Knapp's Castle

 ruins, place with historical importance, interesting place, tourist attraction

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In 1916 a wealthy industrialist from Union Carbide named George Owen Knapp purchased the homestead as a site for a mountain retreat to compliment his 100 acre estate in Montecito. George Knapp and his wife were engaged in numerous charitable pursuits and over the years donated many thousands of dollars to local religious, educational, and medical projects.

Knapp employed Italian stonemasons to lay down native cold water sandstone to form the foundations, walls, and fireplaces of the retreat. The lodge, some four years in the building, was a massive structure nearly 100 feet long. It was furnished with all of the conveniences of the age including a pipe organ. There were some other buildings including a studio, cottage, staff dormitory, and a superintendent's house. Water was pumped from several waterfalls near the eastern side of the property to a reservoir just above the lodge.

In 1940 the property was sold to Frances Holden who invited her good friend, world famous opera singer Lotte Lehmann, to move in. Just five short weeks after moving into the lodge, a raging forest fire cut through the property destroying all of the buildings. The massive stone foundations, fireplace pillars, and walls still remain in ruins as a reminder to this page of Santa Barbara history.

www.independent.com/news/2011/jan/06/knapps-castle-cons...