Arts and Crafts in Santa Barbara: The Tale of Two Studios by Santa Barbara Historical Museum

NOTICIAS Quarterly Magazine Of The Santa Barbara Historical Society I

Vol. XXXVIII. No. 4

^TaLg Of Two Scubios

Winter 1992

The lead article in this, the last issue ofJdOTIClASfor iggz, takes a look<^L the rich history of the aits and crafts movement in Santa Barbara. From the 188os into the 193os,a number ofnationally and internationally -hjioujn artists, craftsmen, and designers ofthis important movement called Santa Barbara home. Patricia Ckekdocuments apart ofthis story in relating the histoiy oftwo important arts and crafts centeis, tlie Baton and DeLaney studios. In our second article, Edward Rpbinson recalls a little'knoum chapter ofSanta Barbara history, theproposed Santa Barbara-to-Bakersfield railroad. The cover illustration isfvm Santa Barbara, An Homage, an illuminated work written and designed by Rpbert Wilson Hyde. The illustration below comesfrom a guest bookdesigned by Robert Wilson Hyde and ■fyublished by Paul Elder and Company. The photograph on the back cover shows a leather screen executed by Elizabeth Eaton Burton and is from The Craftsman magazine, July rgo^, page j8z. All photographs are from the collection of the Santa Barbara Historical Society unless otherwise indicated.

AT2CS Anb Q2APCS m SAHCA feAPbAPA

PAcpiOA QAPbnep cLeek Patricid Cleek

been a docent at the Santa Barbara Historical Societyfor

eighteen years, a docent for the Santa Barbara Museum ofArtforfifteen years, and has ivork,ed in the oral history programs at both institutions. She has worked on all three phases ofthe Santa Barbara Historical Architectural R^ources Survey. Her previous contributions to 7V077CMS include pieces on outdoor theaters in Montecito and on architect Francis Wilson. The author wishes to thank, Qloria Martin, whose willingness to share information was tremendously valuable,and Mary Louise Days ofthe planning staffofthe City ofSanta Barbara,for tracing the building permits ofthe Eaton and DeLaney studio buildings.

its origins in Great Britain during the last quarter of the nineteenth SHE ARTS Members AND CRAFTS movement had century. of the movement looked back to the guild systems of the medieval period, when fine craftsman ship was on an equal level with the fine arts. In part, the movement was a reac tion to the Industrial Revolution; it was hoped that the establishment of handi craft workshops would counteract the growing dominance of the machine in the modern world. At the same time, empha sis would be put on handicrafts and the decorative arts, areas that had been con-

sidered inferior to painting and sculpture. William Morris, an early exponent of the arts and crafts movement, put these ideas into practice in forming the Morris Company in 1875, which produced a va riety of handicrafts such as furniture and hand-printed wallpaper and textiles. Morris also founded the Kelmscott Press in 1890, which extended the ideals of the arts and crafts movement into printing and bookbinding. Towards the end of the century, the movement's influence spread to the United States. In 1896, Gustav Stickley visited Eng land and came under the influence of the 61

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In 18^8, I^alph RfidcLiJfe Whitehead opened a manual training school at his Montecito estate, Arcady. The school closed in 190;}. Whiteheads Woodstock^ -A/e^y Yorh estate, Byrddiffe, became a major arts and crafts colony.

movement. He returned to set up his own workshops in upper New York and in 1901 launched The Craftsman magazine, which became an important vehicle for disseminating the ideas of the movement and for showing examples of handi crafts. Another important early arts and crafts figure in the United States was El bert Hubbard, who visited Morris in 1894 and in the following year founded Roycroft Shops, also in New York. Hubbard primarily produced furniture and hand printed books. An offshoot of his experi ment would be tried in Santa Barbara from 1910-1918 with a group called the Craft-Camarata. Englishman Ralph Radcliffe Whitehead, a student of John Ruskin, settled in Montecito in 1894. He built his estate, Arcady, and established a small school of manual arts there in 1898 for local school

children. In addition to the tutelage of William Morris and John Ruskin, Whitehead was influenced by a wellknown arts and manual training instruc tor from Philadelphia, who had visited California and nearby Ventura about 1898, J. LibercyTadd. In 1899, Tadd pub lished his New Nlethods in Education, which emphasized drawing, clay model ing, and wood carving.! By 1900, the Ar~ cady school was using the Tadd method in its classes. In 1901, after visiting Tadd on the East Coast, Whitehead brought back Tadd’s daughter to teach at Arcady and Tadd’s mother to teach a class to Santa Barbara teachers.2 Perhaps Ending Santa Barbara coo isolated from the crafts movement in the East, Whitehead bought extensive prop erty near Woodstock, New York, for an artists’ colony in the summer of 1902. He was possibly inspired by Tadd, who had

ARTS AND CRAFTS

Charlts F. Eaton's estate, Riso Rivo, was an early arts and crafts center in the Santa Barbara area. established his own summer school in the Adirondack Mountains. Whitehead sold Arcady, then left Santa Barbara and re turned for only short visits to his smaller Montecito estate, Tferoli. A neighbor of Whitehead was Charles Frederick Eaton, who settled in Monteci to in 1886. As a young man, he studied art in Paris, married an art student there, and for approximately the next twenty years lived mainly in Nice and Paris, where his daughter, Elizabeth, was born and educated.3 After her marriage in Santa Barbara in 1893, Elizabeth Eaton Burton would come to play an important role in Santa Barbara’s arts-and crafts movement in the new century. Charles F. Eaton and His “Friends In the summer of 1903, The House Beautiful magazine, in an article on "Re cent Arts and Crafts Work” in America, heaped praise on Charles Eaton and three

of his Santa Barbara associates, his daughter, designer Elizabeth; a metalsmith, Christopher Tornoe; and illumi nator Robert Wilson Hyde.*^ Eaton’s first artistic ventures here were landscaping his estate, Rjso I{ivo. and designing flow er festivals, which he had first seen in Nice. He organized the first festival to celebrate President Benjamin Harrison’s visit to Santa Barbara in 1891. The flor al festivals continued each spring through 1896. Sometime before the end of the centu ry, Eaton built a studio on his property and established a workshop for crafts, producing coffers, screens, and lamps. By 1900, his daughter. Elizabeth, had es tablished her shop at 1235 State Street, selling her unique leatherwork. Another of Charles Eaton's fellow craftsmen was Christopher Tornoe, orig inally from Denmark, and trained there and in Germany as a builder. He was em ployed as the contractor for both the

