Lotusland's Timeline

The Eras of Lotusland

There were three main eras in the ownership of the property that is now Lotusland. In the 1880s it was known as Tanglewood, the home and commercial nursery of Kinton Stevens. In the 1920s the Gavit family renamed it Cuesta Linda and added the existing Spanish Colonial Revival style buildings and formal gardens. In 1941, Madame Walska purchased the property and ultimately named it Lotusland. Over four decades, she worked with many talented gardeners and designers to make the gardens you see today.

1882
1882

1882

Ralph Kinton Stevens buys the property, which he names Tanglewood and uses the acreage for his family’s home and commercial nursery.
1887

1887

Ganna Walska, nee Hanna Puacz, is born in Brest-Litovsk, Poland.

1896

1896

Stevens dies. His struggling widow operates the property as a guest ranch, leases it to a school and eventually rents it out to winter visitors until selling it seventeen years later.

1913

1913

Stevens’ widow sells the property to neighbor George Owen Knapp.

1914

1914

Hanna adopts the stage name Madame Ganna Walska and studies singing in Paris with Polish tenor Jean de Reszke.

1915

1915

Madame Walska moves to New York to avoid World War I and learns that Baron d’Eingorn has died in battle.

1916

1916

New Yorkers E. Palmer and Marie Gavit purchase the property, naming it Cuesta Linda. Pasadena based architect Reginald Johnson completes the main house in 1920.

Ganna Walska is a singer at the Century, a French theater in New York. A throat ailment takes her to Dr. Joseph Fraenkel. They marry ten days later. He supports her ambitions for a musical career.

1918

1918

In February, Ganna Walska makes her New York concert debut at the Biltmore’s Morning Musicale, sharing the bill with famed tenor Enrico Caruso. Her debut in Cuba is not considered a success. In the hopes of securing future singing opportunities, she meets with Harold McCormick of International Harvester, who is a key supporter of the Chicago Opera Company.

1920

1920

Ganna Walska is devastated when Dr. Fraenkel dies of a stomach ailment.
Three months later, aboard the Aquitania en route to Paris, she meets Alexander Smith Cochran, the sole heir of Smith Carpet Manufacturing. He proposes two days later and several times again until she accepts, and they marry on September 15. Harold McCormick, who had received a divorce from Edith Rockefeller and is in love with Ganna Walska, comes to Paris to ask her to leave Cochran. Though regretting her marriage, she refuses.

Continuing her lifelong interest in the meaning of life, Madame Walska examines Numerology, Rosicrucianism and Eastern religions, as well as yoga, astrology, and meditation.

Cochran’s jealously over her career, forces Ganna to cancel her long-anticipated performance with the Chicago Opera.

1922

1922

Ganna Walska’s divorce in May from Cochran is the subject of much speculation in the press. In August, her marriage to Harold McCormick brings additional scrutiny into her private life.

Madame Walska acquires a majority of shares of the Théatre des Champs Élysées. Leases of the three theatres will not expire until July 1928. She manages the theatre for more than ten years and owns it for nearly 50 years.

1923

1923

The first half of Ganna Walska’s 13-city U.S. concert tour is cancelled when McCormick undergoes an emergency appendectomy. She completes the tour with a performance at Carnegie Hall and returns to America for other concert tours in 1925, 1928, and 1934 (again playing Carnegie Hall).

1925

1925

The Gavits hire local architect George Washington Smith to construct a perimeter wall, pavilion, stable, swimming pool, bathhouse and several other outbuildings.

1927

1927

Ganna Walska goes into the perfume and cosmetic business, creating numerous fragrances and beauty products to help defray the costs of her theatre and its renowned orchestra.

1928

1928

Presidential candidate Herbert Hoover visits Cuesta Linda as part of a garden tour fundraiser.

1929

1929

Madame Walska wins her U.S. Customs case, establishing the right for American women to have a separate domicile from their husbands. She also purchases the Chateau de Galluis, a country estate outside of Versailles and Ganna begins cultivating the property with gardens, an orangerie, tiled fountains and fields of tulips. She has a shell chamber and interior grotto installed.

1930

1930

Ganna Walska receives the Polish Gold Cross of Merit from the Polish Premier and in 1934 she is awarded the French Legion of Honor for her contributions to French culture.

Ganna Walska: Portraits of an Era

Ganna Walska: Portraits of an Era by Hania Tallmadge offers a rich visual survey of times gone by, along with personal insight into the life of an extraordinary personality. Through her niece’s remembrances and rarely seen images, Madame Ganna Walska’s story springs to life and reads like a Hollywood movie.

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1931

1931

Harold McCormick, resigned that Ganna Walska will never live with him in Chicago, files for divorce. He and Ganna remain on friendly terms for the rest of his life.

1933

1933 – 1936

Ganna Walska divides her time between her residences in France and New York.

1937

1937

Madame Walska is introduced to Harry Grindell-Matthews, a physicist and inventor who shares her love of opera. Their engagement is announced in August. She is bothered by his egotism and jealousy.

1939

1939

Marie Gavit dies in 1937, having been preceded in death by her husband. The estate is sold to British diplomat Sir Humphrey Clarke in 1939.

1940

1940

Ganna Walska escapes France on the last commercial clipper plane, before the German occupation. She returns to New York and begins writing her memoirs. She takes yoga lessons and attends seminars with self-proclaimed “White Lama,” Theos Bernard.

1941

1941

Ganna Walska learns of Grindell-Matthews’ death at his home/laboratory in Wales. Bernard declares his love and proposes. Ganna travels to California for six weeks and is inspired to purchase a small self-sustaining ranch or farm. Bernard comes to California to look for a property to serve as a home and a spiritual retreat for Tibetan lamas.

