Category Timeline Stories

All timeline stories.

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…

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.

1925

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

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…

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…

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…

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,…

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…