Docent Doheny Mansion Tour - Jan 19, 2010
In spite of the rain and a restriction on taking interior or even exterior pictures or videos (most but not all docents followed instruction to not to take pictures. The pictures you will see below, with the exception of the docent group pics, were extracted and posted from the internet), today's tour of Mount St. Mary's College and the Doheny Mansion, turned out to be warm and fuzzy.
Estelle Doheny permitted Mount St. Mary's College to use Chest Place #2
for classrooms in the late 1950's. After her death in 1958, the Chester Place
properties became the downtown campus of Mount St. Mary's.
Doheny House at on the Chester Place subdivision in the 1890's,
Edward Laurence Doheny (August 10, 1856 - September 8, 1935) was an Irish American oil tycoon, who in 1892, along with partner Charles A. Canfield, drilled the first successful well in the Los Angeles City oil field, setting off the petroleum boom in southern California. Formerly an unsuccessful prospector in New Mexico and the American Southwest, the Wisconsin-born Doheny became wealthy through his California oil interests, and was later also successful in the oil fields of Tampico, Mexico. During the administration of President Warren G. Harding, Doheny was implicated in the Teapot Dome Scandal and was accused of offering a $100,000 bribe to Secretary of the Interior Albert Fall in order to secure drilling rights without competitive bidding to the Elk Hills Naval Petroleum Reserve in central California. He was twice acquitted of offering the bribe that Fall was convicted of accepting. Doheny and his second wife and widow, Carrie Estelle, were noted philanthropists in Los Angeles. The character Vern Roscoe in Upton Sinclair's 1927 novel Oil! (the inspiration for the 2007 film There Will Be Blood) is loosely based on the Edward Doheny character.
Son “Ned” Doheny
Birth: Nov. 6, 1893
Los Angeles
Los Angeles County
California, USA
Death: Feb. 16, 1929
Businessman. Son of oil tycoon Edward L. Doheny. He has been called "The Bagman of Teapot Dome" for his role in the 1920s political controversy, but is chiefly remembered today for his mysterious demise. Doheny was born in Los Angeles. His parents divorced when he was six and his mother committed suicide in 1901 after losing him in a custody battle. He was raised by his stepmother, Carrie Estelle Doheny. In 1913 he married Lucy Smith, daughter of an executive at the Santa Fe Railroad; they would have five children. From 1913 to 1916 he attended USC, where he earned a degree in business and was later elected to the Board of Trustees and as President of the Alumni Association. After serving as a lieutenant in the US Navy during World War I he joined the Doheny oil business as company Vice President. In December 1921, Doheny was instructed by his father to withdraw $100,000 from his own brokerage account and deliver it to US Secretary of the Interior Albert Fall in Washington; he did so accompanied by his close friend and personal secretary, T. Hugh Plunkett. This transaction became one of the key events of the Teapot Dome scandal (1923-1924), in which the senior Doheny and rival oil magnate Harry F. Sinclair were accused of bribing Fall to gain leases on government-owned oil reserves. During the years of litigation that followed, Doheny kept a low profile in the business world and devoted his free time to supervising the construction of Greystone, his $3 million mansion in Beverly Hills. The work was completed in October 1928 but his residence there would be brief. On the night of February 16, 1929, Doheny and Hugh Plunkett were found shot to death in one of Greystone's guest bedrooms. Within 24 hours police concluded that Plunkett had murdered Doheny after being refused a raise and then turned the gun on himself. But the haste of the investigation (details of which were later disputed by one of the detectives on the scene), the rather pat motive attributed to Plunkett, and the way the incident was hushed up in the press, inspired several alternative theories and left many questions unanswered. One of them concerns Doheny's resting place. Although the Dohenys were devoted Catholics, Ned was interred not in the Doheny Family Room at Calvary Mausoleum but alone at Forest Lawn in Glendale. This gave rise to the scenario that Doheny was the actual gunman, since suicides were denied Catholic burial at that time. His parents later donated $1.1 million to USC for a library in his honor. When the Edward L. Doheny, Jr. Memorial Library opened in 1932, California Governor James Rolph, Jr. declared, "Here we see perpetuated the love of a father for his dutiful son". (bio by: Robert Edwards)
Chuck's notes from Doheny Docent Don indicates the younger Doheny Family members were Episcopalians, with Estelle born a Methodist and later converted to Catholicism following her marriage to the Irish Catholic Ed Doheny. The elder Doheny's contributed to construction of both St Vincent's Catholic Church and St John's Episcopal Church located diagonally across from St Vincents.
Estelle Doheny permitted Mount St. Mary's College to use Chest Place #2
for classrooms in the late 1950's. After her death in 1958, the Chester Place
properties became the downtown campus of Mount St. Mary's.
Doheny House at on the Chester Place subdivision in the 1890's,
named for the son of developer Charles Silent. Built by Oliver Posey in
1899 and purchased in 1901 for $120,000 by oilman Edward L. Doheny.