Ganna Walska purchases the 37-acre Cuesta Linda, which she renames Tibetland and hires landscape architect Lockwood de Forest, Jr. to design an orchard, succulent garden and various gardens around the cottages.

1942

1942

Ganna Walska and Theos Bernard are married in a secret ceremony in Las Vegas; a prenuptial agreement protects her property in case of divorce.

At the request of Madame Walska, De Forest replaces the traditional landscaping in front of the main house with cacti before he departs to serve in the army.

1943

1943

Always Room at the Top, Madame Walska’s memoir is published.

Santa Barbara Superintendent of Parks Ralph Stevens, son of the original property owner begins working on garden projects at Lotusland.

1945

1945

Theos Bernard serves Madame Walska with divorce papers and removes many valuable furnishings and books from the house on the estate. He sues for separate maintenance, which is refused when he is caught committing perjury about his financial situation. Their divorce is final in 1946. Madame renames the estate Lotusland after the abundant flowers that remained in the original lotus pond.

1946

1946 – 1948

Stevens designed the iron entrance gates on Sycamore Canyon Road, the new swimming pool and shell-strewn beach, rooster grotto, plus the Theatre and Blue gardens.

1953

1953

The Cactus and Succulent Society tours Lotusland as part of their biennial convention.

Madame Walska almost single-handedly oversees the conversion of the old swimming pool into a water garden, completed in 1956.

1955

1955

The 25-foot diameter horticultural clock designed by Ralph Stevens is built and planted with succulents. Ralph Stevens retires. Madame Walska is considered “Head Gardener” and works with staff on various projects.

1957

1957

Topiary animals from the Osaki Plant Zoo in Los Angeles are planted around the horticultural clock.

Madame Ganna Walska establishes a foundation to protect her legacy and open the gardens to the public after her death.

1958

1958

Local artist Joseph Knowles, Sr., is hired to enhance the Gavit-era crescent-shaped pool in the Aloe Garden, adding abalone shells along the border and creating large clamshell and coral fountains.

1966

1966

Madame Walska begins her collection of bromeliads from Carlsbad Garden and from orchid grower, Fritz Kubisch. He completes the layout of the original Bromeliad Garden in 196

1970

Early 70s

Staff gardener Frank Fujii and stonemason Oswald Da Ross work with Madame Walska to create the Japanese Garden.

LOTUSLAND BOOK

Step into the breathtaking gardens of Lotusland from the comfort of your home. Enjoy page after page of stunning photos by Lisa Romerein. Pick up your copy when you visit or order online.

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1972

1972

Madame Ganna Walska is named an Officer of the National Order of Arts and Letters by the French government in recognition of her artistic career and outstanding sponsorship of cultural and musical events through her theatre.

William Paylen completes the lush Fern Garden after four years of work; he expands it between 1986 and 1988.

1973

1973-1975

Charles Glass and Robert Foster renovate the Cactus and Succulent Gardens and enlarge and redesign the Aloe Garden.

1977

1971

Madame Walska auctions her extensive jewelry collection and reinvests the funds back into the garden.

1979

1979

The Cycad Garden, designed by Charles Glass, is completed, and features over two hundred species of plants.

1984

1984

Madame Walska dies on March 2 and leaves Lotusland to the Ganna Walska Lotusland Foundation.

1984

1984-1993

In preparation for public tours, the Lotusland Foundation repairs paths, improves handicap access and performs deferred maintenance on the house and garden.

1993

1993

A docent program is established, and expanded staff are hired. A Conditional Use Permit to open the garden is granted by Santa Barbara County.

The Visitor Center is completed in time for the first scheduled tour on September 15, 1993. The adjacent Australian Garden is designed by Sydney Baumgartner.

1999

1999

A five-year plan is devised to remedy Cycad fungal infections and root rot. All infected soil is removed, and a new drainage system is installed. The garden space is expanded and completed in 2003.

2000

2000

The Topiary Garden is restored by Lori Ann David, who replicates the original figures.

2001

2001-2003

Merritt S. Dunlap’s extensive cactus collection, promised to Madame Walska in 1966, is gifted to Lotusland. Plants begin to arrive in stake-sided trucks and semis. Eric Nagelmann, a Santa Barbara native, donates landscape design and consultation services. Three hundred tons of basalt is used to create planting beds.

2009

2009

The Water stairs, Cypress Allee and foyer in the Main House, all created during the Gavit era, are renovated.

The loss of a large California live oak and the removal of a beetle-infested Monterey pine result in the need for renovation of the Lower Bromeliad Garden.

Ganna Walska Lotusland is reclassified by the IRS as a public charity.

2015

2015

The Palmetum Garden, designed by Eric Naglemann, is built around a restored path and bench in a long 514-foot axis that extends through the Cypress Allee south to the Wishing Well.

2016

2016

The Insectary Garden is renovated for Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) accessibility, improved aesthetics and optimum effectiveness in attracting pollinators and beneficial insects into the garden.

2017

2017

The Japanese Garden renovation begins.

2018

2018

Ganna Walska Lotusland celebrates its 25th Anniversary of being open to the public with a special exhibition, Building a Botanical Nirvana: The Story of Lotusland.

2019

2019

The Japanese Garden reopens.

2021

2021

“Save the Cycads,” a remediation project is launched to protect and preserve Lotusland’s Cycad collection and eliminate Armillaria.

2021

2021

Cycad Garden remediation and restoration.

2021

2021

Japanese Garden restoration project includes the addition of design firms Arcadia Studio and Comstock LA.

2023

2023

Lotusland commemorates its 30th anniversary as a public garden, coinciding with the announcement of the Lotusland Forever capital and endowment campaign.

2024

2024

Launch of the Master Plan, setting the course to guide campus improvements over the next 20 years.

Madame Ganna Walska

Passionate gardening visionary, and generous humanitarian

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