on property of four former rice plantations, taking its name from the former Brookgreen Plantation, which dates to the antebellum period.
The United Services Automobile Association (USAA) is an American financial services company providing insurance and banking products exclusively to members of the military, veterans and their families. It was founded in 1922 in San Antonio, Texas, by a group of 25 U.S. Army officers as a mechanism for mutual self-insurance, when they were unable to secure auto insurance because of the perception that they, as military officers, were a high-risk group.
HemisFair '68 was the official 1968 World's Fair held in San Antonio, Texas, from April 6 through October 6, 1968. Local businessman and civic leader, Jerome K. Harris Sr., coined the name HemisFair and conceived the idea for the fair, hoping it would unite all the cultures that comprise San Antonio and solidify the city's reputation as a cultural and historic destination. With help from commissioner Henry B. Gonzales and other San Antonio leaders, the fair materialized and helped transform the city from a cowtown to one of the largest cities in the country. The theme of the fair was "The Confluence of Civilizations in the Americas", celebrating the many nations which settled the region. The fair was held in 1968 to coincide with the 250th anniversary of the founding of San Antonio in 1718. More than thirty nations and fifteen corporations hosted pavilions at the fair.
Miraflores is the name of several places in Spanish-speaking countries. It means "behold the flowers" or "flowers view" from mirar and flores ("flowers"). It is commonly used as a name for a region or neighborhood that is considered especially beautiful or ornate.
The San Antonio Japanese Tea Garden, or Sunken Gardens in Brackenridge Park, San Antonio, Texas, opened in an abandoned limestone rock quarry in the early 20th century. It was known also as Chinese Tea Gardens, Chinese Tea Garden Gate, Chinese Sunken Garden Gate and is listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. It is located on the northwestern edge of Brackenridge Park, near the San Antonio Zoo.
The Morris Arboretum & Gardens of the University of Pennsylvania is the official arboretum of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The Arboretum is open daily except for major holidays. It is located at 100 East Northwestern Avenue, Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Antonian College Preparatory High School is an co-educational Catholic high school for students grades 9 through 12. It is located in Castle Hills, Texas and is part of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Antonio. It was founded by the Archdiocese in 1964 as an all-male Catholic high school run by the Brothers of the Christian Schools. The school was listed on the Cardinal Newman Society's Catholic High School Honor Roll top 50 list in 2010 and has been recognized as a National Blue Ribbon school.
Chesterwood was the summer estate and studio of American sculptor Daniel Chester French (1850–1931) located at 4 Williamsville Road in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. Most of French's originally 150-acre (61 ha) estate is now owned by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which operates the property as a museum and sculpture garden. The property was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1965 in recognition of French's importance in American sculpture.
Oldfields, also known as Lilly House and Gardens, is a 26-acre (11 ha) historic estate and house museum at Newfields in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. The estate, an example of the American country house movement of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, was designated a U.S. National Historic Landmark in 2003.
Dionicio Rodríguez (1891–1955) was a Mexican-born artist and architect whose work can be seen in Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, New Mexico, Tennessee, and Texas, as well as Washington, D.C., and Mexico City.
Brackenridge Park is a 343.7-acre public park (139.1 ha) in San Antonio, Texas, United States, on the city's Broadway Corridor just north of downtown San Antonio.
Aureliano Urrutia, Sr. was a Mexican-born physician. He served as the Minister of Interior under Victoriano Huerta in Mexico but subsequently spent most of his life and career in the United States.
The Conservation Society of San Antonio is located in the Bexar County city of San Antonio in the U.S. state of Texas. Founding members were Emily Edwards, who became the organization's first president, and Rena Maverick Green. The organization was formed on March 22, 1924, and officially incorporated on July 8, 1925. The Society is currently headquartered in the Anton Wulff House, which they saved from destruction in 1974. The home was built 1869–1870 by German immigrant Anton Wulff, who became the city's first Park Commissioner.
The Yturri–Edmunds Historic Site is a historic site in San Antonio, Texas. The house is listed on the National Register of Historic Places listings in Bexar County, Texas. The homestead and mill were designated a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark in 1966.
The Gate, Fence and Hollow Tree Shelter Designed by Dionicio Rodriguez is a work by noted artist Dionicio Rodriguez that is located at 320 Oak St. in Clayton, New Mexico. It consists of three faux bois sculptures created in 1943. Speculator Bayliss C. Froman commissioned the sculptures on his property after seeing Rodriguez's work on a visit to San Antonio. The sculptures include a gate resembling the entrance to the San Antonio Japanese Tea Garden, an intertwining log fence, and a hollow tree with textured bark.
The W. H. L. McCourtie Estate, originally called Aiden Lair and now known as McCourtie Park, is a recreational park located at 10426 South Jackson Road in Somerset Center, Michigan. It was designated a Michigan State Historic Site in 1991 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1992. The site may contain the country's largest collection of el trabejo rustico, the Mexican folk art tradition where wet concrete is sculpted to look like wood.
Phil Hardberger Park is a public city park of San Antonio, Texas which opened in May 2010.
The Aviary at the Houston Zoo is a historic work of art created by Mexican-born architect and artist Dionicio Rodriguez located at the Houston Zoo in Houston, Texas and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Faux Bios sculptures were built in 1926 and dubbed the "flying sculpture." Although Hurricane Carla destroyed the aviary's wire superstructure in 1961, Rodriquez's sculptures remain and are composed of a tree, a fountain, logs, ledges and rock bordering a shallow pond which are now part of the Flamingo Habitat at the zoo.