Bellosguardo
In 1923, copper king and Montana senator William Andrews Clark bought the 24-acre Bellosguardo (Beautiful Lookout) estate on a bluff between East Beach and Butterfly Beach. After his death, his widow, Anna, built her own summer residence there, designed by famed architect Reginald Johnson and completed in 1937. When she died in 1963, the property passed on to daughter Huguette. (The Clarks’ other daughter, Andrée, died as a teenager, and the family donated funds to create the adjacent Andrée Clark Bird Refuge in her honor.)
Although Huguette, a recluse in New York who died in 2011 at age 104, hadn’t visited Bellosguardo in more than 50 years, she kept it maintained as if she and her family would walk through the door at any moment. Huguette willed the estate to a foundation so that it could become an arts and culture center, and today, Bellosguardo is slowly opening to the public.
For now, access is only via 90-minute, docent-led tours, conducted several times a day, of the garden and the ground floor of the main house. Of particular note are the carved wood panels in several of the rooms and the European art and antiques that once adorned the Clark luxury town house in New York. To book tours, which sell out quickly, click on the "Become a Supporter" option of the website, and subscribe to the mailing list for the latest information on ticket releases.
