23200 Pacific Coast Hwy
Malibu, CA 90265, USA

Adamson House at Malibu Lagoon State Park - National Register of Historic Places

Statement of Significance:

General Contractors .................................................................... MacDonald & Driver
Bathroom cabinets & Vanity mirrors Company ........ Albatross Steel Equipment
Decorative floor and wall tile................................................. Malibu Potteries
Tile roofing contractors............................................................... Phil E. French & Company
Wrought iron hardware.............................................................. Forge craft
Finish hardware................................................................................ Stockton & Spurgin, Inc
Garage doors....................................................................................... Overhead Door Company
Lighting fixtures................................................................................ B. B. Bell & Company
Plastering contractors................................................................... Grivel Brothers
Plumbing fixtures............................................................................. Crane Company
Decorations and furnishings..................................................... John B. Holtzclaw Company
Decorative interior paintings & murals............................... Einar Hansen & Peter Nielsen


SIGNIFICANCE OF ARCHITECTURE:

The Adamson Home is a unique and sensitively designed blend of Moorish and Spanish Mediterranean architecture of the late 1920's exemplified perfectly by the Moorish pointed arches at the two end wings of the house, which are carefully related to the round Spanish arches of the loggia between. The house contains many other outstanding architectural features. There is a fine vaulted, molded and painted ceiling in the dining room. Another vault or stained cast stone encloses the magnificent stairway up to the second floor. The windows are elegantly detailed in steel with unusual wrought iron filagree design at the base of the windows. The lavish use of tile is also noteworthy. The Adamson House is absolutely unique in its promontory beachfront location and the way the traditional Mediterranean plan has been adapted to take advantage of the spectacular site. The traditional courtyard plan has been modified to take advantage of views down the coast, and the entire site arrangement capitalizes on the beach site. The Adamson Home is a unique architectural asset to the area. The thoughtful use of fine materials in its construction to enhance the elegance of the design would be difficult or impossible to duplicate on today’s market. The Adamson estate is notably the only intact coastal, historical landmark left in Los Angeles County representing a clear image of the architectural, cultural and artistic view of an era.

SIGNIFICANCE OF ART - TILE INSTALLATIONS:

The lavish use of tile in patterns on walls and floors is noteworthy. Particularly fine are a broken tile motif repeated throughout the house, representations in tile of oriental rug patterns and a genuinely inventive use of the materials throughout. The tile was designed and manufactured locally at Malibu Potteries within one mile of the home by European artisans employed to produce exquisite and unique tile work. No price value can be set on reproducing this tile work as some of the designs and colors are very prohibitive in today’s market. Accordingly, the I -are and valuable tile artifacts in The Adamson Home cannot be practically replaced and are therefore priceless.

SIGNIFICANCE OF LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE

The original site was a mounded hill of sand dunes about ten acres in size. As construction of the house was being completed, good humus was brought in from nearby canyon land and beds for the garden made, the soil being in ‘depth from five to ten feet. The hill around which the drive curves received a thinner covering; it was sown for some years with wildflower seed.

A dozen or more fully-matured olive trees were trucked in from a Malibu Canyon grove, which F. H. Rindge, Sr. had had planted in the Nineties. These were planted about the house and bath house and dotted over the hill, not in rows, however. Some varieties did not thrive at the beach and were replaced by other and usually more exotic trees, i.e.,, the huge coral tree near the chicken pens

As the number of the family's hobbies grew over the years, the grounds were encroached upon by a large lath house, potting shed and carpenter shop, blacksmith shop, runs for chickens, and several dog houses. There were planted special collections of roses, bulbs of all kinds, Chinese magnolias, and a great variety of ornamental and fruit-bearing shrubs and trees.

During World War II Mrs. Adamson did most of her own seeding and potting of annuals, She also planted a family orchard and several large "victory gardens", which provided fresh and preserved fruits and vegetables thereafter.