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-. .^}.:-.J^;sA^-ri

The studio^Christopher Tomoe embodied many ofthe principles ofthe arts and crafts movement in its design. Tomoe built a number ofhomes in and around Santa Barbara, including Arcady.

houses of Whitehead and of Anna Blake, who established in Santa Barbara the hrst manual arts school west of the Rocky Mountains. In 1897, Tornoe spent a year in Germany studying architecture and construction. This was a sufficient peri od of time to acquaint him with the arts and crafts movement in Europe. Some time after his return to Santa Barbara, he established a metal-working studio in Mission Canyon. He executed electric light hxtures of hand-wrought iron for the Unitarian Church, which replaced the outmoded gas lamps in 1906. In 1902, Robert Hyde, said to be "orig inally from Chicago,”5 an important center for arts and crafts in the Midwest, arrived in Santa Barbara. In the afore mentioned The House Beautiful issue, Hyde was dubbed the illuminator of the four "friends,” who revived the medieval art for "wedding books in illuminated parchment, white calf-skin and brass.”6 A more complete description of Hyde’s artwork appeared in 1906: As a sample of his production . .. best kjioionto thepublicis "St. Francis’Sermon to

the Birds."?4r. Hyde’s greatest worh, how ever, is illuminating special book.s to order, family registers, wedding books, marriage certificates, children’s records,and Christmas and Easter books from original designs. Quest books, ofwhich only one copy is made, from the special design, with cover bound in natural calf, hinged with brass in gothic style, and title page illuminated with allegorical scenes,perhaps give wider rangefor the exer cise ofthe talent ofthis artist and designer, said to be the first in America to adapt to modem purposes and ideas the work ofthe monks ofthe Middle Ages.7 An example of a housebook dated 1906 by the artist was shown in a 1990 exhibition put on by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art entitled, Ameri can Arts and Crafts: Virtue in Design. The catalogue entry suggests that some of Hyde's book covets may have been the work of Charles Eaton during this early period, although it was noted in 1906 that Hyde "makes a speciality of illumi "8 nating and binding handmade books. The hrst notice of Hyde’s studio oppo site the Arlington Hotel was in 1905,

ARTS AND CRAFTS

when Hyde exhibited a rare collection of books and bindings from Irving Way of Chicago, the company that distributed the first books that William Morris printed for the American market in 1895. The exhibition also included works from England, France, and the United States. The Work of Charles F. Eaton and Elizabeth Eaton Burton Acclaimed In February of 1904, Charles Eaton re ceived public attention for his crafts, when his wood and brass work were exhib ited with other handicrafts at the Chicago Art Institute and were praised in that month’s issue of The House Beautiful. The summer before, the magazine had given a detailed description of his caskets; . . . covered with a strong tan leather, bound, hinged, and locked with highly orna mental metal. But their novelty is the abun dant and ingenious decoration with Califor-

nia products —the streaked abalone shell, or stones found on the Pacific beaches. SomeLimes the coffer orframe is made ofred cedar or sequoia and sometimes it has strange ro settes applied to its surface,formed from the scales ofgiant pine cones.9 The use of native wood by Eaton leads one to suspect that he was ac quainted with Julius Starke, the wood worker and furniture-maker in Santa Barbara, who collected regional woods, especially from Yosemite, to use in his craft work. In 1904, Gustav Stickley devoted an article in The Craftsman magazine to the art of father and daughter Eaton. He wrote mainly about Eaton’s theories of landscape gardening, as exemplified in his Montecito estate, which Stickley had visited. He also wrote of Eaton’s work shop on his property and its production of pieces using "native shells in screens and lamps—which have acquired for him

Charles Eaton's workshop. Photographfrom The Craftsman,July 190^,p. 376.

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a wide repucacion.” Scickley went on to describe Mrs. Burton’s unusual treatment of leather, "In addition, . . . like her father, she is also a metal worker using bronze. . , in combination with the abalone, melon and Philippine shells to produce lamps and sconces in floral forms.’’iO In another article in the The Crafts man, also in 1904, Mrs. Burton’s work combining "pyrography with tinted and appliqued leather’’ was described.H In 1905, she was granted a patent for her or namental leather work, for which she had hrst hied in 1900. She had sold her work in New York for several years and it was so popular chat ocher artists cop ied her designs. The unusual features chat were patented included "a burned line upon the surface of the background’’ and "the ornamental leather surface shaded by burning with a wash color applied over the burned surface.’’12 She remained

at her State Street studio until about 1910, when she moved to Los Angeles and opened a studio there. Charles F. Eaton’s Arts AND Crafts Studio In April 1902, Mrs. Charles Eaton bought a half block on lower Chapala Street, strategically situated across from the Potter Hotel, at chat time still under construction. It was hrst rumored chat the sice would be used for a botanical gar denia. 'The next report had Eaton erect ing a furniture factory. It was not until late November 1903 chat Eaton began building three small connecting frame studios. Each had a large front room which could be used as a reception area or exhibition gallery.H Soon after officially opening in 1904, Eaton’s Arcs and Crafts had an exhibi-

