Sam Maloof (1916-2009), an internationally known woodworker, built his work/living compound over a period of 60 years. More than 100 examples of his distinctive furniture are on exhibition in the Historic Residence Museum.
Sam Maloof is acknowledged as one of the finest woodworkers of our time. As a leader of the California modern arts movement, he designed and produced furniture infused with profound artistic vision for more than half a century until his death in 2009. Maloof’s work was the subject of a prestigious retrospective at the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s Renwick Gallery in 2001 and is part of their permanent collection. His furniture is in some of the most important private collections in the nation and the permanent collections of the Boston Museum of Art, the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art and many other fine museums. In 1985 he was named a MacArthur Fellow and received honorary doctorates from the Rhode Island School of Design, Aurora University in Illinois and the California State University at San Bernardino.
Alfreda Maloof, an artist, teacher and former Director of Arts and Crafts at the Indian School in Santa Fe, New Mexico, 1938-1941, met and married Sam Maloof while completing her MFA at Scripps College. She inspired Sam in his work and managed the Maloof woodworking business until her death in 1998.
Central to Sam’s work and life is the sprawling hand-built residence and adjoining woodshop. Nestled in a lemon grove near the San Gabriel Mountains in Southern California, the residence is filled with Maloof furniture and one of America’s outstanding arts and crafts collections.
In 1990, the Maloof residence and woodshop were deemed eligible for the National Register of Historic Places. With the long-planned Foothill Freeway extension set to cut through the Maloof site, negotiations began to save the buildings by moving them to a nearby location. The original location was a working lemon grove and the new six-acre site was chosen partly for the existing lemon trees that help recreate the original environment and also compliment the new landscaping.
Today the relocated residence is open as a living museum. Once again, each room is filled with treasures that give this unique home its spirit. Sam designed a new house that was constructed below the original residence. The woodshops were moved to the new site, as were many of the trees from the former Maloof property. The landscaping consists of a natural garden of water-wise California native plants and compatible plants from other Mediterranean climate zones around the world. Benches, sculpture, and picnic areas offer spaces for visitors’ quiet reflection and relaxation.
The Sam and Alfreda Maloof Foundation, established in 1994, is committed to creating a pre-eminent center that preserves the Maloof’s legacy and fosters the arts and crafts movement. The work of the Foundation recognizes the ever increasing role of the crafts in our world of machine-made products – the reconnecting of human values with natural forms and materials.
A principal responsibility of the Foundation is protection and conservation of the art, furnishings, structures and grounds entrusted to it. The residence itself is one of the most treasured parts of the collection, reflecting the living spirit of the arts and crafts movement throughout. The Foundation also makes the Maloof Center available to the public, artists and researchers and is developing a variety of programs, including visiting craftsmen, workshops, and arts and crafts exhibits. The Jacobs Education Center provides gallery and meeting space.
After the move, Sam continued to create furniture at the new site and to add to his fine art collection that encompasses work from all media, including many renowned artists such as Maria Martinez, Millard Sheets, Harrison McIntosh, Paul Soldner, Kay Sekimachi, and Bob Stocksdale.
Recognizing and celebrating fine artists and craftsmen who skillfully create timeless treasures with their hands. . .
