HSDC Winners for 2020!

We are proud to announce the winners of this year’s competition!

Winners of HSDC 2020

* names match from left to right*

Emilia Thomas, a junior at Santa Barbara High, won first place.

Ellie Gleason, a freshman at Dos Pueblos High in Goleta, won second place.

Luming Cao, a senior from Laguna Blanca High School in Santa Barbara won third place.

Larson Ladinig, a senior and Olivia Doman, a sophomore, both from Santa Ynez Valley High were awarded Honorable Mentions. 

Congratulations on all who participated! It was a joy to have this competition despite the complications due to Covid-19 and we look forward to another year of the High School Design Competition!

For more details, visit our High School Design Competition Page through the Education tab to read an article written by our Executive Director Rocio Iribe! 

A Note From Board President on COVID-19’s Impact to AFSB

A Letter From Our Board President, Selinda Tuttle

Dear AFSB Community,

I’d like to start by thanking you for taking a moment to read this note. I think we’re all struggling to find the right thing to say right now, AFSB is no exception. During the unprecedented health crisis of COVID-19, AFSB has been temporarily closed and events indefinitely paused or delayed. But in chaos, there is an opportunity. Above all, the mission of AFSB is to build community.

Historically, we have done so through social gatherings and public events. Now we must find new ways to connect, engage, and support each other as we seek outlets that will fortify us in our time of need. I invite all our members, sponsors, subscribers, and supporters to stay engaged with AFSB as we explore different venues and platforms to build and strengthen our community.

After some time to adjust and reflect on our new reality, we are ready to move forward and work on how to best serve you, our AFSB community. The first program to be affected by cancellations and quarantine directives was our annual High School Design Competition. In the middle of their weeklong event, they adjusted and changed course without almost missing a beat, in support of our mission of education. And that is the spirit of perseverance we are adopting.

KDA and our Art Gallery were the next to be affected. KDA is currently finalizing a “KDA From Home” version to spark your kids’ creativity while home. For our current art gallery exhibition, “Meandering the Edges” by Nathan Huff, there are more photos and videos on our Instagram and on Nathan Huff’s website. Stay tuned for an interview by Board Member and Art Gallery Chair, Bay Hallowell, with Nathan to be posted on our website. Following this email will be a recap of this year’s High School Design Competition.

Thank you to all who support AFSB. On behalf of the entire AFSB Board of Directors, please stay safe and well. Together we will come through this. We look forward to celebrating with you in person again soon. 

Kind Regards,

Selinda Tuttle, Associate AIA
Board President
Architectural Foundation of Santa Barbara

Learn. Experience. Give.

The Dark and Cryptic in Indiana

The Dark and Cryptic in Indiana

Constructed in the 1800s this phantom-rich house was built in the shape of a cross that faces east. That in itself is strange, but there is nothing else that is common to this house declared to be one of the “notoriously haunted properties in America.” The house sits on a crossroads and has a list of ghastly deaths that have occurred within its walls.

The home and land, located at 132 S Union Street in Cuyuga, Indiana is documented to have a strong Native American connection. There was a major battle very near where the house sits today. To add to its mystery, there are ancient burial sites around the area and two rivers converge in the tiny town. A strange book was found buried beneath the old floor that deals in Necromancy and other occult practices. Could all these factors contribute to the intensity of haunting in this property? Many believe it does!

The Dog Suicide Bridge of Scotland

The Dog Suicide Bridge of Scotland

This world holds thousands of alluring places filled with mysteries that attract people from everywhere. But there are a few that are born to lure people to a sinister fate. Many believe it to be a curse, many think it’s bad luck but those places keep continue the destinies. And “The Dog Suicide Bridge of Scotland” is significantly one of them.

Near the village of Milton in Dumbarton, Scotland, there exists a bridge called the Overtoun Bridge that, for some reason, has been attracting suicidal dogs. That’s why this Gothic stone structure on the approach road to Overtoun House has infamously earned its name “The Dog Suicide Bridge.”

Lord Overtoun had inherited Overtoun House and the estate in 1891. He purchased the neighbouring Garshake estate to the west of his lands in 1892. To ease access to the Overtoun Mansion and the adjacent property, Lord Overtoun decided to build the Overtoun Bridge.

The bridge was designed by the renowned civil engineer and landscape architect H. E. Milner. It was constructed using rough-faced ashlar and was completed in June 1895.

To this day, more than six hundred dogs have jumped over the edge at the Overtoun Bridge, falling on the rocks 50 feet below to their deaths. To make things stranger, there are reports of dogs who survived the accidents, only to return to the bridge for a second attempt.