Elizabcth Eaton Burton often combined dijferent materials in her work,- This chest is made ofcamphor wood,ornamented with brass and shells. Photofrom'Tht Craftsman, July i^o^,p.;}8o

ARTS AND CRAFTS

The Eaton studio buildings were located to take advantage ofthe wealthy Potter Hotel clientele. This photograph datesfrom i^oy

crec process, depicting their experiences in deep-sea diving after spending several weeks on Santa Cruz, Island; The wonderful lights and colors that are found deep down in the clear blue ofthe wa ters ofthe Channel round about the island of Santa Cruz have been caught and held by 7Ar. Pritchard in those panels... TVfr. Pritchard and the magic ofthe under sea shades and colors is told vividly in a re cent copy ofPaul Elder's magazine,The Im pressionist. tion of birds and animal paintings by a visiting Japanese artist, Sekko Shimada, who also gave demonstrations of his methods. He was important enough to be represented in the collections of such peo ple as President William McKinley and Mme. Nellie Melba, the famous singer. The next important event for Eaton’s shop was in December 1904, when Paul Elder, a publisher of California authors and founder of the fine book Tomoye Press, as well as the proprietor of a large arts and crafts store in San Francisco, decided to open a branch in Santa Barba ra. P. C. Mills arrived to manage the op eration. During the course of 1905, man agement was turned over to Mrs, Sadie W. Redfield, who had moved here with her daughter from Clinton, Connecticut, the year before. One of the first exhibitions arranged by Elder was held in March 1905, when Walter Pritchard and Jose V. Giles, both members of the London Arts and Crafts

The Morning Press went on to note that they had copied work in the Euro pean decorative tradition for such nota bles as the Queen of England, actresses Sarah Bernhardt and Ellen Terry, but since coming to America, these artists were inspired by new subject matter. Another exhibit held in October 1905 that was sponsored by Paul Elder and Company was of hand-wrought metal work designed and executed by Victor Toothaker. By the end of 1906, Paul Eld er’s shop had moved to the DeLaney building at 1203 State Street, where an addition had been built to accomodate the San Francisco concern. New occupants arrived at the Eaton building in 1906. In October, Mr. and Mrs. W. Edwin Gledhill, recently mar ried, rented a studio there for their pho tography. Robert Hyde also opened a stu dio in the complex. The Morning Press enthusiastically announced Hyde’s first exhibition at the new location, “Mr.

ceiving praise for their show in Elder’s San Francisco store. Both artists had

Hyde’s work is more elaborate than ever, including guest books and many other ar tistic creations, comprising his full sum mer work.’’16

previously visited Santa Barbara and had lived for a short time in Mission Canyon. They did painting on leather, using a se-

In 1908. Robert Hyde put on an ex hibit of works by local artists including Carl Oscar Borg, Robert Wagner, John

Association, showed their paintings of marine formations and sea life after re

Gamble, and Alexan der Harmer in boch his own and adjoining studios. He also showed his own han diwork, the illumina tion of parchment missals and texts, to visiting children from the Anna S. C. Blake Memorial Manual Training School, who came to receive inspi ration for their own bookbinding.

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he spent a year in Washington, D.C. and by the time he re turned to Santa Bar bara in the summer of 1914, he had won ac claim in the arc cen ters of New York. Boston and ocher cit ies in the East. Hyde would then establish his studio in the DeLaney building, until his move to the Car rillo adobe at 15 East Carrillo Street in 1918.

During this period I^bcrt Wilson Hyde was best knoiAmfor his there were preparabeautiful, illuminated manuscripts and '.EdG. T. Marsh, the tions going on in the ^oks^Photograpk by Carolyn andW~' . win LjLedhiil. well-known arc con city in expectation noisseur from San Francisco, held an of the arrival of the U.S. Navy, the “Great White Fleet” that President The opening exhibition in his new studio in odore Roosevelt had sent on an aroundthe Eaton building in January 1912. The the-world tour. The celebration was to exhibit included antique Japanese fabrics include a floral parade featuring a number of floats. Alexander Harmer designed the poster for the flower festival and Robert Hyde designed an illuminated invitation on a parchment scroll, which was sent to President Roosevelt, with a similar one

and embroidery, kimonos, mandarin coats and screens by artists such as Sosen of the Edo period (1615-1867). Marsh moved his shop to State Street the fol lowing year. From 1915 to 1918, Marco Zim occu

going to Admiral George Dewey. The following year saw the Gledhills and N. H. Reed show autochrome photo graphs at Mrs. Burton’s studio on State Street. The year ended with Charles Ea ton being honored with a third grand prize in the arcs and crafts exhibit at the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition in Seattle, Washington. In 1910, Robert Hyde left Santa Bar bara to pursue his career in Europe, where he spent three productive years receiving “liberal patronage by royalty and the no bility and by people of lesser rank, in cluding an order from Queen Mary of England. After this industrious period.

pied a studio in the Eaton building. Zim had studied at the £cole des Beaux-Arts in Paris and the Art Students League in New York. He moved to San Diego in 1911, where he helped found the San Die go Academy of Arc. In 1915, he won bronze and silver medals for sculpture at the Panama-California Exposition in San Diego. Zim also wrote poetry and music. In the win ter of 1920, Gwendolyn Whictingham of Pasadena opened her batik studio next to the Gledhills in the Eaton building. She arrived in Santa Bar bara with an established reputation, hav ing displayed her work in scores on New

ARTS AND CRAFTS

York City’s Fifth Av enue. Her gowns had also been worn by the Russian actress, Nazimova. in the recent

Gledhills stayed on at the Eaton Arts and

film. Heart of the ChurchA^ Her crea

hills moved to tempo rary quarters while a new studio was built

tions in diaphanous materials such as silks and crepes were used for curtains and wall pieces as well as women’s gowns and tunics. Her display in her studio looked "like the winter home of butterflies.”19 Martha Wheeler the New Baxter

Crafts building until the 1925 earthquake. Afterwards, the Gled

for them on property they had purchased at 114 Chapala Street. The building on this site had been erected by Frederick Junior in 1907, where he had his Potter Art Gallery for a number of years. Eaton planned to tear down his Arts and

York cousin of Mrs.

