(continued)

The de Forest Garden

Lockwood and Elizabeth Kellam de Forest made their own home on shady, quiet Todos Santos Lane in Mission Canyon north of Mission Santa Barbara. Her father gave them the land, his father gave money for the house, and Lockwood designed the home, which was completed in 1927. Over the years, the couple developed in their own garden a microcosm of de Forest's landscaping theories.

The garden is a secluded spot surrounded by dense vegetation, with a hidden entrance and a secret patio for picnics. In his planning for the grounds, de Forest pushed rocks, earth and heavy plantings to the north end of the property, forming a hill to hide the entrance road from sight.

The house is a pale, weather-washed ochre, so deceptively simple in design that it is difficult to encompass al at once. Every room has its own garden, a subtle vista different from the others. The central atrium is just large enough to hold a single, twisted flowering almond tree; one wall is covered with Persian tiles. Light from the glassed-in atrium brightens the lawn and upward to a "framed" view of the Mission Ridge Peak-a technique that soon became a de Forest trademark.

A visitor familiar with Lockwood de Forest's feeling about lawns might be surprised to note one at his home- but it is a lawn of South African kikuyu, a prickly brown grass that only greens up during long periods of rain.

Previous Page

Next Page: The Ludington Estate