Over time the control of the micro-climate around the residence was reinforced by the layout and maturity of the plant material selected. Response to the fierce Santa Ana winds are controlled by groves of trees and shrubs on the Northern boundary of the property. The cold Westerly winds during the summer are modified by stands of Sycamore trees. There is evidence of a clear eco-system between house, landscape orientation and the forces of nature.

SIGNIFICANCE OF FURNISHINGS:

The "John B. Holtzclaw Company, Interior Decorators, Importers, Creators and Makers of Distinctive Furniture" executed the interiors, Mr. Holtzclaw giving it his personal attention. Antiques were used, or red productions made especially for the house, utilizing authentic design adaptations of Hispanic furniture (cf. Bibliography). Noteworthy at this house are the half-dozen wrought iron tables with decorative Moorish tile tops made by the Malibu Potteries. They were placed in the outside patios and sitting areas. Most of the original furnishings including silverware and other valuables are in the protective custody and safekeeping of the State of California and are available to be returned to The Adamson Home for an authentic interpretive display of the original furnishing of the home.

SIGNIFICANCE AS TO EXPLORATION/SETTLEMENT:

The Adamson Home is constructed near a rich archaeological site designated LAN-264 which predates European involvement in California to approximately 3,000 3.C. Cabrillo sailed along this part of the Southern California coastline in October, 1542. The site is part of the original 13,000-acre Rancho Malibu Sostomo Semi Sequit granted by the King of Spain to Don Jose Bartolome Tapia in 1804. The last owner of this Spanish land grant was Mr., Frederick H. Rindge who purchased the Malibu Ranch from Henry W. Keller in 1891. The Adamson Home was constructed by the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Rindge, Rhoda Rindge Adamson, in 1929. Accordingly, the Adamson Home and grounds provide a unique opportunity for interpretive applications on civilization in California from pre-historic Indian civilization through the explorative Spanish colonial and land-grant periods to the settlement of Southern California from 1850 when California was admitted to the Union; to the present era.

The Adamson Home is also significant in that it is associated with a family who originally migrated to America in 1638 and moved westward in the settlement of the West. The family has been involved in the history of America on the Eastern coast as exemplified in the naming of the town of Rindge, New Hampshire, In 1887 Rhoda Rindge Adamson's father, Frederick H. Rindge, donated lands and funds to the City of Cambridge, Massachusetts for the Cambridge Public Library, the Cambridge City Hall and the Cambridge Manual Training School for Boys, now known as the Rindge Technical School, An extensive collection of implements used by native races was donated in 1894 to the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard University and a large coin collection was donated to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston by the Rindge family.

The Rindge and Adamson families involvement in the culture and settlement of California from 1887 to the present is attested by agricultural development of delta lands in the San Joaquin Valley near Stockton where a large parcel is to this day known as "The Rindge Tract". The Southwest Museum in Los Angeles houses the Rindge collection of native artifacts. In March, 1896 the First United Methodist Church of Santa Monica was dedicated - made possible by funds donated by Rhoda Rindge Adamson's father. The settlement of the Southern California area was directly affected by the Rindge-Adamson family through construction of a railroad along the Malibu Coast, legal cases involving road rights-of-way, operation of their own ceramic tile factory (Malibu Potteries) and direct involvement in the formation of such California business entities as Union Oil Company of California, Southern California Edison, Conservative Life Insurance Company (now Pacific Mutual Life Insurance Company),Adohr Milk Farms, Marblehead Land Company (named after Marblehead, Massachusetts) and the Adamson Companies. The Adamson family donated the large parcel of land on which Pepperdine University, Malibu Campus, was recently constructed.

In summary, the Adamson Home is part of the heritage of California and the nation. The lives of the members of the Rindge-Adamson family parallel the exploration and westward settlement of the United States from 1638 to 1976 and from New Hampshire and Massachusetts to California, The Adamson structure, significant in its own right from a standpoint of architecture, tile art, landscape architecture and furnishings, is also significant due to the lives of the Rindge Adamson family as it pertains to the exploration, settlement and culture of the United States 'of America from the Atlantic to the Pacific.