“The Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals” had sent representatives to investigate the matter. But after getting on the bridge, one of them suddenly became willing to jump in there. They were totally baffled by the cause of the strange behaviour and they immediately had to close their investigation.

The canine psychologist Dr. David Sands examined the sight, smell and sound factors at the Suicide Bridge location. He concluded all these strange phenomena by saying that – although it was not a definitive answer – the potent odour from male mink urine was possibly luring dogs to their horrible deaths.

However, a local hunter, John Joyce, who has lived in the area for 50 years, had said “there is no mink around here. I can tell you that with absolute certainty.

A local behaviourist named Stan Rawlinson drew another possible cause behind the strange Suicide Bridge incidents. He said that dogs are colour blind and perceptual problems relating to this may cause them to accidentally run off the bridge.

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From the beginning, the paranormal researchers from all around the world have been fascinated with the strange suicide phenomena of the Overtoun Bridge. According to them, the canine deaths have prompted claims of paranormal activity at the bridge site. Many even claim to witness ghosts or other supernatural beings within the bridge premises.

Enchanting French Regency Villa​

Enchanting French Regency Villa

Montecito Gem Designed by Lutah Maria Riggs

 
By Betsy J. Green                                  
Wed Apr 01, 2020 | 10:35pm

Address: 818 Hot Springs Road

Originally published in The Santa Barbara Independent

Link to published article here: https://bit.ly/2yHXn0U

 

It was 1934 — the middle of the Great Depression — and the world’s economy was on its knees. Jobs were scarce, money was tight, and the building industry was cut to the bone. Santa Barbara architect Lutah Maria Riggs must have been very happy to land the assignment to design a French Regency villa in Montecito. Located at 818 Hot Springs Road, a short distance down the hill from Mountain Drive, the home was her only major project of that year. 

The original address of the residence was 1028 Hot Springs Road, but it was changed to 818 Hot Springs in the 1950s. The practice of changing a house number or name is not uncommon and is a factor that house historians keep in mind when doing research.

 

 

                                                        Lutah Maria Riggs         Photo: Santa Barbara Historical Museum

At just over two acres, the property that the home occupies was carved out of a larger estate. At the time, the home was known as Les Chênes, meaning “The Oaks” in French. The name does not seem to be in use currently.

According to an article about the home in Architectural Forum in July 1937, the oak trees on the property were instrumental in the positioning of the house: “The character of this house was set by the owner’s requirements and its layout by the character of the site. The owner wanted a modernized French design… A natural alley of live oaks determined the placement of the living room, and the strung-out plan was dictated by the contours and the view of the sea below.”

A writer for the Los Angeles Times described her visit to the home on June 21, 1939: “This is an enchanting French pavilion, a part of the French Riviera hidden away on Hot Springs Road in Montecito… There is so much that is wonderful. A two-mile view to the ocean — fireplaces in every room — marble floors throughout the house… Quite as lovely as the house are the many gardens of the estate. A formal French garden is laid out at clipped right-angles, while an adjoining camellia garden overflows informally into the patio where breakfast is served on summer mornings.” The home’s gardens are said to have been designed by Lockwood de Forest Jr. of Santa Barbara.

Dr. Volker M. Welter at the Department of History of Art & Architecture at UCSB is working on a book about Riggs. Welter visited the home and called it “one of the best houses Riggs designed in the early 1930s.” He added, “The floorplan of the originally one-story tall … home strings together a masterly sequence of a central, rectangular living room with an oval-shaped, most beautifully proportioned dining room and service spaces to one side, and an octagonal, wood-paneled library to the other side from where also to access three bedrooms.”

Welter also discovered a secret room in the home. He commented, “Riggs calls that ‘secret’ room a ‘radio room’ but from my study of the surviving drawings, I was not able to establish how one could access that room, other than squeezing an impossible thin person through a storage space inside the walls.”

        Santa Barbara Historical Museum.                       Photo: courtesy Santa Barbara Historical Museum

The home’s first owners — Allen Breed Walker and his wife, Katherine Frisbee Walker — had connections in show business. Walker was in the hotel industry, and the couple lived in La Quinta, near Palm Springs. The Walkers became close friends with actress Marie Dressler, a famous stage comedian who also worked in silent movies and sound films. She costarred with Charlie Chaplin in the 1914 film Tillie’s Punctured Romance. 

In 1934, Dressler fell ill and spent the last months of her life in a cottage on a Montecito estate owned by CKG Billings. The Walkers stayed and took care of her there until she passed away. The following year, they built their home under the oaks.

