In the hills above Saratoga, an Italian Mediterranean Revival villa sits at the head of a long lawn, with redwood trails climbing behind it. That's Montalvo, the former country estate of James D. Phelan. Today it's a nonprofit arts center, a public park and one of the oldest artist residencies in the country.

Trail closure through Nov. 4

Montalvo says the Redwood and Lookout trails are closed from Oct. 27 to Nov. 4 while Santa Clara County Parks does fuel load reduction work. The grounds are open daily from 8 a.m. to sunset. Montalvo also warns that some areas and parking lots can be limited or closed for private events and its own programs, so check its visit page before you go.

Who owns what

Montalvo is private property owned by the nonprofit Montalvo Association. The association leases the hiking trails behind the villa to Santa Clara County, which runs them as a public park. The lease doesn't cover the Great Lawn, the Italianate Garden, the Oval Garden or Charmaine's Garden Terrace, so Montalvo can close those spaces for events. Picnics on the lawn are welcome, but there are no picnic tables or barbecues. Prom photography is banned on weekends (Friday through Sunday), which Montalvo says is because of past aggressive behavior toward staff and guests.

Phelan's villa

Phelan was a three-term mayor of San Francisco who later became California's first popularly elected U.S. senator. He bought 160 acres in the Saratoga foothills in 1911 and built the villa between 1912 and 1914. He hosted guests including Jack London, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks there, and he died at the villa. His will asked that it be kept as a public park, with the buildings used for 'the development of art, literature, music, and architecture by promising students.'

The San Francisco Art Association took over the estate in 1930, and its artist residency began in 1939 with 10 artists. The Montalvo Association took over in 1953. Today the Sally and Don Lucas Artists Residency Program has purpose-built live-work studios that opened in 2004. The villa has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1978. Phelan named it after the 16th-century Spanish writer Garci Ordóñez de Montalvo.

The trails

Behind the villa is a 137-acre arboretum, an Audubon Society bird sanctuary, with dirt paths climbing out of a redwood canyon to Lookout Point at about 1,200 feet. The forest mixes chaparral, evergreen and redwood. Native trees include bay, Douglas fir, bigleaf maple, tanoak and coast live oak, and madrone, manzanita, toyon and poison oak grow there too.

Parking

Drive past Lot 1 and the residency buildings and continue up beside the Great Lawn to Lots 2, 3 and 4 near the villa. Those lots serve the villa, the Garden Theatre, the Carriage House, the box office and the trails. For some concerts, Montalvo runs a free shuttle from Lot 1 at West Valley College, which you enter from Allendale Avenue. Drive slowly on the estate roads, which are shared with walkers and wildlife.