Wattles Mansion

The Wattles Estate, originally known as Jualita, is a historic house and park in the Hollywood area of Los Angeles, California, United States. It was built in 1907 by wealthy Omaha, Nebraska, banker Gurdon Wattles as a winter home. It has been split into several areas, including the Wattles Mansion, Wattles Park, and Wattles Gardens.The estate has been recognized as "the only remaining intact example of the once plentiful Hollywood estates from the period preceding the film industry, when Hollywood was primarily agricultural and was a wintering home for wealthy Easterners and Midwesterners." According to the City of Los Angeles, "'Jualita' is one of the few remaining landscapes reminiscent of another era and tradition, possessing a genuine integrity of setting, design, workmanship, and association."HistoryNoted local architects Myron Hunt and Elmer Grey designed the Mission Revival residence in 1907 with grounds featuring a Japanese garden, an Italian Rose garden, a formal Spanish garden, a palm court and orchards. It was one of Hollywood's first tourist attractions. Wattles was responsible for gradually transforming 49acre of agricultural land into orchards, thematic gardens and naturalistic landscapes based on his trips to Japan and Mexico.After Wattles' death in 1932, his wife and his son continued to live on the property. Gurdon Wallace Wattles, Jr. negotiated the sale of the residence to the City of Los Angeles in 1965. In March of that year, the City of Los Angeles Board of Recreation and Parks Commission adopted Resolution 5135, designating the Wattles estate as an acquisition area, and purchased the property for $1,917,000 in June 1968.