Though William and Agnes Bourn conceived Filoli as a humble “country place,” the House was designed as a space for entertaining on a grand scale. At over 2,000 square feet—bigger than most family homes—the Ballroom was the largest room in the House. It was the last room completed in 1926.

Agnes Bourn commissioned Ernest Peixotto, an American artist known for his mural paintings, to create the enormous canvases in the Ballroom after William Bourn suffered a series of strokes. He could no longer travel to visit their daughter Maud Bourn Vincent at Muckross House in Ireland, so Agnes chose the mural scenes to bring the beloved estate to her husband. Peixotto went to Paris to choose the crystal light fixtures and marble mantelpiece, which was modeled after the fireplace in the Hercules Salon at Versailles.