Phillips Mansion

The Phillips Mansion is a Second Empire style historic house in Pomona, Los Angeles County, California. It was built in 1875 by Louis Phillips, who by the 1890s had become the wealthiest man in Los Angeles County. Situated along the Butterfield Stage route, the Phillips Mansion became a center of community activity in the Pomona and Spadra area. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1974, making it among the first 25 sites in Los Angeles County to be so designated (There are now more than 450).Louis PhillipsThe Phillips Mansion was built in 1875 by Louis Phillips . Phillips was born in Prussia and moved to California in the early 1850s. He moved to Spadra in 1862 and began engaging in sheep herding and cattle raising. In 1864, he purchased 12000acre of the old Rancho San Jose for $30,000. In 1867, he married Esther Blake, with whom he had three sons and two daughters . He also acquired large land holdings in other parts of the county, including the Los Angeles business district where he owned the Phillips Block on Spring Street, a block on Los Angeles Street and another on Third Street. By 1892, the Los Angeles Times reported that Phillips, "who lives so quietly out at Spadra, near Pomona," was "the richest man in Los Angeles County." The Times noted that Phillips was worth "not a dollar less than $3,000,000" and stated that, in addition to his land holdings in Los Angeles, he had a ranch that produced wool, honey and wheat.