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winter
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spr ing
(above) Montecito was one of many thoroughbreds slated to race in 1901 at
Underhill's racetrack
(left) Underhill at the race track in 1901 sports the huge sombrero that "made his
slight well-dressed body look like the stem of a mushroom" (photo courtesy of
Montecito Association History Archive)
A
site and the environment. Its south wall made entirely of multi-paned
windows and doors,
La Chiquita
was able to take advantage of the ocean
view visible under the branches of the spreading oaks.
David Gebhard, writing in
Santa Barbara Architecture,
said that
La
Chiquita’s
many bays and windows reinforced the feeling of being in an
open pavilion in the woods. For him, Underhill’s bungalow, “with its
blend of control, rationalism and informality,” was a classic example of
American Arts and Crafts architecture. (In 1925
La Chiquita
was sold to
the developers of the Biltmore Hotel.)
With his Montecito nest well underway, Underhill attended a masked
ball, a Pink Domino, at the Country Club. When the masks came
off at midnight under the rose-colored lights of the floral fairyland of
the transformed hall, Francis Townsend Underhill espied the lovely
18-year-old Carmelita Dibblee. Three weeks later, they announced their
engagement. For those who wondered at the May-December romance, a
New York Society column put it succinctly: “Mr. Underhill is an extremely
rich man ….”
Nineteen hundred and six was a busy year for Underhill. He sold El
Roblar Rancho to Balfour-Guthrie Investment Company, joined the
ranks of autoists with a 30-35 Ranier, gave an open-house party for the
completed
La Chiquita
, bought 232 acres of the old Ortega Rancho
along Sheffield Drive and renamed them
Los Alisos
, and on October 4
was married at Carmelita’s family home. Though Carmelita had recently
attended three years of convent school in Paris, a Presbyterian minister
performed the private ceremony, after which the couple honeymooned in
Europe for several months.
Upon their return in 1907, Underhill razed the home of a previous
owner of the Ortega Ranch, Henry L. Williams, the spiritualist founder of
Summerland, and began construction of a new home on its site. Perhaps
Henry’s spirits were displeased because, before the home was completed,
fire devoured it entirely. It was never replaced, and he and Carmelita
remained at
La Chiquita
.
Architecture and Landscape
With the success of
La Chiquita
, Underhill’s friends and neighbors
began to see him in a new light and commissioned him to design their
houses. Ironically, few wanted a simple bungalow, but that didn’t deter
Underhill. Over the next 20 years, he would enhance the architectural
landscape of Montecito and Santa Barbara with over 32 houses and
several gardens.
One of the first to avail herself of Underhill’s talents was his mother-
in-law, Francisca de la Guerra y Dibblee, for whom Underhill designed a
simple single-story classical home that backed onto Junipero Plaza. From
1910 to 1917, Underhill operated an architecture and landscape office in
Montecito which employed four to six assistants who had architectural
training. In 1911, he was involved in the restoration of Casa de la Guerra.