818 Hot Springs Road was sold at auction on February 24, 2020. The escrow is still pending. The sales price will be disclosed within 30 days of close of escrow. For more information, visit conciergeauctions.com. Please do not disturb the current residents.

Betsy J. Green is a Santa Barbara historian and author of Discovering the History of Your House and Your Neighborhood, Santa Monica Press, 2002. Her website is betsyjgreen.com.

Architect’s Ideal Craftsman Home

Architect’s Ideal Craftsman Home

Craftsman Home Has Been Loved Through the Years​

By Betsy J. Green
Thu Mar 05, 2020 | 7:25am

Address: 212 West Valerio Street
Status: Not on the market

Originally published in The Santa Barbara Independent

Link to the original publication here : https://bit.ly/34gCNQY

 

Architect Adam Sharkey and his wife, Jill, had lived in Santa Barbara’s upper downtown neighborhood for years and had long admired the home at 212 West Valerio Street. “I imagined that one day we would live there,” said Adam. “We loved the large front porch, the architectural character of the house, the large cut-sandstone walls, and the front rose garden. So, when it was listed for sale in 2015, I told my wife that we had to buy it.”

The home at 212 West Valerio Street is a large Craftsman home, constructed in approximately 1908. The Craftsman style, popular from 1905 to 1930, typically features classic, clean lines in contrast with the ornate style of the earlier Victorian era. 

Much larger than most other Craftsman homes found in Santa Barbara, this particular home is also noticeable for its hipped roof. The classic reference book A Field Guide to American Houses, by Virginia Savage McAlester, notes that only about five percent of Craftsman homes are of the two-story, hipped-roof variety.

Nevertheless, this home has many defining characteristics of the Craftsman style: a low-pitched roof with wide eaves supported by exposed rafters, square porch posts, and clapboard and shingle siding. The slightly flared roofline and elegant curved line on the second-floor porch give it an extra dash of curb appeal.

The city’s Historic Landmarks Commission has listed this home on its Structures of Merit list, and notes that this house “is characteristic of the type of houses built for Santa Barbara’s prosperous tradesmen and middle class during the early 20th century.” Fittingly, the first resident of 212 West Valerio Street owned a jewelry store, and the second owned an automotive business, both of which were located on State Street.

When looking into the origin of the house, it appears that a couple from Calistoga, California, named Oscar and Katherine Fitch bought a house on the large lot on the northwest corner of Valerio and De la Vina Streets in 1906. Later that year, they applied for a building permit to build another house on the west side of their property. The second home’s estimated construction cost was $4,000, according to the building permit. The home does not appear on the 1907 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map, so it must have been built shortly after that. While the Fitches’ original home no longer exists, this second home is the home now standing at 212 West Valerio Street.

                       Eaves Jewelry

 

According to the 1908 Santa Barbara City Directory, the Eaves family were the first residents of the home. Old city directories, available at the Santa Barbara Historical Museum, the Central Library, and the Genealogical Society library, provide great research tools.

The head of the family was Leonora Eaves, the owner of a jewelry and watch store established in Santa Barbara in 1883. Residing with Leonora were her daughter, also named Leonora, and her son, Albert T. Eaves, the deputy county clerk.

A few years later, the Eaves family moved out, and the Fitch family moved in. Yes, they moved from almost next door into their other house at 212 West Valerio Street. Oscar Fitch owned an automobile dealership downtown that sold REO cars, named for manufacturer Ransom Eli Olds, whose surname later morphed into Oldsmobile.

                     Vintage Newspaper Ad

 

After the Fitches moved out, the house had several subsequent owners until 1947. In that year, Harry S. Wilson, a teacher at Santa Barbara Junior High School, and his wife, Myrtle W. Wilson, bought the home. They and their descendants owned the home for an amazing 68 years, up until 2015, when it was purchased by the Sharkeys. Clearly, the Wilsons’ tenure indicates that they also considered it an ideal house.

The Sharkeys have remained true to the home’s architectural style with the updates they have made. Experts agree, since one of their bathroom makeovers was featured in Old House Journal magazine. 

Adam gives the following advice to owners of older homes: “Look to preserve and enhance the character of the best qualities of the house. Bring interior items up-to-date in ways that work with the original house.” Ideal advice, indeed!

Please do not disturb this home’s residents.

 

Betsy J. Green is a Santa Barbara historian, and author of Discovering the History of Your House and Your Neighborhood, Santa Monica Press, 2002. Her website is betsyjgreen.com.

 

1875 Second Empire Home​

The dark histories behind these architectural gems are as spooky as they are beautiful… Take a tour with me as I explore stunning structures and spooky locations to discover why visitors to these haunts never want to leave – even after death.

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