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Overview

A prominent landmark, the house built by Charles Fletcher Lummis for himself and his wives strongly reflected the contemporary Arts and Crafts Movements in things handmade, in contrast to serially reproduced factory-manufactured items. Lummis had an affinity for sources "primitive" and essential, and objects built by traditional artisanal means. He also radiated the vigorous "can-do" spirit of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, epitomized by Teddy Roosevelt and his love of "roughing it" in the outdoors.

Building History

Designed for the flamboyant journalist, amateur archaeologist, and Southern California booster, Charles Fletcher Lummis (1859-1928); Lummis gained fame for having walked across the United States from Cincinnati, OH, to Los Angeles, CA, in 143 days, writing newspaper accounts for the Los Angeles Times and other newspapers as he went; Lummis was a graduate of Harvard University and later became City Editor of the Times. To build his house, Lummis utilized the assistance of Isleta Indians to transport boulders from the nearby Arroyo Seco for the walls of his dwelling, El Alisal, erected between 1898 and 1910. He became one of the leading boosters of Southern California at the turn of the century, founding the California Landmarks Club, the Southwest Museum, and Land of Sunshine magazine.

Lummis began construction of his house in 1895, but made frequent additions to it; some sources erroneously list its date of construction as 1912-1914.

He entertained frequently at El Alisal, hobnobbing with visiting dignitaries, local grandees and political leaders. A man of his time, Lummis desired both cleanliness and efficiency in his residence's interior. A concrete floor on the inside could be hosed off to clean up after large parties.

Los Angeles Times writer Bob Pool described the residence after he took a tour of it in 2003: "But it is the residence that Lummis built with his own hands between 1898 and 1910 that remains his own imprint on Los Angeles. It front facade includes a medieval-like turret constructed of 2-foot-thick concrete faced with smooth river rocks gathered from the nearby Arroyo Seco. Recycled Santa Fe railroad ties and telegraph poles form the roof and interior framing. Lummis built it around a clump of sycamore treees that inspired the Spanish name El Alisal. But he designed the place to be as much as public statement as a private residence. The vast main room that he called his museo contained shelves and cabinets that displayed Indian pots, baskets and other artifacts he gathered across the Southwest. The room's handcrafted windows served as naturally backlit frames for glass-plate transparencies of photographs that Lummis took of New Mexico mesas and of pueblo inhabitants. Navajo rugs were arranged on the great hall's concrete floor. Colorful Indian blanket were used as covers for hand-made charis and couches arranged along walls splashed with paintings and photographs. A circular alcove at the west end of the main hall formed the base of the tower. The turret's upper level contained a hide-away bedchamber reached by a tiny attic passageway connected to Lummis's second-floor office. A trapdoor in the bedchamber's floor had a Hopi rope ladder that he used to descend into the hall. A foyer separated the museo from a guest room and the home's main bedroom, bathroom and stairway to the second level. The foyer, which Lummis called the zaguán, opened to the front of the house and to its sycamore-shaded rear courtyard. He built the courtyard door from planks that included one hewn in 1797 by padres building the San Fernando Mission. The main entryway is a massive wooden double doorway said to weigh a ton. Lummis was particularly proud of it. Like others in the house, it was not much taller than his own 5-foot, 7-inch height. 'Any fool can write a book but it takes a man to make a dovetail door,' Lummis would say." (See Bob Pool, "Surrounding: Highland Park Author, Historian Left His Imprint on Los Angeles," Los Angeles Times, 11/20/2003, p. B2.)

In 2003, the Historical Society of Southern California had its offices at El Alisal, and provided tours of the place. Its owner was the City of Los Angeles Recreation and Parks Department.

Building Notes

El Alisal was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. It was also listed as L.A. Historic Cultural Monument #283.

Metal work for the house was, according to architectural historian, Robert Winter, designed by the renowned painter, Maynard Dixon, a friend of Lummis's.