By Hunter Fuentes and Jon Stordahl
Villa Rockledge
Samuel Taylor Coleridge, the British Romantic poet, immortalized one of history's greatest residences, the city and palace of the Mongol emperor, "In Xanadu did Kubla Khan a stately pleasure-dome decree…With walls and towers were girdled round; And there were gardens bright with sinuous rills…." Coleridge might just as well have been describing an eccentric cliffside home here in Laguna.
One of the most important architectural works in the city is the Villa Rockledge. It is one of only four Laguna Beach sites listed on the National Register of Historic Places (the others being the Griffith Residence in Three Arch Bay, the Cathedral of St. Francis by-the-Sea and the Rivian-owned New Lynn Theater).
Vintage postcard provided by the Laguna Beach Historical Society.
Villa Rockledge was built between 1918 and 1921 as a summer residence by Frank Miller, developer and owner of the Riverside Mission Inn. Miller's parents had moved the family from Wisconsin to Riverside in the early 1870s. They had built a large home on a lot in downtown Riverside with plans on renting rooms to lodgers. Frank bought out his parents' interest in the hotel and in 1902, commissioned Los Angeles architect Arthur Burnett Benton to design an 84-room, Mission Revival-style structure that would become the Riverside Mission Inn. According to a January 1936 article in the Ventura County Star, Miller, having studied in Spain, had a passion for Spanish art and architecture and was a founding member of Riverside's Spanish Arts Society. He found a kindred spirit in Benton. Miller's first wife died in 1908, and two years later, he married Marion Clark, who was 26 years his junior. Riverside was a wealthy city at the turn of the last century; it was named the country's richest city (per capita) in 1895.
Frank Arthur Miller and the Riverside Mission Inn. Photos courtesy of the Mission Inn Museum.
Many of those wealthy Riverside families built summer retreats in Laguna Beach to escape the inland heat. In 1918, Miller asked Benton to design an eclectic Mission Revival-style vacation home on the cliffs overlooking the ocean in Laguna Beach. The completed residence was christened "Mariona" in tribute to his young bride. The resulting home was described by Sandra Barrera in a June 11, 2020, article in the OC Register, "Perched atop a half-acre amid lush grounds cut by winding pathways, Villa Rockledge features a main house, four guest villas … beamed ceilings, hardwood floors and casement windows…." Len Hall, writing for the Saddleback Valley News in March 1984, further noted, "Two rustic stone towers, one octagonal and the other pentagonal, anchor the L-shaped lower building to the cliff." There is nothing like it on the Southern California coast. Frank Miller died in 1935. His widow owned the home until 1941. Future owners began to rent out the guest villas as apartments; each apartment assigned a name that evoked the Spanish heritage: Antigua, Barcelona, Concha, Desear, Espana, Francia, Granada and Hermosa.
In 1973, Roger W. Jones purchased the property. He had rented one of the guest villas for a few years and dreamed of restoring the home. He spent decades and much of his disposable income returning the property to its former glory. Jones even wrote a book about it, "The History of Villa Rockledge: A National Treasure in Laguna Beach." It was Jones and his wife, Sherill, who decided in 1984 to place their home on the National Register. Roger and Sherill loved their home. They knew that they lived somewhere very special.
The History of Villa Rockledge by Roger W. Jones
Sadly, it was recently reported that the landmark property was a victim of vandalism with windows broken and walls defaced with graffiti. The city has been in contact with the current owner but has not been able to access the property for inspection as of last week. Obviously, we hope that the damage is minimal and easily repaired.
In the classic Orson Welles' film "Citizen Kane," the title character, Charles Foster Kane, erected the monumental home that he, like Kubla Khan, christened Xanadu. The movie's opening and closing scenes take place there. The viewer is told that after Kane's death, the home was abandoned, and its treasures were sold off. Let us all hope for a happier fate for our own local Xanadu. In the forward to his book about his home, Roger Jones wrote, "It is my wish that Villa Rockledge never be destroyed but be preserved for future generations to enjoy and appreciate. The substance, imagination and rustic beauty of Villa Rockledge are a tribute to early 20th-century California architecture, Frank Miller, the builder, and Arthur Benton, the architect, and should not be lost. Hopefully, successive owners will feel as I do, and the future of Villa Rockledge will remain secure." Amen.
Front view of Villa Rockledge. Date unknown.
View of Villa Rockledge. Photo courtesy of the Laguna Beach Historical Society.
