Melissa and Sean hail from New York by way of the Bay Area. They came back for their wedding and couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful day. Their weddding was a day full of family (the groom’s mother married the couple), friends (old and new) and love. The guests were stylish, the setting was gorgeous. The bar of candy, soft and vibrant flowers, and the steel drum band showed how much fun this couple is. Peter Bruce Photo & Video was happy to be there to capture their day.
See more photos below…
Old St. Hilary’s, a little history…
Wildflowers surround Old St. Hilary’s, Tiburon’s iconic hillside landmark, which was originally a mission church named for St. Hilaire, Bishop of Poitiers. The heirs of John Reed—who held title to El Rancho Corte Madera del Presidio, the Mexican land grant that included the Tiburon Peninsula—deeded the one-quarter acre site for $2 to the Archdiocese of San Francisco, which built the church as a place of worship for local railroad workers in 1888.
The building is of significant architectural importance because it is one of the few remaining Carpenter Gothic churches to survive in its original setting. It is constructed of redwood, with redwood doors and a Douglas fir ceiling. Amber glass replaced the original stained glass windows after they were broken. The stained glass window above the door has been restored and depicts St. Hilary (fourth century), patron saint of scholars. It was a gift from Dr. and Mrs. Benjamin Lyford.
The current electric lights are replicas of coal-oil chandeliers, which were lowered with ropes that brackets on the walls held in place. Heating and water are modern additions. Original furnishings include the white altar rail and two stands for statues on either side of the sanctuary, as well as the restored Stations of the Cross in the nave. A donor salvaged the cross from a church in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Most of the permanent furnishings are donations in honor of local residents. They include the concert piano and custom-made docent desk, chair and table, as well as oak pews that are reproductions of the originals. A group of local volunteers created the needlepoint pew cushions that feature local wildflowers.
The church was deconsecrated to make way for a new, larger one and was headed for destruction until several individuals intent on preserving local history established the Landmarks Society and purchased the site and building in 1959. It has served as a schoolroom and town meeting hall and is now a popular setting for weddings, concerts and other memorable events.
Landmarks Art & Garden Center a little history…
The property was part of the earliest settlement on the Tiburon Peninsula—John Reed’s Mexican Land Grant, El Rancho Corte Madera del Presidio. The Cottage (c. 1870), believed to be the oldest structure on the Tiburon Peninsula, was originally a bunkhouse for workers at the Rancho’s brick kilns in an area called the Hilarita, which was named for Hilarita Reed Lyford, heiress to the 1834 land grant. Working class homes and a dairy, which was located where Reed School is now, were part of the neighborhood as well.
When the Northwest Pacific Railroad came to Tiburon in 1884, it added a stop called Hilarita station to the tiny community. The trains served passengers and also carried bricks from the kilns to construction sites in the North Bay and to ferries for transport to San Francisco.
After the kilns stopped operating, and theo Rancho no longer needed to provide housing for workers, the Reed heirs expanded the bunkhouse and turned it into a residential cottage, which they rented to tenants. In 1944, artist William Newman and his wife Helen, an ardent conservationist, purchased the property and transformed the farmyard into a garden while preserving the historic house.
Fifty years later, Mrs. Newman bequeathed the property to the Belvedere-Tiburon Landmarks Society for use as an art center and to preserve the gardens. The society took on the task of restoring the cottage in typical farmhouse style and bringing it up to modern building codes, using rough-hewn materials from the original building as well as those of similar age.
The Newmans created the country garden and did most of the work themselves with guidance from a plan by Leland Noel, a noted landscape architect and botanist. The Landmarks Society preserved mature trees, shrubs and plants that had survived years of drought and neglect and made modifications to allow public use and accommodate current conservation practices. Master gardeners and volunteers planted the terraced acre with colorful flowerbeds and created restful vista points, and local residents contributed thousands of used bricks to complete the terraces and pathways.
The cast-iron bell at the side of the cottage was originally a fire bell for Belvedere Island, sounding the alarm to let firefighters know that their services were needed. When telephones came into vogue, operators began calling firefighters to alert them, and the bell found a new home at Belvedere School where it summoned children to class. It also chimed daily at 4 p.m. to tell children playing in the islands open spaces that it was time to go home. It now hangs from a farmyard post, and celebrants ring it to mark special occasions.
The lovely 5-foot-by-7-foot pagoda birdhouse is a Victorian garden folly that dates from the 1890s, a time when oriental objects were fashionable, and was a fixture in the garden at 207 Beach Road, Belvedere, for many years. Mindful of its history, the owners donated it to the Landmarks Society for preservation in the Art & Garden Center.
We hope you enjoyed these photos and a little history. Please let us know
Best Peter Bruce Photo & Video
Share with your friends and family!