Over the next 50 years, the Doheny's acquired all of the property
in the original Chest Place development plus many other nearby homes.
The Doheny's frequently enhanced and remodeled #8 and
associated associated buildings, particularly after the extensive
damage sustained as a result of the 1933 Long Beach earthquake.
Belmont Field - Doheny Oil Company initial discovery
Dome
Docent visitors, picture was brightened due to darkness of the dome room (double click to enlarge)
Docents with a Doheny tinge (double click to enlarge)
1899 and purchased in 1901 for $120,000 by oilman Edward L. Doheny.
Over the next 50 years, the Doheny's acquired all of the property
in the original Chest Place development plus many other nearby homes.
The Doheny's frequently enhanced and remodeled #8 and
associated associated buildings, particularly after the extensive
damage sustained as a result of the 1933 Long Beach earthquake.
Belmont Field - Doheny Oil Company initial discovery
Dome
Docent visitors, picture was brightened due to darkness of the dome room (double click to enlarge)
Docents with a Doheny tinge (double click to enlarge)
Doheny Family Facts:
Edward Laurence Doheny (August 10, 1856 - September 8, 1935) was an Irish American oil tycoon, who in 1892, along with partner Charles A. Canfield, drilled the first successful well in the Los Angeles City oil field, setting off the petroleum boom in southern California. Formerly an unsuccessful prospector in New Mexico and the American Southwest, the Wisconsin-born Doheny became wealthy through his California oil interests, and was later also successful in the oil fields of Tampico, Mexico. During the administration of President Warren G. Harding, Doheny was implicated in the Teapot Dome Scandal and was accused of offering a $100,000 bribe to Secretary of the Interior Albert Fall in order to secure drilling rights without competitive bidding to the Elk Hills Naval Petroleum Reserve in central California. He was twice acquitted of offering the bribe that Fall was convicted of accepting. Doheny and his second wife and widow, Carrie Estelle, were noted philanthropists in Los Angeles. The character Vern Roscoe in Upton Sinclair's 1927 novel Oil! (the inspiration for the 2007 film There Will Be Blood) is loosely based on the Edward Doheny character.
Son “Ned” Doheny
Birth: Nov. 6, 1893
Los Angeles
Los Angeles County
California, USA
Death: Feb. 16, 1929
Businessman. Son of oil tycoon Edward L. Doheny. He has been called "The Bagman of Teapot Dome" for his role in the 1920s political controversy, but is chiefly remembered today for his mysterious demise. Doheny was born in Los Angeles. His parents divorced when he was six and his mother committed suicide in 1901 after losing him in a custody battle. He was raised by his stepmother, Carrie Estelle Doheny. In 1913 he married Lucy Smith, daughter of an executive at the Santa Fe Railroad; they would have five children. From 1913 to 1916 he attended USC, where he earned a degree in business and was later elected to the Board of Trustees and as President of the Alumni Association. After serving as a lieutenant in the US Navy during World War I he joined the Doheny oil business as company Vice President. In December 1921, Doheny was instructed by his father to withdraw $100,000 from his own brokerage account and deliver it to US Secretary of the Interior Albert Fall in Washington; he did so accompanied by his close friend and personal secretary, T. Hugh Plunkett. This transaction became one of the key events of the Teapot Dome scandal (1923-1924), in which the senior Doheny and rival oil magnate Harry F. Sinclair were accused of bribing Fall to gain leases on government-owned oil reserves. During the years of litigation that followed, Doheny kept a low profile in the business world and devoted his free time to supervising the construction of Greystone, his $3 million mansion in Beverly Hills. The work was completed in October 1928 but his residence there would be brief. On the night of February 16, 1929, Doheny and Hugh Plunkett were found shot to death in one of Greystone's guest bedrooms. Within 24 hours police concluded that Plunkett had murdered Doheny after being refused a raise and then turned the gun on himself. But the haste of the investigation (details of which were later disputed by one of the detectives on the scene), the rather pat motive attributed to Plunkett, and the way the incident was hushed up in the press, inspired several alternative theories and left many questions unanswered. One of them concerns Doheny's resting place. Although the Dohenys were devoted Catholics, Ned was interred not in the Doheny Family Room at Calvary Mausoleum but alone at Forest Lawn in Glendale. This gave rise to the scenario that Doheny was the actual gunman, since suicides were denied Catholic burial at that time. His parents later donated $1.1 million to USC for a library in his honor. When the Edward L. Doheny, Jr. Memorial Library opened in 1932, California Governor James Rolph, Jr. declared, "Here we see perpetuated the love of a father for his dutiful son". (bio by: Robert Edwards)
Chuck's notes from Doheny Docent Don indicates the younger Doheny Family members were Episcopalians, with Estelle born a Methodist and later converted to Catholicism following her marriage to the Irish Catholic Ed Doheny. The elder Doheny's contributed to construction of both St Vincent's Catholic Church and St John's Episcopal Church located diagonally across from St Vincents.
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