Adamson House
Encyclopedia
Adamson House, also known as Vaquero Hill, is a historic house and gardens in Malibu, California that has been called the "Taj Mahal
of Tile" due to its extensive use of decorative ceramic
tile
s created by the Malibu Potteries. The house was built in 1930 for Rhoda Rindge Adamson and Merritt Huntley Adamson, based on a Mediterranean Revival design by Stiles O. Clements
of the architectural firm of Morgan, Walls & Clements
. The residence and estate is within the Malibu Lagoon State Beach Park. The Adamson House was added to the National Register of Historic Places
in 1977 and designated as a California Historical Landmark
in 1985.
, a wealthy Boston businessman relocated to Los Angeles, who owned "Rindge Ranch," which included the historic Mexican land grant
Rancho Topanga Malibu Sequit
, and encompassed present day Malibu, California and into the Santa Monica Mountains
.
Merritt Adamson (1888–1949) was a graduate of the University of Southern California Law School
and was the captain of the 1912 football team, the first USC team to be known as the "Trojans." Adamson met Rhoda Rindge while he was employed as the foreman of the Rindge Ranch. Rhoda Rindge reportedly became interested in him when she helped to nurse him back to good health after he was injured in an accident. The couple was married in 1915, and in 1916 Adamson established a dairy business
in the San Fernando Valley
, in Tarzana known as Adohr Farms, the name representing his wife's name spelled backwards. The business became one of the country's largest dairies, operating one of the largest herds of Guernsey cows
in the world.
,_adamson_house.jpg)
The house features teak
woodworking, fireplace
s in several interior and outdoor patio
rooms, handpainted ceilings, lead
-framed bottle glass windows, and "wrought-iron
filigree
s fitting over the windows like intricate jewelery." The main floor is dominated by a large living room
with windows on three sides. The room is still furnished as it was when the Adamsons lived there, including the large radio on which the family received news of the attack on Pearl Harbor
. Other rooms on the main floor include a guest bedroom with a bathroom that is tiled literally from floor to ceiling, a dining room with an old convent table overlooking the ocean, a kitchen with an early version of a dishwasher and a colorful tiled clock, and the main entrance with its imposing wood door and tiled entrance table.
There are four bedrooms and a small kitchenette upstairs. The master bedroom is at the western end of the house where Mr. and Mrs. Adamson resided. It has a large tiled bathroom, and Mrs. Adamson's clothes and hat collection remain in her closet. Next to the master bedroom is the one designed for the Adamsons' son; its bathroom has detailed tiles depicting ships and nautical scenes. The girls' bedroom in the center facing the ocean has a tremendous view of the ocean and coast. These three bedrooms open onto a large upstairs patio with the home's most spectacular panoramic view of the ocean, the Malibu lagoon and the coast in both directions. The fourth bedroom upstairs is at the eastern end of the upstairs and looks out of a large Erythrina
(or coral tree) that blooms with spectacular bright flowers in the spring.
Another striking feature of the house is the tiled swimming pool
set into the sand that was equipped with a special filtering and heating apparatus that permitted the pool to be filled with either salt
or freshwater
. The Los Angeles Times in 1930 noted that the unusual features made the "plunge one of the finest in the southland."
. In 1926, May K. Rindge (Rhonda Rindge Adamson's mother) established a tileworks east of the Malibu Pier. The factory hired European artisans to design decorative art tile, employing more than 100 persons in the late 1920s and creating "some of the most colorful and inventive glazed
tiles in the country." Hand-crafted art tile fired from local clay
was specially designed for each room of the Adamson House, with no two tiles being alike. Even the ceilings of the bathrooms were tiled. In 1930, the Los Angeles Times reported: "Striking tile effects have been obtained from original designs of the craftsmen and artists of the pottery and floors, walls and patios." Sixty-seven years later, the Los Angeles Times was still writing about the home's extraordinary tilework: "This huge Spanish-style mansion, built in 1929 (sic), might as well be called the house that tile built. Tile is everywhere -- from the ceramic wall clock above the tile-topped oak
table in the kitchen to the floor-to-ceiling tiled bathrooms."
One of the home's most popular examples of tilework is a 60 feet (18.3 m) imitation Persian carpet made of tile, including small pieces designed to look like rug fringes. Behind the house, the colorfully tiled Neptune Fountain and Star Fountain are among the home's most photographed examples of tilework. Nearby, there is also an elaborately tiled outdoor tub used by the Adamsons to bathe their dogs. The bathhouse and swimming pool are also covered with Malibu tile, and the dressing rooms have tiled showers with decorative motifs. The house has been called a "museum of tile" and the "Taj Mahal
of Tile." The Malibu Potteries only operated for six years from 1926–1932, and the Adamson House has many of the potteries' most significant remaining works.
the bathhouse was used by the United States Coast Guard
as a local headquarters to watch out over the Malibu coast.