Crafts building and Among the tenants ojthe Eaton studios Charles Eaton, came replace it with a zoos sculptor, musician,and poet Marco town house, but noth to Santa Barbara in Zim. Photograph by Carolyn and W. Ed win QledhuL the summer of 1920 ing came of this.22 Charles Frederick Eaton died in 1930. and maintained a studio in the Eaton As an advocate of the arts and crafts in building adjoining Mrs. Whittingham’s Santa Barbara and nationwide, he had workshop. She was a painter of portraits and miniatures of society people in the United States, England, and France. She was soon painting a portrait of Charles Eaton and a number of children, includ ing Keith Gledhill, son of W.Edwin and Carolyn Gledhill.20 On occasion. Miss Baxter and Mrs. Whittingham combined displays of their wares, as when Marion Craig Went worth used the batik studio to present her series of dramatic readings for society people. Mrs. Wentworth was an impor tant leader in the Community Arts Association. In 1922, Albert Herter held his class in life drawing for the Santa Barba ra School of the Arts in Mrs. Whittingham's vacated studio, next to the Gled¬ hills, in the Eaton building.2i Both Martha Wheeler Baxter and the

worked as a painter, wood carver, and landscape architect. He also had provided studios and exhibition space for other practitioners of the arts and crafts for over 20 years. Elizabeth Eaton Burton: Her Later Career Elizabeth Eaton Burton lived in Los Angeles until about 1924, working as an artist and, for a short time, teaching at her studio. In 1920-1921, she was presi dent of the Los Angeles Center of the Drama League of America and gave dra matic readings at the Santa Barbara Woman’s Club and as a benefit for the Santa Barbara School of the Arts.23 She spent much of the mid-1920s in

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Qwtndolyn Vi/hiuingham buik a national reputationfor her designs in costume and textiles. Is she perhaps wearing one^her own creations here? Photograjm by C.arolyn and W. Edwin Qledhill.

leacher work in New York City and Palm Beach, Florida.26 In 1932. she held an exhibition and sale of antique tapestries and art objects from the last Eaton estate in Montecito, Semiranus. Two years lat er, the Eaton heirs sold the estate. This brought to a close the period of arts and crafts under the leadership of the Eaton family in Santa Barbara. Charlotte DeLaney s Arts and Crafts Building on State Street

France, returning in 1927 to give lectures on French art at the Santa Barbara School of the Arts. The following year, she authored the book, Paris Vignettes, which was highly praised.24 While liv ing in Paris in 1931, she showed watercolor landscapes of France and Switzer land at the American Woman’s Club there and also exhibited in a number of cities her decorative leather work, an area in which she concentrated during the next two years. In 1932, she showed her leather crafts in Paris, executing a series of three-panel screens, large framed panels, and cush ions. which utilized appliqued leather in a range of over eighty tints, giving her work a painting-like effect. Her subject matter included still lifes, landscapes and "geo metric effects.”25 During this period, she studied modernistic design in Paris. In the fall of 1933, she was again in Santa Bar bara to show her latest creation of suede hats and was planning to exhibit her

Charlotte DeLaney had come to Santa Barbara with her daughter af ter the death of her husband in 1882, a few years before the arrival of Charles Eaton. She was a direct descendant of the Adams family that had given this country two early presidents. She had enjoyed a long career as a Shakespearean actress, performing with such famous stage figures as Edwin Booth and the Barrymores, Maurice and Elizabeth Drew. After her stage career was over, she became involved in various activities; around 1900. Mrs. DeLaney had patented a hammock, which she tried to market in New York. In 1902, she purchased a lot on the northwest corner of State and Anapamu streets from the Catholic Church. Soon af ter, she was planning to build a one-story building with a stone foundation and two offices. Ground was broken in April. In October of 1903, the DeLaney building was leased to Mmes. O’Hara and Livermore of San Francisco, who planned to open an art store. In Decem-

ARTS AND CRAFTS

her 1904, the store exhibited a selection of

is a member of the National Society of

Van Briggle pottery. This artisan had worked at Rockwood, the famous Ohio

Craftsmen.”27 In July 1911, the Morning Press boasted that "this city will be the center for Arts and Crafts based on lines

pottery firm, in the late 1880s, Van Brig gle had studied in Paris for three years in the 1890s and had established a studio in Colorado in 1901. He won several medals at the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposi tion in St. Louis, shortly before his death. In early 1906, Robert Hyde briefly had a studio in the DeLaney building, Mary Leicester Wagner, mother of artist Rob ert Wagner, also had a studio here during this period. She was a ceramicist, who had participated in the crafts section of the International Exposition in Paris in 1900. In April 1908, she moved her studio to her home at 1716 State Street. In a successful move to induce Paul Elder to move his shop to her building from the Eaton building, Mrs. DeLaney in June 1906 engaged John Goggia, a local stone contractor, to make improvements to her building. The exterior was to be enhanced with a fountain on the lav/n. By December, W. M. Cabot had opened an art reading room, featuring books and magazines on Japanese and European art. In 1907, Charlotte DeLaney died and the property passed into the hands of her daughter. Constance. Constance married Charles Ealand in 1911. The property be came known as the Ealand building and the building is still in the possession of the Ealand family today. J. T. Botsford became the next tenant, opening an art gallery in September, 1909. His first show consisted of oil paintings by William Wendt and Frank R. Lidell's watetcolors. In December 1910, the Morning Press announced the arrival of John Comstock, "the organizer and chief of the CraftCamarata, who is known by his metal work and hand-wrought jewelry. . . and

