I love to write about artists’ homes. They are never ordinary. This home is no exception. It was built by landscape artist Lockwood de Forest, with help from his son-in-law, architect Winsor Soule. There are numerous examples of de Forest’s paintings in Santa Barbara at the Sullivan Goss Gallery, the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, the Santa Barbara Historical Museum, and will also be in the future Chrisman California Islands Center in Carpinteria.
De Forest traveled the world as a young man and became especially fascinated by Indian architecture and design. His former home in Manhattan is decorated with elaborate teak carvings from India. When he settled in Santa Barbara, he constructed a home with simple lines on which to display the elaborately carved elements, considered East Indian Craft Revival style.
Family Stories
I am fortunate that I had written about this house in my book Way Back When: Santa Barbara in 1915. At the time, I interviewed de Forest’s grandson Kellam de Forest, who passed away in 2021. Here’s some of what I wrote with Kellam’s help: