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Arequipa Pottery
Arequipa Pottery was established by Dr. Philip King Brown as part of the rehabilitative therapy program at a tuberculosis sanatorium located outside of the city of Fairfax, in Marin County, California. The pottery was active from 1911 through 1918. The Arts and Crafts movement flourished from 1860 - 1910. The Arts and Crafts movement encouraged production of hand crafted goods. The production and growth of American art pottery which began in Cincinnatti, Ohio in the 1870s began with a group of women. The most famous pottery artists were Maria Longworth Nichols Storer (1849-1932) and Mary Louise McLaughlin (1847-1939). China painting was an activity considered appropriate for middle and upper class women during this time and influenced the decision to using ceramics as the choice of craft work to be produced at Arequipa.

Establishing the Sanatorium
Brown's mother was Dr. Charlotte Blake Brown, a renowned physician in the early history of San Francisco. Dr. Brown received his medical degree from Harvard University in 1893. Dr. Brown then returned to California, established his practice and also was a teacher. He marred Helen Hillyer in 1900, who was mentored by Phoebe Hearst. As a result of this mentorship, Ms. Hillyer and the Hearst family remained friends for the rest of their lives.

Dr. Brown got his first taste of running a sanatorium when he inherited a large house left to him by a wealthy relative located in Santa Barbara, California. The name of this facility was Miradero, established to rehabilitate "nervous cases." At that time, treatment for tuberculosis, or TB, in a sanatorium was costly and there were few alternatives where working-class women could go to recover from this illness. Dr. Brown was active with the San Francisco Tuberculosis Polyclinic which was a facility where people learned about the prevention and treatment of tuberculosis. This experience motivated Dr. Brown's desire to establish a facility which was affordable for working-class women.

In 1909 Henry Bothin, a philanthropist and business magnate who obtained is wealth through real estate, learned about Dr. Brown's desire to establish an affordable sanatorium and contacted him about estabishing a clinic on some land he owned in Fairfax, California. In 1905 Bothin donated land in Fairfax to the Telegraph Hill Neighborhood House, a community center and clinic located in San Francisco. The property in Fairfax, called Hill Farm, provided a place where mothers and children convalesce from their ill health. Bothin offered a piece of land to Dr. Brown which was located below Hill Farm. It is of interest to note that this land was once owned by Phoebe Hearst. Brown accepted the offer from Bothin, and construction for the sanatorium began in April 1911 and officially opened on September 9, 1911. The official name of this institution was Arequipa Sanatorium and it was designed by well-known San Francisco architect John Bakewell. The name "Arequipa" is from the Peruvian aboriginal language signifying "Place of Rest."