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When Phineas Banning built his home in 1864, it was an amazing phenomenon, standing in magnificent isolation by the muddy Pacific tide flats, bordered by vast ranchos dotted with one-story adobes.
Only a handful of people lived within miles of where Banning decided to build, and Los Angeles was a small, dusty pueblo twenty miles to the north.
But Phineas Banning saw its possibilities, and believed in himself and in the future of Southern California enough to build a home that became a statement of purpose, as well as a center for the business of developing the Los Angeles harbor and laying the foundations for the future explosive growth of the Los Angeles area as commercial giant.
Banning’s massive 23-room home represented the American values of individualism, hard work, self-reliance, energy and optimism, which he and other pioneers brought West from their eastern seaboard culture and religious heritage.
Now recognized as the finest extant nineteenth-century Greek Revival style house in Southern California, the Banning Residence was lived in by three generations of Bannings who continually upgraded with additions like a modern kitchen, gas and running water.
It has seen marriages, births, deaths, sumptuous parties, patriotic festivities and political and commercial meetings where friendships and agreements were made which decided the future of the area.
The home exhibits a rich panorama of family and community life as it was lived in different nineteenth-century periods, as lifestyles and tastes in the decorative arts changed, reflecting the dynamism of those decades.
After Banning’s youngest son Hancock died, the home was sold to the City of Los Angeles in 1927. While the remaining twenty acres of grounds became a park, the home remained empty for nearly fifty years and fell into disrepair.
In 1974, an intrepid group, the Friends of Banning Park (now called the Friends of Banning Museum) spearheaded by Phineas’s great-granddaughter, Nancy Banning Call, began restoration of the mansion to its original Victorian beauty.
Today, the Banning Museum engages visitors in a living history experience, showing how the family lived, worked, and entertained. Through its third and fourth grade educational programs, schoolchildren are given the unique opportunity to experience life in the 19th century.
The Banning Museum is a City, State and National Historic Landmark, and is a facility of the City of Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks and is operated in cooperation with Friends of Banning Museum.
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