of Elbert Hubbard's Roycroft Shops” with John Comstock at its head.28 Elbert Hubbard founded the Roycroft Shops in upper New York in 1895, inspired by a visit to William Mortis’ workshops in England the year before. He at first set up a print shop, later establishing a bindery and leather-working operation. Furniture design and construction, executed in the arts and crafts "mission" style, was add ed in 1896. John Comstock had worked as a head designer in the Roycroft Shops, working Elizabeth Eaton Burton, 1933.

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on furniture, book plates, book illustration, illumi' nated manuscripts, and de sign of deluxe book edi tions.29 Comstock moved to Santa Rosa around 1908 and established an arts and crafts v/orkshop, The Companeros, with his sis ter, Catherine. Upon his arrival in Santa Barbara, Comstock opened an arts and crafts workshop and retail outlet, the Gift Shop of the Craft-Camarata. By the summer of 1911, "the furniture which is made in the shop from original designs is nearly ready. It is fashioned in massive mission style from redwood, trimmed with 30 hand-beaten copper. The plan was to feature crafts designed and made in the shop as well as the work of well-known crafts-

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Above: Burton exhibited some of her finest craftsmanship in her exquisite leather screens. This one is entitled, "The Kedzvood Forest ” Photograph from The Crafcsman, July i qoq., p. 3 89.

ARTS AND CRAFTS

men in poccery. jewelry, enamels, weav ing, textiles, illuminated cards, and ocher items. Frederick Rhead, the Mission Can yon potter, was one of the participating artisans. He had arrived here in 1913 af ter a two-year stint with Arequipa Pot tery in Marin County. John Comstock caught jewelry and metal work, while his sister caught leath er-working. Miss Donna Youmans ran the business, assisted by Doris and Ruth Overman and by Ellen Pierce. Ruth Overman apparently studied under John Comstock. In 1914, she showed some of her metal and jewelry work at an arc ex hibit at the Santa Barbara State Normal School and in the city directory that year she is listed as a metal worker. Although Comstock is initially listed as the proprietor of the Gift Shop of the Craft-Camarata, by 1912 Donna You mans holds that position, with Com stock listed as jeweler. In 1912, Comstock moved to Los Angeles and enrolled in the College of Osteopathic Physicians and Surgeons, although he continued to teach jewelry and metal work to supplement his income, until his graduation in 1915. Comstock’s great love was entomolo gy, which he had first taken up in 1901 and he had published a number of papers in this held. In 1927, he published the auchoritacive book. Butterflies of California, and the following year joined the curato rial staff of the Los Angeles County Mu seum in the natural science department, where he continued until his retirement in 1948.31 After Comstock's departure, Youmans was involved in a number of ventures.

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Elbert Hubbard’s RpycrHt Shops were one of the primary inspirationsfor theformation ofthe Craft-Camarata in Santa Barbara. Hubbard tragically perished in the sinking ofthe Lusita

nia in 1915. in 1912. The hrsc edition is illustrated with block prints by Eunice Hiller; the second edition contained black and white photographs of Santa Barbara scenes. In October of that year Youmans viewed the first hnished pottery from Frederick Rhead’s kiln.32 The Gift Shop of the Craft-Camarata held an exhibition of miniature painted portraits by Helen Todd Hammond of Boston in the spring of 1914. Her clien tele included such dignitaries as U.S. presidents Theodore Roosevelt and Wil liam Howard Taft. In the summer of

She published Marguerite Wilkinson’s volume of poems, By a Western Wayside,

that year, the DeLaney building under went remodeling, after Dr. George S. Wells vacated his office which allowed

Left: The DeLanery building was one ofthe most

the Gift Shop to nearly double in size. During this time, Robert Hyde returned

important centersfor the arts and crafts move ment in Santa Barbara.

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Street, The Craft-Camarata in Santa Barbara ceased to exist. The End of an Era Despite the demise of the CraftCamarata, the arts and crafts movement in Santa Barbara continued to flourish. In April 1919, Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Radcliffe Whitehead exhibited at the Recre ation Center on Carrillo Street a collec

This bookplate, designedfor horticulturist Luther Burbank is one example ofthe many mediums in which John Comstockworked.

to the DeLaney building. He designed a limited series of hand-printed greeting cards, which were sold in the shop. In April 1918, Youmans and Mrs. Carey Weston arranged an exhibition and sale of official French war zone

tion of their White Pine pottery: This pottery is made by M.r. and JVlrs. Whitehead at Byrdcliffe near Woodstockj New Yorh, which place ... has grown into an artists’colonyfrom where many interest ing expressions ofarts and crafts are con stantly going out. The pottery is the direct re sult ofMrs. Whitehead’s study and work,at the Rhead pottery,formerly in Mission Can yon, which makes the exhibition ofadditional interest in Santa Barbara.33 Although, according to the Whiteheads, their pottery shop did not begin operation until the end of 1918, appar ently some pottery activity had been go ing on there as early as 1915, for C, R. By a Western Wayside was published in 1912 by the Craft-Camarata.

prints and lithographs to benefit the Red Cross. Hyde donated one of his illuminat ed guest books for auction to benefit Dr. C. C. Park’s canteen in France. Youmans also added an upholstery shop during the year, while Hyde added a design class in the late summer. The years of World War I saw the financial condition of the Gift Shop dete riorate. Late in 1918, Hyde moved his studio out of the DeLaney building to the Carrillo adobe. Frederick Rhead closed his pottery in Mission Canyon and moved to Ohio, while Youmans opened a new shop in an old adobe building at 104-106 State

yxmiK.

