return to Santa Barbara was always heralded by the society pages. In
1916, a local paper reported on this “Much Sought-After Man.”
“Santa Barbara society is all aflutter over the return of J. Waldron
Gillespie to his beautiful Italian villa, ‘El Feureides,’ at Montecito,
after a seven months absence,” wrote the editor. “Mr. Gillespie, who
has ‘money to burn’ as the expression is, is a bachelor, and, of course,
he is greatly sought after by many of the designing Mammas of
the Southland. But now, after having braved several long and hard
campaigns, they are beginning to give him up as a bad job.
“He is an art connoisseur of note, and his Montecito home is
just full of marvelous things which he has transplanted from Italy.”
Among his Italian-themed artifacts was a full-size bronze replica of
an Antinous, which was given a place of honor under the columned
portico of the open interior court. Small wonder that the more
classically educated Montecito “Mammas” gave him up as a lost cause.
The beauty and romance of Gillespie’s Place enticed the
fledgling movie industry, which used the gardens as the setting for
several productions. Santa Barbara’s own Flying A (American Film
Manufacturing Company) used the estate for the 1913 productions
The Adventures of Jacques
and
The Days of Trajen,
both of which starred
Vivian Rich.
The Letter of Philemon
and
The New Faith
, two stories of
early Christians, used the classical features of the estate as well.
MOGULS
&
MANSIONS
One of two pergolas on the azotea (rooftop patio)
was clearly visible from the entry drive (Estate photo)
58
summer
|
fall
