Updated:
October13, 2006
rank Miller’s vision resulted in a hotel unlike any other in California. While Miller was inspired by California's past, his Mission Inn represents no one culture or place in the world. In one area of the hotel, you could be in Madrid, Spain; in another, outside a temple in Kyoto, Japan. Miller’s efforts have been likened to the creation of Disneyland; the Mission Inn was his fantasy.
Miller actively hunted for objects to add to the hotel, and sometimes he had to create new areas of the hotel to accommodate them. The St. Francis Chapel, completed in 1931, held the Rayas reredo or retablo and Tiffany windows. Alcoves in the Cloister wing’s El Camino Real housed Henry Chapman Ford's paintings of the California missions. Many guest rooms featured tiles emblazoned with Coats of Arms.
In a 1951 article, Miller's wife Marion recalled that she
had a deep attachment for the little lounge room around the elevator on
top floor for that was Mr. Miller’s final alternation of the hotel that he was
constantly changing. She says he carried a yard stick much of the time,
measuring and planning this change and that. . . He preferred to plan as
he built and to make changes without regard to such things as specifications.
“It happened to come out right.” She quoted Miller.
(Riverside Daily Press and Enterprise 6/29/51).
Miller’s visions extended beyond the Mission Inn. Working with others, he made significant contributions to the community. The city’s downtown became a blend of Spanish and Mission revival architecture. His energetic lobbying efforts resulted in bringing the Sherman Institute (now the Sherman Indian High School), the Citrus Experiment Station, the interurban street car system, and March Field to Riverside. This man, who had little formal education and never held an elected office or learned to drive a car, succeeded where many others had failed. |
