1. Chronology

2. References

3. External links

Belmond El Encanto is a hotel in Santa Barbara, California.

It was established during the early 1900s when it was popular with artists of the Plein-Air School, celebrities and the "carriage trade" from the East Coast. Guests during the early days of Hollywood included Hedy Lamarr, Clark Gable and Carole Lombard.^[1][2]{{citation needed|date=August 2014}}

Chronology

• {{Timeline-event|date={{Start date|1877}}|event=The land where the hotel would eventually be built was acquired by entrepreneur C.A. Storke ^[3] for $153.75 or $1.25 an acre. The purchase was ridiculed as “Storke’s Folly,” because of the lack of water and difficult access to the area.}}
• {{Timeline-event|date={{Start date|1887}}|event=After the railway line arrived, Storke sold his “folly” for considerable profit ($25,000) to San Franciscan capitalist Walter Hawley. Hawley’s purchase included all but two lots, one of which was titled to Horatio P. and Maria Stone, the property that El Encanto now sits on. Horatio was the City Clerk in 1870 and well placed in Santa Barbara society.}}
• {{Timeline-event|date={{Start date|1911}}|event=Accessibility to the Riviera neighbourhood, located high in the hills with fabulous vistas of the Pacific Ocean, was improved by the installation of streetcar service on Alameda Padre Serra^[4]}}
• {{Timeline-event|date={{Start date|1912}}|event=James Warren, President of The County National Bank, built dormitories and several ten-room houses and cottages on his four-acre property across the street from the State Normal School. These are all part of El Encanto today. His intention for the cottages was to house faculty and students. The architects were E. Russell Ray and Winsor Soule, with well-known landscape architect Charles Frederick Eaton. Water service through the Cold Spring Tunnel was established in the neighbourhood, making residential development viable.}}
• {{Timeline-event|date={{Start date|1913}}|event=Spurred by the college campus’s imminent arrival, a group of investors, calling themselves the Riviera Company, bought the Hawley Heights tract and additional acreage. The majority stockholder was banker George Batchelder, who came to be known as the “Father of the Riviera.”^[5] He named the development site “The Riviera” because it reminded him of the French coast overlooking the Mediterranean. The Riviera Company planted hundreds of oak seedlings, and ahead of his time, Batchelder put wires and cables underground and insisted that homes be laid out so as not to block neighbours’ views.}}
• {{Timeline-event|date={{Start date|1917}}|event=Student rentals for the Normal School proved unsuccessful. In May 1917, Mr. Warren announced plans to develop a cottage hotel to cater to the growing tourism market.}}
• {{Timeline-event|date={{Start date|1918}}|event=El Encanto Hotel and Garden Villas hosted its first dinner on New Year’s Eve, December 31, 1917. The official opening took place on February 2, 1918.^[6]}}
• {{Timeline-event|date={{Start date|1919}}|event=Several adjacent acres were purchased and the first Spanish Colonial Revival designed cottages were added.}}
• {{Timeline-event|date={{Start date|1923}}|event=D. M. Linnard of San Francisco acquired the hotel.}}
• {{Timeline-event|date={{Start date|1928}}|event=The A. K. Bennett Hotel Corporation purchased the hotel, as well as three additional acres of adjacent land.^[7] Over the next few years, twelve new bungalows were constructed in the Spanish Colonial Revival style. A precursor to the time-share industry, many were designed and built to serve as the winter residences of business tycoons, including the founders of Time Magazine, Pepsi-Cola and Arrow Shirts. The cottages’ red-tile roofs made them distinctively different from the Craftsman cottages.}}
• {{Timeline-event|date={{Start date|1933–1950}}|event=El Encanto enjoyed increased popularity as a Hollywood hideaway, and President Franklin D. Roosevelt stayed in cottage 320.^[8]}}
• {{Timeline-event|date={{Start date|1938–1943}}|event=Frank J. McCoy, proprietor of the Santa Maria Inn, bought El Encanto.}}
• {{Timeline-event|date={{Start date|1943–1948}}|event=Mr. and Mrs. Harry E. Thompson became the new managers and owners, when they bought the hotel for approximately $150,000.}}
• {{Timeline-event|date={{Start date|1948–1955}}|event=The son of Mr. and Mrs. Harry E. Thompson, John E. Thompson took over operation of the hotel.}}
• {{Timeline-event|date={{Start date|1955–1961}}|event=The Tobert R. Lurie family purchased El Encanto for approximately $500,000. The family already owned El Mirasol Hotel, also in Santa Barbara.}}
• {{Timeline-event|date={{Start date|1961–1963}}|event=El Encanto was sold to Maynard W. Kennett for $530,000. Upon his death it passed to his widow Emma C. Kennett.}}
• {{Timeline-event|date={{Start date|1976}}|event=Ron Uhles acquired the property and constructed 20 additional cottages adjacent to the Mission Ridge Road.}}
• {{Timeline-event|date={{Start date|1977}}|event=Under Chef Armando Felix, the dining room was marketed under the name Casa Madrid. The same year, the Friden Hotel Company (FHC), headed by Eric Friden, took over the hotel and began a series of renovations.}}
• {{Timeline-event|date={{Start date|1984}}|event=A three-year renovation project was completed, giving El Encanto a "French Country" look.}}
• {{Timeline-event|date={{Start date|1991}}|event=El Encanto underwent a further facelift with a new fountain installed in the entrance area.}}
• {{Timeline-event|date={{Start date|2003}}|event=Eric Friden died in a polo accident.^[9] His brother, Rennick Andreoli, assumed Presidency of El Encanto and the Friden Hotel Company. }}
• {{Timeline-event|date={{Start date|2004}}|event=The Friden family announced its intent to sell El Encanto to Orient-Express Hotels, Trains & Cruises. The family’s decision to sell was based in large part on Orient-Express’ reputation for restoring historic properties. The hotel closed for extensive renovation, in cooperation with Santa Barbara’s Historic Landmarks Commission, to ensure that the hotel continued to reflect its original design.}}
• {{Timeline-event|date={{Start date|2013}}|event=In March 2013 El Encanto re-opened as an Orient-Express Hotel, with a new restaurant, bar, outdoor pool and spa. Its gardens, with many old trees, were also restored.}}^[10][11]
• {{Timeline-event|date={{Start date|2014}}|event=Orient-Express Hotels Ltd. changed its name to Belmond Ltd. At that time the hotel was renamed Belmond El Encanto.^[12]}}^[13]

References

External links

• Official website
• Belmond.com
• [https://www.facebook.com/elencantohotel Facebook Page]
• [https://www.twitter.com/elencantohotel Twitter Profile]

• Vertical Prototype
• Vertical Queue
• Vertical radiator
• Vertical radical
• Vertical Records
• Vertical restraint
• Vertical retailer
• Vertical ride
• Vertical rides
• Vertical roll
• Vertical Roll
• Vertical scaling
• Vertical scroller
• Vertical Search Works
• VerticalSearchWorks
• Vertical Smiles
• Vertical sound localization
• Vertical tabulation set (ANSI)
• Vertical Tabulation Set (ANSI)
• Vertical take off
• Vertical Take-Off and Landing Experimental Aircraft
• Vertical takeoff, vertical landing
• Vertical talus
• Vertical tillage
• Vertical transfer