by Paul R. Spitzzeri
When painter William Cogswell decided to add on to his estate on a mesa below the San Gabriel Mountains in what is now northeast Pasadena and make, with son-in-law William P. Rhoades, a commercial venture out of this enhancement, it was hardly the best time economically to do so. Greater Los Angeles’ first boom, which peaked in 1875, the year he bought hundreds of acres of the Rancho Santa Anita to build his home, plant citrus and add other improvements, suddenly went bust and the region joined the “Long Depression” that lasted through the rest of the decade.
The Los Angeles Express of 31 March 1877 briefly reported that,
The new hotel now being erected in San Gabriel [a name for a broad area surrounding the old mission town], by Messrs. Cogswell & Rhodes [sic], will be first class in every respect. The managers have every opportunity to distinguish themselves, for there will be very many of our visitors and some of our residents who will make lengthy visits to the locality, when suitable accommodations are to be obtained.
Meanwhile, Cogswell’s son, William G. and his wife Lizzie Hutchinson were making musical names for themselves with concerts, such as the Turn-Verein Hall, built by local Germans, in Los Angeles, with one held on 17 May and praised by the paper as the result of “genuine musical talent,” particularly Lizzie Cogswell, who bore a “high reputation which she had formerly acquired” before “the long protracted expectation” of her displaying her abilities.
The Express ran a lengthy feature in its edition of 28 August on Sierra Madre Villa, this apparently being the first time this moniker appeared in public. Hailing the site’s “charming location,” the unnamed reporter noted that “the villa shows superbly as one dashes through the San Gabriel plain” and then “a winding road brings one to the table land at the foot of the mountain, and soon the unique hotel itself is reached.”
As many found, “when one turns to look down toward Los Angeles, one of the most picturesque prospects in American stretches out before one,” including glimpses of such nearby estates as those of Benjamin D. Wilson, Leonard J. Rose, and Luther H. Titus, while “the Indiana colony is also plainly visible,” the name Pasadena, however, was being used for about two years by that time. The viewer could look from El Monte to the left, through the Whittier Narrows gap and “clear to Wilmington and the Santa Catalina Islands [sic], with the intervening ocean.” It was added,
We doubt if, on the continent, there is a more delightful view than that which may be obtained from the Sierra Madre Villa, with the spread of two or three hundred thousands acres of fertile land which lie before it, many of these lands remarked for the most minute and elaborate cultivation in the world, diversified as they are by orange and lemon groves and vineyards.
The account continued that there was more than the impressive vista. It noted that “the cañon back of the Sierra Madre villa has supplied its owner, Mr. Cogswell, with the means of beautifying his splendid property.” A “pretty sward” to the front of the facility “forms a delicious background” for the orange grove planted there and of which there were 1,400 specimens, some to bear in the coming season and almost the remainder the next.
Notably, the reporter commented that the property had “rather the aspect of a village than a hotel” and estimated that Cogswell expended up to $75,000 on it, adding that
The original villa is a handsome and commodious cottage, which has been supplemented by a large, airy and attractive hotel building . . . Mr. Cogswell is an artist and he has carried his artistic impulse into every detail of his villa. Like the Arlington [a well-known Santa Barbara hotel], the Sierra Madre villa has not only ample verandahs, but they are enclosed with windows, set in a wooden frame work. Thus the breeze can be regulated at the pleasure of the guests.
The appointments of the hotel are rich, costly and elegant. The rooms are arranged en suite, and every detail of the upholstering is sumptuous and perfect. Gas and water are in every room of the house; altogether, from forty to fifty guests can be accommodated in elegant fashion, at Sierra Madre Villa.
Another highlighted element was a music and billiard room and, as noted in a description of what was then termed as “Anita Villa” the prior year, the extensive irrigating system was focused upon, though here it was recorded that “about every two hundred yards there is a hydrant, and a long hose, in the hands of a Chinaman, dispenses the fertilizing showers.” Watering involved, beyond the stated number of orange trees, another 1,600 lemon and others.
The Express also remarked on “an apiary of some three hundred hives, a miniature lake, a variety of outbuildings, and a tobacco plantation some distance in the rear of the hotel,” this latter not being at all a common product grown in this region (although F.P.F. Temple, at his place in the Whittier Narrows, experimented with it in prior years). William G. Cogswell took the reporter out “to the grotto which furnishes the water supply” about three-quarters of a mile away and was reached by a descent of 300 feet in what was deemed ” a miniature Cape Horn” taking some physical effort to get to.
There, the chronicler continued,
a sharp turn to the right brought us to a cascade which plunged, for a distance of fifteen or twenty feet, over a shelving rock. The roots of great, gnarled trees reached clear down to the pool in which the waters plunged. The sun, in this secluded dell, was at a discount, and a native of the Arctic regions could have been at home here, so cool and balmy [this usually means warm, however] was the air. The crystal clear water, cool and refreshing, compensated one for the slightly trying walk.
