oranges, bananas, and other semi-tropical plants in the four corners,
and little flat mosaic-tiled pool in the center,” wrote Elizabeth Eaton
Burton. “You go up a flight of steps and then look down on this
court, from a flat roof open to sun and air, and on one of the most
magnificent views ever conceived.
“The simple bedrooms remind one of cells. All the splendor of
the gilded and carved furnishings is reserved for the great banquet
room and the drawing rooms. Long windows open onto wide terraces
at the foot of which are great water mirrors reflecting the whole of
the columned façade. From there, one descends steep steps until one
reaches the garden below, where a vista of long narrow water pools,
reminiscent of Arabia, in which tall cypresses are reflected, leads one’s
eye to the far end to where a pillared pavilion of great beauty is set
on a slight elevation beneath spreading trees. Here was an ideal place
for meditation and repose; here one felt the call of distant lands; here
Marco Polo might have walked….”
FESTIVITIES AT THE VILLA
When the estate was completed, Gillespie decided to give a
house-warming party for the elite of Santa Barbara and Montecito. An
article in the
Morning Press
in 1916 recalls, “White marble seats and
benches were placed about for the guests to sit on, and, as cold marble
is not the pleasantest thing in the world, Mr. Gillespie had an electric
heater installed which furnished heat to each settee. But alas and alack!
Something went wrong with the apparatus and the marble seats soon
became just cooking hot, greatly to the discomfort of the guests and
chagrin of the host.”
Gillespie learned from his mistake and the party celebrating the
upcoming nuptials of his cousin, Gladys Postley, granddaughter of
Captain Absalom Anderson, was a rousing success. In 1909, Gillespie
sponsored a barbecue in the oak grove for the Good Roads group, an
organization determined to improve the highway system of California.
One of the more elaborate parties was a
bal masqué
given in 1910.
The newspaper reported, “Agleam with sparkling light, the ball room
was a scene of unsurpassed beauty. Garlands of smilax formed a canopy
and festoons of smilax and roses encircled the room in classic fashion.”
La Monaca’s band provided the music, and a beturbaned Gillespie
greeted his guests in the costume of a Moroccan prince.
“The gardens were flooded with moonlight and the warm, perfect
evening tempted many to stroll on the broad stone terraces where
silent pools of water reflected the myriad fairy lights which outline
them, while the central fountain splashed merrily.”
Guests wandered the villa, admiring the priceless art treasures
until called to a sumptuous midnight supper. Old names and new
attended: Elizabeth Eaton Burton as an Oriental princess, Mrs. Frank
Norris as an East Indian woman, Mrs. Robert Louis Stevenson as the
Lady of Levoka, Mrs. Francis T. Underhill as an Egyptian princess, and
Miss Delphina Dibblee as a baby doll. Nearly 100 of Santa Barbara,
San Francisco, and Montecito’s old guard attended.
During WWI, Gillespie loaned the villa for a benefit for Fatherless
Children of France. “Mary Pickford,” said a local paper, “walked out of
the picture world on Mr. Gillespie’s terrace, looking just as she does in
her pictures... and made a touching appeal for the fatherless children of
France.” The program, which raised $1,800 in pledges, continued with
entertainments given by local talent. The news reporter said, “No more
beautiful setting could have been chosen than El Fureides (sic), ‘Place
of Delight, Realm of Enchantment’ where under the waning moon a
daughter of the dons gave three typical dances of Spanish provinces.”
Gillespie spent several months out of the year at his other
properties, the farm in Middle Granville, the villa in Cuba, an
apartment in New York City, and a hunting lodge in Maine. His
MOGULS
&
MANSIONS
(left) El Fureidîs
was the setting for many movies made during the 1910s
and ‘20s (above) Gillespie’s estate was the setting for this scene from 1920’s
The Letter to Philemon
, a story from the life of the disciple Paul. Note the
Greek temple in the background. (SBHM)
summer
|
fall
57
