To this day, scholars debate about who actually did the designing.
Some say Gillespie himself was the primary designer and Goodhue just
executed his ideas. Mrs. Henry Wadsworth (Rosamond) Moore, wife
of the artist who painted scenes from the life of a young Nero on the
barrel-vaulted dining room, wrote that though Goodhue was hired,
the architect who actually worked on the drawings in the office was
Donald Robb. Robb had said he was merely a hand to draw what Mr.
Gillespie directed. Others credit Gillespie’s influence but say Goodhue
brought sophistication to his ideas and was the primary designer.
Certainly, Gillespie was an involved client. He took Goodhue
abroad with him in 1902 to show him the elements he wanted
incorporated in his estate. Mrs. Moore says that he dragged Goodhue
halfway across Greece to show him a window divided into two sections
by a small column because Goodhue had claimed there was no such
thing in classical architecture. They rode more than 400 miles on
horseback from the Caspian Sea to the Persian Gulf to visit classical
gardens, accompanied along the way by Gillespie’s personal caravan.
Goodhue’s drawings for the villa and gardens were completed
by 1903 and published in the
Architectural Review
, which said, “This
[house] is in everyway charming, simple, and does not descend to the
mass of accessory details so frequent in similar work.”
FIRST THE GARDENS
T
he estate was literally built from the ground up, with much of
the landscaping developed long before the foundations were
laid for the house. When Francesco Franceschi, renowned Italian
horticulturalist, published his inventory of exotic plants being
propagated in and around Santa Barbara in 1895, Gillespie’s estate
only warranted a brief mention for a young clump of bamboo, a young
grove of decorative banana trees (musa martini) and catjang of India, a
self-sowing flowering shrub.
The experts in palm cultivation were Charles Frederick Eaton of
Riso Rivo
(today’s
El Mirador
) and Ralph Kinton Stevens of
Tanglewood
MOGULS
&
MANSIONS
(today’s
Lotusland).
They had planted so many palms that Cold Spring
Road was called Palm Drive. Regardless, in 1895, there were only 30
varieties of palms being grown in Santa Barbara.
By the time he was finished planting exotic trees and shrubs and
designing his garden, Gillespie had propagated more than 125 species
of palms ranging from Chilean wine to Australian fan and Canary
Island date palms. He was so enamored of his palms that he dragged a
sleepy Henry Wadsworth Moore out of his bed in 1907 and led him
by lantern light into the garden. There a tiny green spear emerged from
(above)
The view from the azotea (rooftop patio) shows the classical quadrant
of Persian reflecting pools symbolizing earth, air, fire, and water. The Greek
temple lies at the base of the terraced allée. (Estate photo)
(right)
A lateral pool to the allée (SBHM)
52
summer
|
fall