ARTS AND CRAFTS

Ashbee, che English arcs and crafts designer, recalled seeing a kiln and two potters at work at Byrdcliffe in chat 34 year. The Whiteheads’ White Pine pottery used glazes rang ing from blue, purple, and greens to soft grays and or ange. Decoration often con sisted of designs of eucalyptus trees and flowers. The euca¬ lyptus was their favorie tree, which they "planted exten sively in many varieties on their numerous properties.’’35 In lace 1918 or 1919, de signer Kem Weber arrived in Santa Barbara from che San Francisco Bay Area. Born in Germany, Weber had trained as a cabinetmaker in Berlin. He arrived in San Francisco in 1915 to work on commissions for che Panama-Pacific International Exposition, stayed on working a number of jobs, but was pre vented from returning to Europe when che United States entered World War I in che spring of 1917. In August 1920, Weber, Donna You mans, and Herald Weidman incorporated under che name Youmans and Weber. Ac che time, it was reported che three had been associated in che antique and interior decorating business for some time, al though Weidman, recently connected with che Covarrubias Arc School, had only recently joined che ocher two.36 These three were soon involved in a variety of community events. Donna Youmans was selected secretary of che chorus for che community pageant. La Primavera, which was performed in April 1920. Weber and Weidman received credits for che costumes and properties of che production, as well as che design for

For some eight years, the Craft Ca~ marata was the most importanl ve nuefor the arts and crafts in i Santa Barbara.

the poster. In July, che Com munity Arcs Association, a forerunner of the group of che same name which would be a centerpiece of che city’s cul tural life in che decades to come, staged the production, The Quest. Weber was che arc director, responsible for stage design and costuming. He was assisted by Weidman. When che Santa Barbara School of the Arcs opened in October, Weber caught classes in pos ter making and applied design, while Weidman taught stenciling and wood block printing. The hrsc notice of the firm’s furniture production appeared in January 1921, when Youmans and Weber designed and produced furniture for three houses planned by architect Winsor Soule for William S. Spaulding of Moncecico. The furniture was to custom-fit che different architectural styles of each house. One sec of furniture was painted black to re semble teak wood, with a carved Chinese motif.37 During the next month, the firm produced hand-carved walnut furni ture for the home of William Butterworth, which they displayed in their shop window for a time.38 The business association of Youmans and Weber proved to be short-lived. In August, just one year after incorpora tion, Youmans bought out Weber, who then opened a studio in che patio of che Oreha adobe on East De la Guerra Street. By che end of 1921, Weber moved to Los Angeles to become art director for che Barker Brothers furniture firm. There he

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began co design furniture in a new style

NOTES

that today is known as moderne. Youmans closed her art shop and fur niture concern in 1923 and the following year leased the East Ortega Street com plex to the Santa Barbara School of the Arts. For a short time, Frank Morley Fletcher, director of the school, had his office and his wood-block classes there. Fletcher, former director of the Edin burgh College of Arts and a major figure in the arts and crafts movement in Scot land, had come to Santa Barbara upon the urging of his friend, muralist and portrait painter Albert Herter. The com plex also served as the executive offices

1. J. LibertyTadd, New Methods in EducaLion (New York: Orange Judd Co., 1899). 2. Morning Press(Santa Barbara), 19 October 1901, 3. 3. David Myrick, Montecito and Santa Barbara. Volume z, The Days ofthe Qreat Estates (Glendale: Trans-Anglo Books, 1991), 279. 4. Isabelle McDougall,"Some Recent Arts and Crafts Work," The House Beautiful, July 1903, 74. 5. Morning Press(Santa Barbara). 24 Novem ber 1906, 4. 6. McDougall, "Some Recent Arts and Crafts Work," 74. 7. Morning Press (Santa Barbara), 27 May 1906, 6.

of the Community Arts Association. Youmans is last listed in the 1925 city di rectory. In 1924, Elmer H. Whittaker did a $3,500 alteration to the DeLaney building storefront and soon afterward the build

8. Morning Press(Santa Barbara), 24 Novem ber 1906, 4. 9. McDougall, "Some Recent Arcs and Crafts Work," 74-75.

Frank J. Pelch and Bazil M. Blauvelt

10. Gustav Scickley, "Nature and Arc in California,’’77ie Craftsman, July 1904, 388. 11. Arthur Inkersley, "A Californian Arc," The Craftsman. April 1904, 52.

opened a cigar store there. This develop ment marked the close of an era in Santa

12. Morning Press (Santa Barbara). 23 May 1905, 8.

Barbara arts and crafts. From the late 1880s into the late 1920s,

13. Morning Press (Santa Barbara), 26 April 1902, 2.

Santa Barbara became the home, however

14. Keith Gledhill. Interview by June O’Neil,

ing’s connection with the arts ended, as

briefly, for a number of significant figures in the arts and crafts movement in the United States. Two focal points for this flowering of local talent were the shops and studios in the Eaton and DeLaney buildings. With today’s renewed interest in the arts and crafts, it seems timely to recall the important role that Santa Bar bara played in this movement.

25 April 1983. Transcript, 2-3, Santa Bar bara Historical Society. 15. Morning Press (Santa Barbara). 17 March 1905, 8. 16. Morning Press (Santa Barbara), 21 No vember 1907, 8. 17. Morning Press (Santa Barbara), 27 May 1914, 3. 18. Morning Press (Santa Barbara), 1 June 1920, 5.

