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| Kimberly Crest House & Gardens |
Kimberly Crest House and Gardens is a French château-style
Victorian mansion located in Redlands, California. The property is a registered California Historical Landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Kimberly-Shirk Association is dedicated to the preservation of Kimberly Crest House & Gardens to:
• Share the aesthetic experience of the estate;
• Educate visitors about the history and significance of the events, people, objects and culture of Kimberly Crest;
• Inspire in others the vision and leadership in education,
philanthropy, community and human values exemplified by Mary Kimberly
Shirk.
The 7,000 square foot, three-story chateau sits on a six and one quarter acre estate two miles south of downtown Redlands, at 1325 Prospect Drive, and is enjoyed by more than
11,000 visitors annually.
Originally built by Mrs. Cornelia A. Hill, a widow from New York State, the home was purchased by J. Alfred Kimberly (a co-founder of the Kimberly-Clark Corporation) and Helen Cheney Kimberly in 1905. Their widowed daughter, Mary Kimberly Shirk, lived in the home from 1920 until her death in 1979.
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| Kimberly Krest House and Gardens |
The house's unique features include a French revival parlor complete with gilt furniture and silk damask wall coverings. Terraced Italian gardens, orange groves and ponds surround this historic landmark home. The lily ponds feature radiant Koi; vivid red, pink and yellow lilies against deep green majestic lotus blossoms; and papyrus. In 1998, KSA was made an honorary member of the Inland Koi Society who maintains the lily ponds at Kimberly Crest.
In 1963 there was a community effort to raise money to purchase
Prospect Park (a 39 acre botanical park east and adjacent to Kimberly Crest) for the City of Redlands. To motivate support for this project, Mrs. Shirk promised to give her home to the "people of Redlands," if the needed money was raised. The park was acquired in 1968. The following year the Kimberly-Shirk Association, a non-profit corporation was formed. In her will, Mrs. Shirk left the house to the Association for the people of Redlands.
