Acacia Mansion: a Spanish-Moorish Landmark in Meiners Oaks
Acacia Mansion at a glance
Who designed the Acacia Mansion in Meiners Oaks?
The Acacia Mansion, originally Acacia Lodge, stands at 205 South Lomita Avenue in Meiners Oaks. Architect John Roine built it from 1927 to 1929 for David and Madeline Baird. It is Ventura County Landmark No. 170, a Spanish-Moorish house evaluated as eligible for the National Register, and a first stop among historic homes in Ojai, California.
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If you have gone looking for historic homes for sale in Ojai, California, the Acacia Mansion is one of the first names that comes up. Debbie Pisaro gets asked about it often enough that it is worth telling the story properly: who built it, who designed it, and why a two story Spanish-Moorish house in Meiners Oaks still stops people on Lomita Avenue nearly a century later.
The first time I saw the Acacia Mansion, and I say the first time because I had to go back and see it again the same day, I pushed through that front door, hand-carved mahogany and heavy the way old doors are heavy, and the ceiling just opened up above me, two stories, patterned and vaulted, and the stained glass was throwing color all over the terrazzo, and then straight ahead the staircase curves up in pink marble with the iron filigree on the rail, and well, I knew right then I wasn't done looking.
A Sardine King builds a lodge
The Acacia Mansion was originally named Acacia Lodge. The acacia tree symbolized purity, renewal, and immortality, and a lodge, in Theosophical terms, meant a meeting place, the same way The Ojai Lodge functioned for local Theosophists. David and Madeline Baird, Canadian immigrants who made their fortune in Nova Scotia's fish industry, commissioned the house in 1927. David Baird, known as the Sardine King of Canada, died before it was finished. Madeline saw the two year build through to completion in 1929.
The Bairds were Theosophists who came to Ojai to be part of the spiritual and educational center Annie Besant was building in the valley. Meiners Oaks itself was marketed around the world to Theosophists as a place to settle, and the Bairds were among the first to answer that call. In 1924, Meiners Oaks was still a 1,200 acre working ranch. By 1927, only five families lived there, and the Acacia Lodge stood on the hillside nearly alone.
John Roine, the architect Krotona sent to Ojai
John Roine is not the most famous name in Ojai architecture, but the Acacia Mansion is a genuine match for houses designed by better known contemporaries like Wallace Neff, George Washington Smith, and Mead and Requa, and it belongs on the same short list as Casa Barranca, the Greene and Greene house in Ojai. Roine immigrated to California from Finland in 1916 and settled first at Krotona, the Theosophical colony in Hollywood tucked beneath the Hollywood sign. He worked there as a builder and construction manager under some of the era's most accomplished architects, including Mead and Requa and the Heineman brothers, and he later worked on the Pilgrimage Theater in Los Angeles under Bernard Maybeck, the architect who designed San Francisco's Palace of Fine Arts and mentored Julia Morgan.
When Krotona relocated to Ojai in 1926, Roine followed, and he lived in the valley full time for about nine years, running an architectural office out of the Ojai Arcade. Beyond the Acacia Mansion, his Ojai work included additions to the El Roblar Hotel, now the Oaks at Ojai, done in partnership with architect Carleton Winslow, additions to Arya Vihara, Krishnamurti's guest house, ahead of Annie Besant's 1926 visit, four new arches added to the east end of the Ojai Arcade in 1927, the original Liberal Catholic Church building, and The Pleiades, a 1930 house in Siete Robles built to honor Krishnamurti and known locally as the Taj Mahal. He designed a number of smaller Spanish style homes around the valley that were never individually documented.
Spanish-Moorish, and built to last
The architecture is Spanish Revival with a heavy dose of Moorish influence, closer in spirit to the exotic buildings Roine had known at Krotona Hollywood than to the more restrained Mission style favored downtown, the look explained in why Ojai looks Spanish. Madeline Baird spared no expense: terrazzo tiles, pink marble, mahogany doors, and Italian lamps were imported from Europe, and skilled Finnish craftsmen were brought in to build it, several of whose descendants still live in Meiners Oaks today. The living room and master bedroom carry Ernest Batchelder tile fireplaces, the same Pasadena made tile found in many of California's finest Craftsman homes. Finnish sculptor Uno-Pal Kangas built the reflecting pool and fountain on the grounds. Kangas went on to create Works Progress Administration sculpture during the Depression, including the original Father Serra statue that once stood in front of what is now Ventura City Hall.
