Event Weekend Feb 15,16,17, 2019 

By Danielle Trynoski, Guest Blogger, Director Marketing Mission Inn Foundation

Without the knowledge of renowned fine art conservator Scott Haskins, a significant portion of the Mission Inn’s artwork would not be here today. His expertise saved the Henry Chapman Ford Mission Paintings from years of water damage and neglect, and over the last 30 years his team has cleaned, conserved, and rescued numerous other works now displayed in the building.

Come join Scott for an exclusive art tour of the Mission Inn, only available during the Save Your Stuff! Appraisal Weekend. This will be a fun, great event! Kick off a celebration of fine art, antiques, and preservation! Join us on Friday evening for our kick-off reception where the Museum will unveil a recent conservation project completed by Fine Art Conservation Laboratories under Scott’s direction, plus delectable eats and one of the best views of the city from the gorgeous home of Chuck and Sally Beaty. VIP reception at private home, address revealed after ticket purchase. Unveiling of recent conservation projects, one-on-one time with conservator Scott Haskins, dinner & open bar included. One of the *best* views of the downtown core! 5:30-9:00 p.m.

APPRAISAL CLINIC AND ART EVALUATION DAY ON SATURDAY

Connect one-on-one with professional appraisers from Bonhams Auction House for an appraisal of the estimated value of your art, antiques, heirlooms, or collectibles! All proceeds will support the Mission Inn Museum’s conservation efforts and collections care. Please select a time block from the ticket options below.

Items accepted for appraisal: Fine Art (19^th Century, 20^th Century and Contemporary Paintings and Sculpture), Fine Art prints, Fine Art photographs, Asian works of art, furniture, ceramics, jewelry including precious gems, glassware, metalware, folk art, or clocks. Call Rocco Rich at Bonhams for specific questions (323)  850 7500 www.bonhams.com

Excluded from this event: all weapons, including swords and knives, traps (like leg-hold); Nazi memorabilia, coins and paper money, toys, costume jewelry, sports memorabilia, musical instruments, or Beanie Babies. Please call 951-788-9556 with any questions.

All appraisals will happen at The Box, 3635 Market Street, Riverside, CA 92501. Please park in Garage 7 on Level 2 (Prices and map available here) then walk across courtyard to the Box Theater entrance. Parking is not included in event ticket.

SOME OF THE MONEY RAISED DURING THE WEEKEND WILL BE TARGETED FOR THE PRESERVATION AND ART RESTORATION OF AN HISTORIC WOODEN CHINESE PAGODA – YOUR SUPPORT IS THE KEY!

Your support is crucial to achieve our goal of conserving and restoring the Museum’s Chinese Pagoda (above, in undated archival photograph), a Landmark Object in the collection. This delicate wooden sculpture represents the long history of goodwill between the Mission Inn, Riverside, and Asian nations. Help us restore this national treasure by allowing us to help you Save Your Stuff!

Specialty Tours with Scott Haskins of the Mission Inn’s Rescued Art, Sunday, February 17 – DETAILS HERE

ABOUT THE MISSION INN FOUNDATION

MISSION STATEMENT

Adopted by the Mission Inn Foundation Board of Trustees, June 28, 2008.

The Mission Inn Foundation preserves, interprets, and promotes the cultural heritage of the Mission Inn, Riverside, and the surrounding southern California communities through its museum services, educational programs, and outreach activities.

HISTORY

The Mission Inn Foundation was incorporated in 1976 to assist in the preservation and restoration of the Mission Inn, and originally, to manage the hotel during ownership by the City of Riverside’s Redevelopment Agency. The Mission Inn Hotel & Spa is now privately owned by Duane and Kelly Roberts, and the Foundation has a unique role of operating a non-profit museum within a for-profit hotel. The Mission Inn Museum, operated by the Mission Inn Foundation, was opened in 1993, simultaneous with the reopening of the Mission Inn after seven years of extensive renovations. In addition to the museum, the Mission Inn Foundation interprets the history and significance of the Mission Inn through daily hotel tours, monthly public programs and special events, the Hands On History educational initiative, and the continued stewardship of the hotel’s expansive art, artifact, and archival collections.

