HT sent me a photo of a sterling silver tulip-shaped engraved vase, won by her great grandfather for ‘Best Dahlias’ in the 1904 Santa Barbara Flower Show. HT’s great-grandfather, a master gardener trained in the fine mansion gardens of England, won a lot of flower shows. He relocated to Santa Barbara in the first quarter of the 20th century and became an authorities on our local foliage.
W Stanley Davis became one of the best in the period of Montecito great gardeners. He took charge of the gardens of Glenoaks on East Valley Road. That large estate belonged to millionaire J Hobart Moore and his wife Lora Josephine Small Moore. HT, Davis’ great-granddaughter, wrote to me that he transformed an expanse of wild sage at Glenoaks to a field of flowers, which became a show place for the Valley. Dr. Alexander Blair Thaw and his wife Florence Dow Thaw previously owned this estate formerly named “Field Place.” Moore purchased the estate in 1906.
Santa Barbara, Lake Tahoe, St Louis Connection
The Library of Congress designated a special section called the Frances Benjamin Johnston Collection of Gardens and Historic Homes. Johnston photographed gardens in the early 20th century. In the Library’s collection we see a three-and-quarter-inch by four-inch glass lantern slide labeled “Glen Oaks: Rustic Bridges in Flower Garden” shot by Frances Benjamin Johnston (1864-1952). “Lora” Moore, now a resident of Montecito, became interested in architecture and turned an eye on a lovely property on Emerald Bay in Lake Tahoe. Her nephew by marriage in her social circle, an architect, built an estate in Montecito he designed in the Cape (South African) Colonial style. Lennart Palme (1881-1971) also designed another property in New York in the old Swedish style. She became interested in the latter.
James Hobart Moore (NYC 1854-1916), trained as a lawyer, ended up one of the Nation’s wealthiest men. Along with his brother William. The “Moore Group,” formed at least four great corporations with a combined capital of $187 million, a princely sum in the early 20th century. Their holdings included National Biscuit Co. (Nabisco), Union Pacific Railway, Diamond Match Co., US Steel Co., and the American Can Co.
He had a short marriage to Laura (Lora) Josephine Small, herself one of the wealthiest women in America. James Hobart Moore died in 1916. “Lora” married Hanry French Knight, President of the St Louis Flying Club, a club instrumental in Charles Lindbergh’s flight in 1927 across the Atlantic in the Spirit of St Louis. Lora Moore Knight dined with Lindbergh the night before the flight. She was one of his primary funders. Mrs. Knight, formerly Mrs. Moore, contacted Lennart Palme and asked for his help designing her Lake Tahoe mansion, which became known as Vikingholm on Emerald Bay. The Park Service now owns the property. Thus, we see the Santa Barbara, Lake Tahoe, and St Louis connection. We will soon see the early 20th century connection to the early 21st century connection.
Six Degrees
The former Mrs. Moore hired Palme to escort her to his native Sweden to research classic building styles used in Vikingsholm, which Palme began in 1929. Another Montecito architect, Myron Hunt, built another estate for the former Mrs. Moore called Cima Del Mundo, which Hunt began for her in 1924.
A connection between myself and the Palme family came in the form of Chris Palme. In 2019, the grandson of the architect, an active realtor in Montecito affiliated with Sotheby’s International Realty hired me as an appraiser. When contacted for this story, Chris said, “I’ve been to Vikingsholm many times and I always enjoy seeing the references to my grandfather there.”
Here’s another personal connection to the garden W Stanley Davis built from1906-1916 for the Moore family. I wrote a scholarly paper for a gardening journal about the historic garden called ‘Mission Cliffs’ in San Diego which received nationwide attention. Then a law firm in Santa Barbara hired me as an historian for a case involving an early 20th century Montecito historic garden. That became my first experience in Santa Barbara, and I never went back to San Diego. What they say about six degrees in TRUE!
The value of the sterling vase is $900.