Built in 1911, The Huntington’s Rose Garden Tea Room was originally created as a billiard room and bowling alley for Huntington founder Henry E. Huntington. Designed by architect Myron Hunt, the Tea Room’s renovations include the restoration of the front of the original 1911 building, the creation of a new outdoor dining area, and the improvement of functionality in its service areas.

The team seismically retrofitted the structural system of the original building while also upgrading the building with new mechanical, plumbing and electrical systems. Site improvements include landscaping for the Shakespeare Garden and new accessible travel paths on the east and west sides of the building.

The project, developed by The Huntington with Architectural Resources Group, includes upgraded indoor dining spaces, a modernized kitchen, new restrooms and ancillary areas, and a new pavilion on its eastern side, which will open into the Shakespeare Garden for outdoor dining service. On the west side of the building, the room that opens out to the Herb Garden is also being renovated and will be made available for private rentals, in addition to being used for the Tea Room’s general service.

“The Tea Room is part of the historic core of The Huntington; it’s a small classical structure and a small scale partner to the mansion” said Stephen Farneth, the project architect for the Tea Room’s renovation. “Everything at The Huntington is about indoors and outdoors – a large, breezy loggia is a signature aspect of the residence, for example – and so the Tea Room project will connect the building to some of the visual and physical elements of the surrounding gardens.”

Photos courtesy of Joshua White and The Huntington