Horse-Drawn Carriages To Be Lifted Into New Home During Museum Expansion In SMC

REDWOOD CITY, CA — A collection of historic horse-drawn carriages will take to the air next month as cranes lift the vehicles into the San Mateo County History Museum's new Taube Family Carriage House and Automobile Gallery.

The Aug. 17 move marks a major milestone in the museum's $25 million expansion, which includes construction of the 15,000-square-foot carriage house addition on Courthouse Square.

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"The age of the Peninsula's great estates occurred during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries," museum officials stated. "They had a profound influence on how San Mateo County's Bayside developed."

The museum has already transported eight horse-drawn vehicles from its San Mateo warehouse to the site. The collection includes five Brewster carriages, a Studebaker Roof Seat Break, a Standard Oil wagon that once delivered gasoline to Peninsula businesses during the early automobile era, and a buggy that will become part of a children's interactive exhibit.

Several additional carriages will also join the collection, including a rare Brewster carriage from a private Woodside estate and a 2,400-pound Light Park Drag that must be disassembled before it can be moved into the new gallery.

Museum officials said the crane operation, which will take place from Middlefield Road, will offer a unique public viewing opportunity as the historic vehicles are lifted into their permanent second-floor display space.

Many of the Brewster carriages were donated to the museum in 1973 by Lurline Matson Roth of Filoli. Another once belonged to the Spreckels family of San Francisco and Woodside.

The new gallery will also feature five oversized gilded mirrors from some of the Peninsula's grand historic estates, including Baywood, the Borel Estate and Lindenwood.

The carriage house is part of a broader museum expansion that also includes a new natural history gallery and the restored Lathrop House.

The museum plans to celebrate the opening of all three attractions on Nov. 7.