After the death of her husband, Rhoda Rindge Adamson continued to live in the house until her own death in April 1962. After her death, her heirs announced plans to build a $10–12 million "deluxe Waikiki
-type beach resort" on the 13 acres (52,609.2 m²) site, while preserving the house as an art and history museum. The State of California, however, filed an eminent domain
lawsuit in 1966, seeking to raze the house and turn it into beach parking. The state won its eminent domain lawsuit and purchased the property from the Adamson estate at the $2.69 million valuation set by the court.
Despite the state's victory in the eminent domain proceeding, the Malibu Historical Society, supported by the Los Angeles County Department of Parks and Recreation and the Adamson family, fought over the next ten years to have the Adamson House preserved. While the state's plans to raze the house were put on hold, the house was leased to Pepperdine University
from 1971-1982 as the residence of the university's chancellor, Norvel Young. In addition to its extensive use of Malibu tile, preservationists touted the house as "a prime example of California Moorish-Spanish architecture." In 1976, preservationists won a victory when Herbert Rhodes, the director of the state's Department of Parks and Recreation, overruled staff recommendations to use the land for beach parking and recommended preservation of the property.
Sylvia Rindge Adamson Neville, a granddaughter of Frederick Rindge, donated money to help restore the house, and additional funds were raised by the Malibu Historical Society. Beginning in October 1982, volunteers from the Malibu Lagoon State Beach Interpretive Association began work converting the garage into a small historic museum. In 1983, the house and Malibu Lagoon Museum (located in the garage) were opened to the public for docent-led tours. The house is open to the public for tours on Wednesdays through Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
While the house is looked after by a dedicated staff of state employees and volunteers, a lack of funding from the state has led to maintenance problems as of September 2008. The area beneath the upstairs balcony overlooking the ocean shows signs of deterioration. A large iron barbecue grill that was a gift from Will Rogers
to the Adamson family had been left exposed to the elements and is in need of repair. Several tile-topped tables that formerly sat in the backyard have been vandalized and now sit in an enclosed area.
In October 1977, the house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
. And in November 1985, it was also designated as a California Historical Landmark
by the California Historic Resources Commission.
Taj Mahal
The Taj Mahal is a white Marble mausoleum located in Agra, India. It was built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his third wife, Mumtaz Mahal...
of Tile" due to its extensive use of decorative ceramic
Ceramic
A ceramic is an inorganic, nonmetallic solid prepared by the action of heat and subsequent cooling. Ceramic materials may have a crystalline or partly crystalline structure, or may be amorphous...
tile
Tile
A tile is a manufactured piece of hard-wearing material such as ceramic, stone, metal, or even glass. Tiles are generally used for covering roofs, floors, walls, showers, or other objects such as tabletops...
s created by the Malibu Potteries. The house was built in 1930 for Rhoda Rindge Adamson and Merritt Huntley Adamson, based on a Mediterranean Revival design by Stiles O. Clements
Stiles O. Clements
Stiles Oliver Clements was a Los Angeles architect trained at the École des Beaux-Arts, Paris, and a key figure in the art deco movement of 1920s Los Angeles...
of the architectural firm of Morgan, Walls & Clements
Morgan, Walls & Clements
Morgan, Walls & Clements was an architectural firm based in Los Angeles, California and responsible for many of the city's landmarks. Originally Morgan and Walls, with principals Octavius Morgan and John A. Walls, the firm worked in the area from before the turn of the century.Around 1910 Morgan's...
. The residence and estate is within the Malibu Lagoon State Beach Park. The Adamson House was added to the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
in 1977 and designated as a California Historical Landmark
California Historical Landmark
California Historical Landmarks are buildings, structures, sites, or places in the state of California that have been determined to have statewide historical significance by meeting at least one of the criteria listed below:...
in 1985.
Rindge-Adamson family
Rhoda Agatha Rindge Adamson was the daughter of Frederick Hastings RindgeFrederick Hastings Rindge
Frederick Hastings Rindge was an American businessman, philanthropist, and writer, of Los Angeles, California. He was a major benefactor to his home town of Cambridge, Massachusetts.-Early life:...