PSght: The Pelchfamily remained at izoi State Street until the mid-i^oos. Today the site is occupied by the State and A restaurant.

ARTS AND CRAFTS

19. Morning Press(Santa Barbara), 7 February 1920, 5.

Angeles County Museum Quarterly 7, pt. 2 (1948): 11.

20. Morning Press(Santa Barbara), 30 January 1921, 6.

30. Morning Press (Santa Barbara), 9 July 1911, 1.

21. Morning Press(Santa Barbara), 18 January 1922, 10.

31. Stock. "Dr. John Comstock," 11-12.

22. Morning Press (Santa Barbara), 16 August 1925, 5. 23. Morning Press(Santa Barbara), 30 August 1921, 5. 24. Morning Press(Santa Barbara). 24 January 1929, 9. 25. Morning Press (Santa Barbara), 27 April 1932, 4. 26. Morning Press (Santa Barbara), 17 No vember 1933. 6. 27. Morning Press (Santa Barbara), 2 Decem ber 1910, 4. 28. Morning Press (Santa Barbara), 9 July 1911, 1. 29. Chester Stock, "Dr. John Comstock." Los

32. Morning Press(Santa Barbara). 5 October 1913, sec. 2, 1. 33. Morning Press (Santa Barbara), 24 April 1919, 5. 34. Isabelle Anscombe and Charlotte Gere, Arts and Crafts in Britain and America (New York: Ri^zoli, 1978), 38. 35. Morning Press (Santa Barbara), 27 April 1919, 6. 36. Morning Press (Santa Barbara). 6 August 1920, 3. 37. Morning Press(Santa Barbara), 30 January 1921, 5. 38. Morning Press(Santa Barbara), 30 January 1921, 10.

NOTICIAS

Q?be Sahca CBai^I3A13A CO ^AkepspieLb KAiLpoAb ObwApb

Hofemson

Edward Epbinson, a retired field engineer, has lived on and offin Santa Barbara since i934- Long interested in local history, he was a volunteerforfour years at the Santa Barbara Mission Archive-Library and has volunteeredfor over three years in the Qledhill Library at the Santa Barbara Historical Society.

RECENT EXCURSION

intO chc

vaults of the Santa Barbara His torical Society revealed a venture proposed by the Santa Barbara Chamber of Commerce in 1909 to construct a rail road from Bakersheld to the Pacific Coast. This proposal, put forth in a ser ies of letters, suggested an economic benefit to both cities. The Bakersfield Chamber of Com merce responded eagerly and the Santa Barbara Chamber appointed a committee to investigate the feasibility of construct ing the road and a method of financing it. E. B. Hoover, president of Santa Barbara Business College, was appointed chair man of the Railroad Committee. The route across the Santa Ynez, Mountains up Toro Canyon Pass or through Lauro Canyon was first considered, but it was finally decided that a route in the vicinity of San Marcos Pass would be better. The Chamber first thought of interesting a railroad company in constructing and operating the railroad. Later this idea was changed to that of organizing an inde pendent company.

The Santa Barbara Morning Press of October 12, 1909, reported that Messrs. Hoover and Gidney of the Railroad Com mittee would ride over the proposed route from Santa Barbara to the Cuyama Val ley, surveying canyons and mountains for tunnels, bridges, and cuts. They spent several days riding across Santa Barbara County until they reached the Cuyama Valley at the county’s eastern end. The Bakersfield Chamber was not at first considering a terminal in Santa Bar bara, but Port Harford, which had deepsea port facilities. Through the efforts of Hoover, Santa Barbara gained the posi tion of first consideration. The Railroad Committee realized the necessity for a seaport in Santa Barbara, but that notion met with a great deal of opposition among the townspeople, who thought a seaport would bring in undesir able elements. Nevertheless. Hoover's committee continued to promote the ad vantages of a railroad to the San Joaquin Valley. Much correspondence between the Bakersfield and Santa Barbara cham bers resulted in the need for a professional

BAKERSHELD RALROAD

engineer to survey the route and recom mend the best, most economical way. Letters were sent out to selected engineers and interest in the project was apparent. The cost of a survey and report was be yond the Santa Barbara Chamber's bud get and no help from Bakersheld was forthcoming. The Santa Barbara Cham ber considered making an appeal to the citizens of Santa Barbara to raise the necessary two thousand dollars for a pre liminary survey to get the project start ed. but did not carry through that plan. An article published in the Santa Bar bara Independent dated April 3, 1909, re ported, “It is understood that President E.

P. Ripley of che Santa Fe system has been approached by members of the com mittee and has announced that he will lend his aid whenever necessary to push the undertaking through.” The article went on to say that the railroad route was about the same as a route proposed for a wagon road ten years ago. At that time, although a bill for the wagon road passed through the legislature, it was not signed into law by Governor Henry Gage. Hoover wrote in the Independent of March 18, 1909, in an article entitled, "A Commercial Outlook for Santa Barbara,” that Santa Barbara had great possibilities