ABOUT THE MUSEUM

Located at the corner of Main Street and Mission Inn Avenue, the Mission Inn Museum features exhibitions examining the hotel’s history and lasting impacts on the Riverside community and beyond. The museum’s collection is significant in demonstrating the periods of Mission Inn development from its beginning as an adobe boarding house in 1876 to the present. Frank Miller, the original owner and developer of the Inn, was an early proponent of the Mission Revival movement, an avid collector of art from around the world, an aviation enthusiast, an original thinker, a marketing genius, and a strong community booster. Miller and his family’s vital role in the development of Riverside as well as the Mission Inn’s place as a center of Riverside civic life for over a century gives the museum a broad range of topics to explore in their revolving exhibitions. The Mission Inn Museum is also the starting point for all docent-led Mission Inn tours and features an extensive museum store with one of a kind products from local artists, unique Mission Inn souvenirs, in addition to a wide selection of books on Mission Inn and local history.

Before and After Conservation Santa Cruz Mission

ABOUT THE INN

The story of the Mission Inn stretches over more than a century and began with the Miller family, migrants to California from Tomah, Wisconsin. In 1874, civil engineer Christopher Columbus Miller arrived in Riverside, began work on a water system, and with his family, began a small boarding house in the center of town. In 1880, his son Frank Augustus Miller, bought the property and gradually improved and enlarged it. Working with prominent architect Arthur Benton, financed by railroad baron Henry Huntington, and inspired by the growing popularity of California Mission tourism and Mission Revival architecture, Miller opened the first wing of the current Mission Inn building in 1903. The building grew in several stages, each new wing demonstrating regional architectural trends and Miller’s own travels throughout Europe and Asia. By 1931, the Mission Inn comprised four wings in a labyrinth of gardens, towers, arches, and winding stairways that encompassed an entire city block. The interior was filled with art and artifacts purchased by Miller from across the nation and around the world, displayed throughout the hotel to enchant and delight guests.

Following his death in 1935, Miller’s family continued operating the Inn for the next two decades until 1956 when it was sold to San Francisco hotelman Benjamin Swig. In an attempt to revitalize the failing Inn, which was losing business to growing tourist hotspots like nearby Palm Springs, Swig sold nearly 1,000 artworks and artifacts from the hotel’s collection and redecorated the Inn in the latest midcentury styles. This effort did little to restore the Inn’s popularity and the hotel struggled through multiple owners and unending financial crises. It was even transformed from a hotel into dorm rooms and private apartments.

Fearful that the hotel would be permanently shuttered and its interior collections destroyed, in 1969 a group of concerned citizens formed the Friends of the Mission Inn, a volunteer organization dedicated to promoting hotel business and safeguarding the historic collections. As the hotel’s financial woes persisted, the City of Riverside’s Redevelopment Agency purchased the Mission Inn in 1976. In 1977, thanks to the efforts of local advocates and government officials, the Mission Inn was designated a National Historic Landmark by the federal government, officially marking the Inn as a site of national historic importance.

After keeping the hotel afloat for nearly nine years, the city sold the hotel to a Wisconsin-based private development firm, which closed the Inn in June 1985 to begin what would become a seven-year $50 million renovation project. With restorations nearly complete in December 1988, the hotel was once again plagued by bankruptcy and languished for three years without a buyer. In late 1992, local Riverside entrepreneur Duane Roberts purchased the Mission Inn and successfully reopened the landmark hotel for business. It was Mr. Roberts that contracted with Scott M. Haskins and Fine Art Conservation Laboratories to undertake the preservation and art restoration of the 100s of items in the Mission Inn historic art collection.

Save Your Stuff! brings celebrated fine art conservator Scott Haskins to the Mission Inn Museum and his expertise will be available just for YOU during this special weekend.

Be aware also of the opportunity to donate artwork to the Mission Inn Foundation (which may be sold at auction for the benefit of the MIF) in April. For more information please call Scott M. Haskins at 805 570 4140

For the opportunity to support this very active enthusiastic historic foundation with its grass roots Friends of the Mission Inn, click here to make a donation.