Résumé

Consultant, Lockwood de Forest, Jr., Landscape Architect, Santa Barbara, CA, 1925-1949. She assisted Lockwood DeForest largely with plant selection on his landscape architecture commissions during this period.

Prinicipal, Elizabeth Kellam de Forest, Landscape Designer, Santa Barbara, CA, c. 1949-1952. After Lockwood's death, she took on occasional commissions, seeing them to completion.

Principal, Elizabeth Kellam de Forest, Landscape Architect, Santa Barbara, CA, 1952- c. 1980. According to The Cultural Landscape Foundation web site: "Following his death in 1949, Elizabeth completed the project as a memorial to her husband. She was licensed as a landscape architect in 1952. Two major commissions were residences for Wright Ludington in Montecito. She consulted with Thomas Church for his Montectio projects, and also served as supervising landscape architect for a new city park in Santa Barbara." (See The Cultural Landscape Foundation.org, "Elizabeth Kellam de Forest," accessed 12/12/2017.) According to Prof. David Streatfield, an expert on the DeForests' work, she quit practicing in the field in the early 1980s, following health setbacks.

Professional Activities

Elizabeth Kellam DeForest passed her registration exams to become a licensed landscape architect in the State of California in 1952.

College

B.A., English, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY, 1919. Elizabeth Kellam was the President of the Vassar Club of San Francisco in 1920. (See "The San Francisco Branch," Vassar Quarterly, vol. V, no. 4, 07/1920, p. 288.)

M.S., Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, 1919-1920.

Relocation

Elizabeth Kellam was born in San Francisco in 1898. She spent her formative years in San Francisco, and attended Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, NY, between 1915 and 1919. She returned to the Bay Area to attend Stanford University for one year. Kellam's address in 05/1920 was 3153 Pacific Avenue, San Francisco, CA. (See the Vassar College Bulletin, The Fifth General Catalogue of the Officers and Alumnae of Vassar College, vol. IX, no. 3, 05/1920, p. 1919.)

She lived in New York, NY, working as a teacher for about three years 03/1922-1925. In late March 1922, her father took a new position as the manager of the Eastern Department of the Royal Insurance Company of Liverpool in New York; Frederick Kellam was from CT, but loved CA, and even while working as manager of East Coast operations, he planned to retire in the West. (See "Royal Appointments," American Agency Bulletin, vol. 19, no. 31, 03/31/1922, p. 13.)

She married Lockwood de Forest in 1925 and relocated to Santa Barbara, CA, where his family had settled since 1912 or 1913. F.B. and Edith Kellam also retired to Santa Barbara by about 1927. They resided adjacent to Elizabeth and Lockwood on Todos Santos Lane, and lived out their lives in these two houses.

Elizabeth Kellam De Forest passed away in 1984.

Parents

Her father, Frederick Benjamin Kellam (born 09/09/1865 in New Haven, CT-d. 09/10/1953 in Santa Barbara, CA) , worked for the Liverpool-based Royal Insurance Company, Ltd., managing the San Francisco office. According to the book, Business Life and Public Policy: Essays in Honour of D. C. Coleman, "At this point [1869] two of the four largest British fire insurers were Liverpool companies. Their exploits in promoting the enormous insurance trade in the U.S.A. were far more dashing than anything achieved in London; the Royal, the Liverpool and London and the [Glasgow-based] North British were the first British companies to create American agencies in the revival of insurance exports around the mid-century." (See Business Life and Public Policy: Essays in Honour of D. C. Coleman, Neil McKendrick and R. B. Outhwaite, eds., [Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1986], p. 144.) Kellam worked in the San Francisco office from about 1892 until 1922, when he was made head of East Coast operations in New York on or about 03/20/1922.

Kellam and his wife, Edith Bishop, (born 12/01/1875 in San Francisco, CA), married on 03/02/1896, and had three children, Elizabeth being the eldest. (See A History and Genealogical Record of the Alling-Allens of New Haven, Connecticut: the Descendants of Roger Ailing, First, and John Ailing, Sen., from 1639 to the Present Time, [New Haven: Price, Lee and Adkins company, 1899] p. 168) The date of this marriage was also stated as 03/02/1897 in F.B. Kellam's US Passport application of 05/24/1924.

Elizabeth's siblings included Frances Kellam Lloyd (Born 01/31/1901 in San Francisco, CA-d. 03/21/1999 in Mill Valley, CA). and and Gareth Kellam (10/12/1903-12/29/1956 in Santa Barbara, CA).

Spouse

She married the landscape architect Lockwood de Forest III (1896-1949), on 02/03/1925 in Manhattan, NY.

Children

Elzabeth and Lockwood had two sons, Lockwood IV (born 01/31/1936 in Santa Barbara, CA) and Kellam (born 11/11/1926 in Santa Barbara, CA).

Biographical Notes

She and Lockwood de Forest took a European trip in 1934, in which they toured England and Scandinavia. They sailed aboard the S.S. Frederik VIII between Copenhagen, Denmark, and New York, NY, between 07/27/1934 and 08/06/1934. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Year: 1934; Arrival: New York, New York; Microfilm Serial: T715, 1897-1957; Microfilm Roll: Roll 5525; Line: 6; Page Number: 89, accessed 12/12/2017.) They toured a number of British nurseries and gardens during this trip, according to Prof. David Streatfield. (See conversation between Prof. Streatfield and the author, University of Washington Built Environments Library, 12/12/2017.)

• San Francisco, CA (Architect's Birth)
  San Francisco, CA

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• Santa Barbara, CA (Architect's Death)
  Santa Barbara, CA

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