The “Great Hiking Era” and the widespread use of what was still generally referred to as the Sierra Madre Mountains was some years away, though some locals ventured into the San Gabriels to enjoy such sylvan spots as described here in Eaton Canyon.
The piece ended with the observation that the “poetical home” was such that “we deem it to be our duty to inform persons who are sojourning in Southern California for their health that their ‘Eureka’ is in the Sierra Madre Villa,” which was “a glorious retreat” and “is calculated to charm any one who rejoices in aesthetic susceptibilities.”
The 29 October edition of the Express included a lengthy reverie about the San Gabriel Valley as part of “the charming circle which forms the garden periphery of our Los Angeles wheel,” with lavish praise for Wilson, the brothers Alfred and William Chapman and, as viewed from the house on the latter estate, “the Sierra Madre Villa, one of the most charming places we have ever seen.” Reiterating some of the above, the piece noted that, on the approach out of a curve within a depression in the landscape, “the whole scene suddenly bursts on the eye and fills one with the most pleasant sensations.”
The article went on to observe that “to appreciate the wonderful beauties of this place, one must know that but two short years ago this bench was a mere waste, and that the hand of improvement had never before touched it.” The orange grove, irrigation and view were described, while, with the interior of the hotel, “we find here food for the greatest astonishment,” with specific reference to “a Sanitarium . . . on a most extensive scale for a private venture.” The two-story hotel building was described as about 150 feet in length and rooms with appointments “that could conduce to the comfort or pleasure of a residence in this retired and healthful spot.”
Behind the hotel and Cogswell residence “is a reservoir lined with cement” and measuring some 2,000 square feet “supplied by a constant mountain stream,” while near this “is a patent gas generating outfit, placed in the ground, capable of supplying seventy burners.” Barns, stables, and outhouses (including a laundry staffed by Chinese—nearly a half century later, this would be the sole surviving structure from the compound) were “in such profusion as to give the place the appearance of a small village.”
Ultimately, the impression left on the visitor was “that such an Eden has been brought forth from the wilds of a mountain shelf in two years” and that this “shows how taste and intelligence, backed by the necessary finances, can convert even our most unsightly places into beautiful and blooming gardens.” It was averred that there were a thousand similar locales along the foothills of the mountains, leading to the conclusion that
If we should take the Villa as a sample of the magnificent improvements these bench lands are destined to generally undergo, we may look forward to the time when our valley will be fringed in the east by a border as beautiful as the scenes through which Laila Rookh passed on her way to share the throne of Aurungzebe.
This obscure reference at the end was to an 1817 poem by Irish poet Thomas Moore (a sample for the curious is found in this Poetry Foundation link). On 22 December, the Express published a travelogue from a colleague at the Stockton Independent, from the San Joaquin Valley burg, and who discussed the Indiana Colony including some detail at the estates of Dr. Orville and Louise Conger and Professor Ezra and Jeanne Carr (their Carmelita residence is now the site of the Norton Simon Museum.)
Next was a visit to Sierra Madre Villa, “a private hotel, or pleasure resort” that was deemed “chiefly interesting as an illustration of what money and water will do in changing a desert,” well, a semi-arid area, “into a blooming garden.” The Stockton editor noted that Cogswell began his work in January 1875 (he purchased his first interests in the Rancho Santa Anita tract then), spent $75,000 (as noted above) and it was added that “the ground was so thickly covered with sagebrush that it cost $17 an acre to clear and plow it.
Notably, this account said the water supply was from a spring 3 1/4 miles away, while the aforementioned description said it was only a quarter mile, and that “the spring has a flow of 5,000 gallons an hour.” As for the agricultural element, there were 500 acres being worked, 20% devoted to oranges, lemons and limes and forty acres cultivated as a vineyard. The oranges were already four and five years old when planted to hasten harvesting of saleable fruit and it was stated that no frost was known to have been observed there. The correspondent commented that “the largest and finest oranges seen anywhere in our travels were at this place.
Finally, it was remarked that,
The hotel is a handsome building, beautifully furnished and equipped for the comfort of guests. It overlooks the whole farm, and has a commanding view of the San Gabriel valley, spread out like a map below it. The hotel is kept by W.P. Rhoades, a son-in-law of Mr. Cogswell, and has a capacity for fifty boarders.
The earliest located advertisement for the Sierra Madre Villa is from the 3 January 1878 issue of the Los Angeles Herald with the establishment noted as “A Private Hotel on the mesa or table lands of the Sierra Madre Mountains” and within a “Climate unsurpassed for Summer or Winter Residence.”
Also touted were “a charming view of valley and mountain,” including what was sometimes denoted as the San Gabriel Fruit Belt, the proximity of four miles from a railroad depot and telegraph office and that the new facility sported gas lighting and “contains all modern conveniences. Unusual was that there was “A School for children on the premises,” while rates were from $12 to $15 weekly and potential patrons were directed to Cogswell via a post office box in Los Angeles.
We’ll return tomorrow with part three, so be sure to check back in then!
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