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summer
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and Fort Tryon Park was born. In 1918, the furnishings from his Oyster
Bay estate,
Farnsworth,
were shipped to Santa Barbara and the house
became a temporary war-time hospital.
Santa Barbara
C.K.G. Billings and George Owen Knapp first visited Santa Barbara
in 1904, staying at the new Potter Hotel. They returned in 1905 and the
Morning Press
reported that Billings had brought more horses and autos for
private use than any other winter visitor, ever. When the sojourn ended,
horses and cars were packed onto Billings’ private railcar and returned East.
In 1911, George Owen Knapp succumbed to Santa Barbara’s charms
and purchased the
Arcady
estate in Montecito. Billings was not to be
outdone. In 1916, he leased
Bellosguardo
, on the site of today’s Clark
Estate, for the season. In 1917, he returned to Santa Barbara with his
regular entourage of horses and cars, purchased land from the Alston Land
Company and commissioned Francis T. Underhill to design, as Underhill
reported, “a simple home-like Mediterranean house; roomy but not
pretentious.”