NOTICIAS

if it were built on broader plans chan be ing a tourist town. Rather, it could be a commercial port for the vast production of the San Joaquin Valley and the gate way to Asia. A news item in the same paper dated April 4, 1909, stated that a railroad to Bakersfield from Santa Barba ra was not a new idea. Such a proposal had gone further chan a dream some thir ty or forty years earlier when a survey was actually made by the Santa Fe Rail road across the Santa Ynez, Mountains in the vicinity of San Marcos Pass, but plans for this route were abandoned. Continued efforts by Hoover and the Chamber Railroad Committee kept the idea alive and generated continued inter est, but no money for a preliminary sur vey. On December 7, 1909, E. P. Ripley, a winter resident of Santa Barbara, wrote an article for the Independent headlined, "E. P. Ripley Advice to Santa Barbara, Strive first for the Attainable Things.” Ripley wrote chat "a railroad from Bak ersfield CO Santa Barbara over these mountains is all nonsense. The men who are advocating this project are wasting their time and money.” Ripley stressed the need for good automobile roads to both the north and the south to bring tourists to Santa Barbara. At a later dace. December 24, 1909, Ripley wrote to Hoover that an article in the press regarding the Santa Fe system was full of misinformation and chat he would like to put it right. In closing his

lecter to Hoover he wrote, "Someday I would like to have a chat with you and correct some misapprehensions which have evidently found lodgement in your system.” In an undated lecter. Hoover re plied regarding these "misapprehensions” stating, "We believe chat the people have faith in your honesty and ability as a railroad man, but cannot doubt chat you have been swept along by the power of this evolution in railroad management — a method which has reversed econom ic laws, built up some cities to the detri ment of others and is even ready to crush independent enterprise.” Correspondence between the Santa Barbara Chamber of Commerce and en gineers, promoters, and others continued for at least two years, to no avail. Let ters dated 1911 are the last to mention the project and the Santa BarbaraBakersfield railroad faded into history. NOTES In addition to the newspaper articles already cited, the "Report of Special Committee of Chamber ofCommerce ofSanta Barbara Coun ty in the Matter of the Santa BarbaraBakersfield Rjzilroad," submitted to the Cham ber on Jidy i6, i^og, was an especially valuable resource. Copies of letters between the chambers of Santa Barbara and Bak.ersfield, as well as the letters written by the Santa Barbara Chamber of Commerce to engineers around the country may befound in the E. B. Hoover papers at the Santa Barbara Historical Society.

Santa Barbara Historical Society both Anniversary Fund Donors as ofNovember i, iggz: Mr. DrMrs.B. Cedric Boeseke,Mr. DrMrs. Charles Cleeb,Mr. DrMrs. Qordon Fish Mr.Dr Mrs. Calvin Qoodrich, The Orella-Qonzalez Family, TheMericos Foundation Mr. David F. Myrick,Mr. Dr Mrs.Paul Ridley -Tree,Mr. DrMrs. QilbertM. W.Smith, Don DrJo Beth Van Qelderen

SANTA BARBARA HISTORICAL SOCIETY BOARD OF TRUSTEES Mrs. Jean Goodrich . . Mr. Leland Crawford . . Mr. David Gledhili . . .

President . . First Vice President Second Vice President

Mrs. Susan B. Simpson

Secretary

Mrs. Helene Beaver

Dr. C. Seybert Kinsell

Mr. Cedric Boeseke

Mr. David F. Myrick Mr. Remi Nadeau Mr. Frank ODonnell

Mr. Oswald]. Da Ros Mr. C. John Douglas. Ill Mrs. Leslie Hovey

Mr. Roger Phillips

Mr. William F. Luton, Jr., Executive Director LIFE MEMBERS Mr. Stephen A. Acronico Mr. and Mrs. William B. Azbell

Mr. Richard C. Harpham

Mr. and Mrs. J.W. Beaver

Mrs. Natalie B. Clark-Harpham Mrs. Glenn D. Hdlebrand

Mr. and Mrs. Dandy Bell Mr. Marvin J. Branch

Dr. C. Seybert Kinsell

Dr. and Mrs. Ashieigh Brdliant Mr. H. R. de la Cuesta Burkhart

Mr. and Mrs. Wdliam F. Luton, Jr. Mrs. Jane Rich Mueller

Mrs. Virginia Castagnola-Hunter Mr. and Mrs. Pierre P. Claeyssens Mr. and Mrs. Charles Cleek Mrs. M. C. Conkey Mrs. Florence Corder-Witter Mr. J. V. Crawford Mr. Richard G. Croft, Jr. Maria Dady Mrs. R. E. Danielson, Jr. Mr. and Mrs. Oswald J. Da Ros Mrs. Albert de LArbre Mr. and Mrs. Gordon Fish Mr. Wdson Forbes Mrs. Helen W. Foyer Master John Galvin Mr. Michael Galvin Miss Sally Gane Mr. and Mrs. Keith Gledhili

Mr. Eric P. Hvolb0ll

Mr. Spencer L. Murfey. Jr. Mr. Wdliam W. Murfey Mr. David F. Myrick Mr. and Mrs. Godwin J. Pelissero Miss Frederica D. Poett Mrs. Rena Redmon Mr. and Mrs. Paul Ridley-Tree Mrs. Alma R. Ritchie Mr. and Mrs. Wade Rubottom Mrs. Melvdle Sahyun Mr. and Mrs. Peter J. Samuelson Mrs. Nina Sandrich Mr. and Mrs. J. Terry Schwartz Mrs. David Shoudy Mr. Walter G. Silva Mr. and Mrs. Burke H. Simpson Mr. Ivano Paolo Vit Mr. and Mrs. John C. Woodward

BENEFACTORS; Santa Cruz Island Foundation. Northern Trust of California, and Two Anonymous Categories of membershm; Life/Benefactor, $5,000 or more; President's Circle. $i,ooo; Patron, ^oo; Associate, $250; Sustaining. $ioo; Supporting, $50; Regular, $30. Contributions to the Society are tax-exempt. Museum & Library: 136 East De la Guerra St., Santa Barbara, CA 93101 ● Telephone: 805/966-1601

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NOTICIAS Quarterly Magazine of the Santa Barbara Historical Society P.O. Box 578 Santa Barbara, California 93102-0578

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CONTENTS Pg. 61: Arts and Crafts Pg. 78: Santa Barbara to Bakersfield Railroad