, a wealthy Boston businessman relocated to Los Angeles, who owned "Rindge Ranch," which included the historic Mexican land grant
Ranchos of California
The Spanish, and later the Méxican government encouraged settlement of territory now known as California by the establishment of large land grants called ranchos, from which the English ranch is derived. Devoted to raising cattle and sheep, the owners of the ranchos attempted to pattern themselves...
Rancho Topanga Malibu Sequit
Rancho Topanga Malibu Sequit
Rancho Topanga Malibu Sequit was a Spanish land grant in present day Los Angeles County, California given by Spanish Governor José Joaquín de Arrillaga in 1804 to José Bartolomé Tapia.-History:...
, and encompassed present day Malibu, California and into the Santa Monica Mountains
Santa Monica Mountains
The Santa Monica Mountains are a Transverse Range in Southern California, along the coast of the Pacific Ocean in the United States.-Geography:...
.
Merritt Adamson (1888–1949) was a graduate of the University of Southern California Law School
University of Southern California Law School
The University of Southern California Law School , located in Los Angeles, California, is a law school within the University of Southern California...
and was the captain of the 1912 football team, the first USC team to be known as the "Trojans." Adamson met Rhoda Rindge while he was employed as the foreman of the Rindge Ranch. Rhoda Rindge reportedly became interested in him when she helped to nurse him back to good health after he was injured in an accident. The couple was married in 1915, and in 1916 Adamson established a dairy business
Dairy farming
Dairy farming is a class of agricultural, or an animal husbandry, enterprise, for long-term production of milk, usually from dairy cows but also from goats and sheep, which may be either processed on-site or transported to a dairy factory for processing and eventual retail sale.Most dairy farms...
in the San Fernando Valley
San Fernando Valley
The San Fernando Valley is an urbanized valley located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area of southern California, United States, defined by the dramatic mountains of the Transverse Ranges circling it...
, in Tarzana known as Adohr Farms, the name representing his wife's name spelled backwards. The business became one of the country's largest dairies, operating one of the largest herds of Guernsey cows
Guernsey cattle
The Guernsey is a breed of cattle used in dairy farming. It is fawn and white in colour, and is particularly renowned for the rich flavour of its milk, as well as its hardiness and docile disposition.-Milk:...
in the world.
Construction and architecture
The two-story, ten-room Adamson House was designed by Stiles O. Clements and built of steel-reinforced concrete. Completed in 1930, Stiles called the house an outstanding example of modified Mediterranean Revival-style architecture. Architectural historians refer to the style as a synthesis of Spanish Colonial Revival and Moorish Revival architecture.Teak
Teak is the common name for the tropical hardwood tree species Tectona grandis and its wood products. Tectona grandis is native to south and southeast Asia, mainly India, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Burma, but is naturalized and cultivated in many countries, including those in Africa and the...
woodworking, fireplace
Fireplace
A fireplace is an architectural structure to contain a fire for heating and, especially historically, for cooking. A fire is contained in a firebox or firepit; a chimney or other flue allows gas and particulate exhaust to escape...
s in several interior and outdoor patio
Patio
A patio is an outdoor space generally used for dining or recreation that adjoins a residence and is typically paved. It may refer to a roofless inner courtyard of the sort found in Spanish-style dwellings or a paved area between a residence and a garden....
rooms, handpainted ceilings, lead
Lead
Lead is a main-group element in the carbon group with the symbol Pb and atomic number 82. Lead is a soft, malleable poor metal. It is also counted as one of the heavy metals. Metallic lead has a bluish-white color after being freshly cut, but it soon tarnishes to a dull grayish color when exposed...
-framed bottle glass windows, and "wrought-iron
Wrought iron
thumb|The [[Eiffel tower]] is constructed from [[puddle iron]], a form of wrought ironWrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon...
filigree
Filigree
Filigree is a delicate kind of jewellery metalwork made with twisted threads usually of gold and silver or stitching of the same curving motifs. It often suggests lace, and in recent centuries remains popular in Indian and other Asian metalwork, and French from 1660 to the late 19th century...
s fitting over the windows like intricate jewelery." The main floor is dominated by a large living room
Living room
A living room, also known as sitting room, lounge room or lounge , is a room for entertaining adult guests, reading, or other activities...
with windows on three sides. The room is still furnished as it was when the Adamsons lived there, including the large radio on which the family received news of the attack on Pearl Harbor
Attack on Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941...
. Other rooms on the main floor include a guest bedroom with a bathroom that is tiled literally from floor to ceiling, a dining room with an old convent table overlooking the ocean, a kitchen with an early version of a dishwasher and a colorful tiled clock, and the main entrance with its imposing wood door and tiled entrance table.