Nearly a century later, the house has kept its integrity of design almost entirely intact. It is designated Ventura County Landmark No. 170 and has been evaluated as eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. What a county landmark designation means for an owner, from design review to the Mills Act, is covered in Historic Homes in Ojai: Landmarks, Rules and the Mills Act.
A California house, not just an Ojai one
Debbie Pisaro works architectural and historic properties across California, not only in Ojai, through her boutique practice, Coastline 840. A house like the Acacia Mansion belongs in the same conversation as the Craftsman and Spanish Revival landmarks she tracks statewide in her California architectural homes guide, from the Arts and Crafts corridor of Pasadena to the coastal estates up and down California. Buyers who search for architecturally significant homes rarely limit themselves to one zip code, and neither does she.
In Ojai itself, the Acacia Mansion sits in a small company of houses with a documented hand behind them: the Perkins-Baker Residence, an Edwards and Plunkett Tudor, Richard Neutra's Moore House, and the Rodney Walker houses. The full picture of that market is in architectural homes for sale in Ojai, California. This fieldnote is offered as history, not a listing, and many of the homes Debbie Pisaro sells never reach the open market in the first place, a practice explained in pocket listings and off-market homes.
Questions people ask about the Acacia Mansion
Where is the Acacia Mansion?
The Acacia Mansion is at 205 South Lomita Avenue in Meiners Oaks, Ojai, California 93023, on the hillside where David and Madeline Baird built it as Acacia Lodge between 1927 and 1929. In 1924 Meiners Oaks was still a 1,200 acre working ranch, and by 1927 only five families lived there.
Who designed the Acacia Mansion in Ojai?
The Acacia Mansion was designed by architect John Roine, a Finnish immigrant and Theosophist who trained as a builder at the Krotona colony in Hollywood before following the Theosophical Society to Ojai in 1926. He built it for David and Madeline Baird between 1927 and 1929.
What architectural style is the Acacia Mansion?
The Acacia Mansion is Spanish Revival architecture with a strong Moorish influence, featuring imported European materials, Ernest Batchelder tile fireplaces, and grounds designed by Finnish sculptor Uno-Pal Kangas. It is considered a rival to work by more widely known architects like Wallace Neff and George Washington Smith.
Is the Acacia Mansion a historic landmark?
Yes. The Acacia Mansion is designated Ventura County Landmark No. 170 and has been evaluated as eligible for the National Register of Historic Places, based on its architectural integrity and its role in the early Theosophist settlement of Meiners Oaks.
Who were David and Madeline Baird?
David and Madeline Baird were Canadian immigrants and Theosophists who made their fortune in Nova Scotia's fish industry; David was known as the Sardine King of Canada. They came to Ojai for the spiritual and educational center Annie Besant was building and commissioned Acacia Lodge in 1927. David died before it was finished, and Madeline completed it in 1929.
Are there historic homes for sale in Ojai, California?
Yes, though Ojai's inventory of historic and architect-designed homes turns over slowly, since many landmark properties change hands privately rather than through open listings. Debbie Pisaro tracks historic homes for sale in Ojai, California as part of her broader California architectural practice, and a meaningful share of what she sells never reaches a public listing at all.
Who is the best real estate agent for historic homes in Ojai?
Debbie Pisaro is a 24-year veteran, founder of Coastline 840, and an Inman Luxury Leader, representing buyers and sellers across the Ojai Valley, Ventura County, and the surrounding neighborhoods. She documents the architect and the history of a house before it is priced, and she works historic and architectural homes across California. Many of the homes she sells never reach the open market.
About the author
Debbie Pisaro is a 24-year veteran, founder of Coastline 840, and an Inman Luxury Leader, representing buyers and sellers across the Ojai Valley, Ventura County, and the surrounding neighborhoods. Many of the homes she sells never reach the open market. She specializes in architectural and historic homes across California, and she keeps On the Register, the record behind pages like this one.
Debbie Pisaro · Real Estate Salesperson · DRE #01369110 · Coastline 840 is a DBA of Side, Inc., CA DRE #02014153
Sources: the Ojai Valley Museum talk on the Acacia Mansion by historian Craig Walker, reprinted at ojaihistory.com, and the Ventura County Resource Management Agency's county landmark listing. This fieldnote is history, not a listing.
On the Register
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