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The Way It Was
Anna Dorinda and Her Estate
by Hattie Beresford
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MONTECITO JOURNAL
Anna Dorinda Bliss bought the land in Mission Canyon and helped establish the Blaksley Botanic Garden, named in honor of her father. Seen here circa 1942 is Dorothy Shrake in the meadow area designed by Lockwood de Forest, Jr. and Beatrix Ferrand. (Courtesy Santa Barbara Historical Museum)
C
asa Dorinda, today a luxurious retirement community, was once the premier social gathering place for elegant garden parties and cultural evenings that featured some of the most renowned musicians in the world. Designed by Carleton Monroe Winslow in 1916 in a Spanish Revival style, the 80-room estate house surrounded a central patio and was filled with treasures of paintings and decorative arts from around the world. The house and the grounds were the vision of Anna Dorinda Bliss, who concerned herself with all aspects of the estate’s development and paid the bills. The home, completed in 1918, featured a large library and an Oriental room with a ceiling from Peking. The dining room had secret cupboards behind its wooden paneling, and the music room boasted a built-in pipe organ. Letters between Anna and her West Coast attorney and agent, Spencer Forbes, reveal the budgetary details of the construction. When the work was completed, Anna was unhappy with the workmanship of the wrought iron gates. She demanded that they be redone. The Otis Elevator Company, too, was called back several times because the elevator was noisy, jerky, and slow. Correspondence over the elevator issue continued for nearly two years. Anna hired Peter Reidel as her landscape architect, and the varied gardens developed over time. She was very involved with their creation and consulted with the renowned Eastern landscape architect, Beatrix Ferrand, who had worked with Anna’s daughter Mildred to design the gardens for Mildred’s Washington, D.C., estate called Dumbarton Oaks.
• The Voice of the Village •
Anna Dorinda Bliss (Courtesy Santa Barbara Historical Museum) Ms Beresford is a retired English and American history teacher of 30 years in the Santa Barbara School District. She is author of two Noticias, “El Mirasol: From Swan to Albatross” and “Santa Barbara Grocers,” for the Santa Barbara Historical Society.
Anna Dorinda Blaksley
Anna Dorinda was born in 1851 in Saint Louis, Missouri, where her father had been a successful merchant, grocer, and real estate developer. She was educated at the best private schools and in Paris. At age 27, she married the widower Demas Barnes, who had made a fortune in the patent medicine field. Demas had led quite a varied life before marrying Anna. He
WAY IT WAS Page 364 19 – 26 March 2015