There are four bedrooms and a small kitchenette upstairs. The master bedroom is at the western end of the house where Mr. and Mrs. Adamson resided. It has a large tiled bathroom, and Mrs. Adamson's clothes and hat collection remain in her closet. Next to the master bedroom is the one designed for the Adamsons' son; its bathroom has detailed tiles depicting ships and nautical scenes. The girls' bedroom in the center facing the ocean has a tremendous view of the ocean and coast. These three bedrooms open onto a large upstairs patio with the home's most spectacular panoramic view of the ocean, the Malibu lagoon and the coast in both directions. The fourth bedroom upstairs is at the eastern end of the upstairs and looks out of a large Erythrina
Erythrina
Erythrina is a genus of flowering plants in the pea family, Fabaceae. It contains about 130 species, which are distributed in tropical and subtropical regions worldwide. They are trees, growing up to in height...
(or coral tree) that blooms with spectacular bright flowers in the spring.
Another striking feature of the house is the tiled swimming pool
Swimming pool
A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, or simply a pool, is a container filled with water intended for swimming or water-based recreation. There are many standard sizes; the largest is the Olympic-size swimming pool...
set into the sand that was equipped with a special filtering and heating apparatus that permitted the pool to be filled with either salt
Seawater
Seawater is water from a sea or ocean. On average, seawater in the world's oceans has a salinity of about 3.5% . This means that every kilogram of seawater has approximately of dissolved salts . The average density of seawater at the ocean surface is 1.025 g/ml...
or freshwater
Freshwater
Fresh water is naturally occurring water on the Earth's surface in ice sheets, ice caps, glaciers, bogs, ponds, lakes, rivers and streams, and underground as groundwater in aquifers and underground streams. Fresh water is generally characterized by having low concentrations of dissolved salts and...
. The Los Angeles Times in 1930 noted that the unusual features made the "plunge one of the finest in the southland."
Reception
Adamson House is best known for its extensive use of local Malibu tileTile
A tile is a manufactured piece of hard-wearing material such as ceramic, stone, metal, or even glass. Tiles are generally used for covering roofs, floors, walls, showers, or other objects such as tabletops...
. In 1926, May K. Rindge (Rhonda Rindge Adamson's mother) established a tileworks east of the Malibu Pier. The factory hired European artisans to design decorative art tile, employing more than 100 persons in the late 1920s and creating "some of the most colorful and inventive glazed
Ceramic glaze
Glaze is a layer or coating of a vitreous substance which has been fired to fuse to a ceramic object to color, decorate, strengthen or waterproof it.-Use:...
tiles in the country." Hand-crafted art tile fired from local clay
Clay
Clay is a general term including many combinations of one or more clay minerals with traces of metal oxides and organic matter. Geologic clay deposits are mostly composed of phyllosilicate minerals containing variable amounts of water trapped in the mineral structure.- Formation :Clay minerals...
was specially designed for each room of the Adamson House, with no two tiles being alike. Even the ceilings of the bathrooms were tiled. In 1930, the Los Angeles Times reported: "Striking tile effects have been obtained from original designs of the craftsmen and artists of the pottery and floors, walls and patios." Sixty-seven years later, the Los Angeles Times was still writing about the home's extraordinary tilework: "This huge Spanish-style mansion, built in 1929 (sic), might as well be called the house that tile built. Tile is everywhere -- from the ceramic wall clock above the tile-topped oak
Oak
An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus Quercus , of which about 600 species exist. "Oak" may also appear in the names of species in related genera, notably Lithocarpus...
table in the kitchen to the floor-to-ceiling tiled bathrooms."
Taj Mahal
The Taj Mahal is a white Marble mausoleum located in Agra, India. It was built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his third wife, Mumtaz Mahal...
of Tile." The Malibu Potteries only operated for six years from 1926–1932, and the Adamson House has many of the potteries' most significant remaining works.
Early use
The house was originally a vacation beach cottage, but the Adamsons eventually made it their permanent home. In December 1932, a fire started in the electrical wiring of the garage. One of the bedrooms was badly damaged, and the entire house was threatened by intense flames. The fire was put out by pumping crews from the forestry stations at Fernwood and Las Flores, aided by the Malibu Beach colony fire department. During World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
the bathhouse was used by the United States Coast Guard
United States Coast Guard
The United States Coast Guard is a branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven U.S. uniformed services. The Coast Guard is a maritime, military, multi-mission service unique among the military branches for having a maritime law enforcement mission and a federal regulatory agency...
as a local headquarters to watch out over the Malibu coast.
Suicide in the bath house
Merritt Adamson suffered a stroke in 1948 and was also injured by a horse later that year. The 60-year-old former athlete and outdoorsman reportedly became depressed over his poor health. In January 1949, Adamson sat in a darkened dressing room in the beach house and shot himself in the temple with a white-bone-handled .22-caliber automatic pistol. Mrs. Adamson discovered him there, sprawled out on the floor dressed in a gray business suit, hemorrhaging profusely and unable to speak. The family chauffeur took off his watch and put a towel under his head, but Adamson died several minutes later.Eminent domain and plans for beach parking
Waikiki
Waikiki is a neighborhood of Honolulu, in the City and County of Honolulu, on the south shore of the island of Oahu, in Hawaii. Waikiki Beach is the shoreline fronting Waikīkī....
-type beach resort" on the 13 acres (52,609.2 m²) site, while preserving the house as an art and history museum. The State of California, however, filed an eminent domain
Eminent domain
Eminent domain , compulsory purchase , resumption/compulsory acquisition , or expropriation is an action of the state to seize a citizen's private property, expropriate property, or seize a citizen's rights in property with due monetary compensation, but without the owner's consent...
lawsuit in 1966, seeking to raze the house and turn it into beach parking. The state won its eminent domain lawsuit and purchased the property from the Adamson estate at the $2.69 million valuation set by the court.
Preservation as a museum
Pepperdine University
Pepperdine University is an independent, private, medium-sized university affiliated with the Churches of Christ. The university's campus overlooking the Pacific Ocean in unincorporated Los Angeles County, California, United States, near Malibu, is the location for Seaver College, the School of...
from 1971-1982 as the residence of the university's chancellor, Norvel Young. In addition to its extensive use of Malibu tile, preservationists touted the house as "a prime example of California Moorish-Spanish architecture." In 1976, preservationists won a victory when Herbert Rhodes, the director of the state's Department of Parks and Recreation, overruled staff recommendations to use the land for beach parking and recommended preservation of the property.
Sylvia Rindge Adamson Neville, a granddaughter of Frederick Rindge, donated money to help restore the house, and additional funds were raised by the Malibu Historical Society. Beginning in October 1982, volunteers from the Malibu Lagoon State Beach Interpretive Association began work converting the garage into a small historic museum. In 1983, the house and Malibu Lagoon Museum (located in the garage) were opened to the public for docent-led tours. The house is open to the public for tours on Wednesdays through Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
While the house is looked after by a dedicated staff of state employees and volunteers, a lack of funding from the state has led to maintenance problems as of September 2008. The area beneath the upstairs balcony overlooking the ocean shows signs of deterioration. A large iron barbecue grill that was a gift from Will Rogers
Will Rogers
William "Will" Penn Adair Rogers was an American cowboy, comedian, humorist, social commentator, vaudeville performer, film actor, and one of the world's best-known celebrities in the 1920s and 1930s....
to the Adamson family had been left exposed to the elements and is in need of repair. Several tile-topped tables that formerly sat in the backyard have been vandalized and now sit in an enclosed area.
Historic designations
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
. And in November 1985, it was also designated as a California Historical Landmark
California Historical Landmark
California Historical Landmarks are buildings, structures, sites, or places in the state of California that have been determined to have statewide historical significance by meeting at least one of the criteria listed below:...
by the California Historic Resources Commission.
See also
- Malibu CreekMalibu CreekMalibu Creek is a year-round stream in western Los Angeles County, California. It drains the southern Simi Hills and the westernmost San Fernando Valley, flows south through the Santa Monica Mountains, and enters Santa Monica Bay east of Malibu. The Malibu Creek watershed drains and its tributary...
- Rindge DamRindge DamThe -tall Rindge Dam on Malibu Creek is located in Malibu Creek State Park, about three miles from the coast of Malibu, California. It is situated just northeast of Malibu Canyon Road, from which it is only partially visible...
- Rindge Dam
- Frederick Hastings Rindge HouseFrederick Hastings Rindge HouseThe Frederick Hastings Rindge House is a historic house located in the West Adams district of Los Angeles, in Los Angeles County, California.The Rindge House was built in 1902 for Frederick H. Rindge and designed by Frederick Louis Roehrig and E.C...
- Frederick RoehrigFrederick RoehrigFrederick Louis Roehrig was an early 20th-century American architect. Roehrig was born in LeRoy, New York, the son of the noted "orientalist and philoligist," Frederick L.O. Roehrig He graduated from Cornell University in 1883 and also studied architecture in England and France...
- Frederick Roehrig
- List of Registered Historic Places in Los Angeles County, California