San Clemente’s Casa Romantica is all that its name suggests

High above the traffic in downtown San Clemente sits a Spanish-style citadel with a perfectly appropriate name for a peaceful hilltop mansion with panoramic views of the ocean.

Casa Romantica was the home of the city’s founder, Ole Hanson, and his wife and 10 children. In more modern times, the now-90-year-old structure was turned into one of the county’s first cultural centers, offering musical events, art programs and workshops.

For more than a decade, community volunteers, a staff and a board of directors have tended to the landmark that overlooks the historic San Clemente Pier, as well as its gardens, complete with palm trees, succulents and flower bushes.

But long before the palatial residence, with its enchanting ocean terrace and Spanish-design white stucco walls, became the romantic setting for weddings, it suffered from years of neglect.

Shortly after the San Clemente Redevelopment Agency bought the $2.5-million estate in 1989 with plans to transform it into a cultural and educational center for the community, a 20-foot-deep sinkhole was found beneath Hanson’s study.

The 250-pound chandelier in the home’s salon barely clung to the ceiling. And a sewer line problem in the area further threatened the fragile structure.

After months of restoration, including new plumbing and wiring as well as seismic retrofitting, the 8,000-square-foot casa transformed into not only a quiet place of reflection, but also an art destination with a permanent exhibit of period photos and murals by artist Norman Kennedy.

The “romantic house” with its several small galleries, intimate amphitheater and gardens filled with native vegetation, continues to live up to its promise of helping to shape San Clemente, California’s first planned community.

In the meantime, preservationists are busy behind the scenes, raising funds and seeking donations during philanthropic events hosted at the casa — all in an effort to maintain the historical integrity of the home.

A family home

Built in 1927, Casa Romantica was designed as the family home for Hanson, a land developer and mayor of Seattle, Wash., who left the state and found the pleasant climate and beautiful beaches of Orange County to his liking.

It featured seven bedrooms, seven bathrooms, fountains and courtyards.

Over the years, Hanson created his ideal community, which would become known as his “Spanish village by the sea.” The new area with its Mediterranean-style buildings, red tile roofs and pier, became selling points for interested buyers, and the town was officially incorporated in 1928.

But Hanson, who was over-leveraged with mortgages on various properties, would lose all of his holdings in the Great Depression, including his custom-designed San Clemente home.

The unique Spanish-style gem changed owners several times, including at one point Hollywood entertainer and orchestra leader Fred Waring.

In 1960, the property was used as a senior citizens home. Then in 1984, George and Louise Welsh renamed it Casa Romantica, and for the next several years, the casa was leased to a private business for special events.

In 1989, the San Clemente Redevelopment Agency purchased the property from the Welsh Family Partnership, and two years later, it was listed on the National Registry of Historic Places.

The agency discussed whether the home could become a cultural arts center and turned to local community leaders Ruth DeNault and Guy Varriano for answers.

A history lesson

When DeNault first attended a luncheon at Casa Romantica, she encountered rotting wood, a collapsing floor and dead-plant mulch in the garden.

But instead of seeing a wreck, she saw potential for a cultural center where the public could learn about the history and environment of the Southern California region and attend gardening classes, concerts and literary and visual-arts events.

The neglected Casa Romantica was itself a history lesson and needed its classic charm and unique quirks preserved. Such a monumental project would call for a team to bring the beloved mansion back to its former glory.

DeNault — who with her husband, Jim, founded the first True Value Hardware store, in San Clemente in 1956, and later opened five additional locations in Orange County — and Varriano, a retired banking senior vice president, recruited additional local leaders to serve on a founding board.

They helped found the Casa Romantica Cultural Center and Gardens as a nonprofit in 2002.

With an anonymous $1.5-million donation, combined with money raised through developers that reached a total of $5 million, the intrepid founders and supporters revived the home and in the process created a multicultural center.

Today, DeNault is the casa’s president, and Varriano sits on the board as a founding president emeritus.

“I always thought it was special and majestic and mysterious,” DeNault said. “Now there is something for everyone.”

Thirteen years after the massive community effort, the Spanish Colonial-Revival-style property welcomes nearly 15,000 people a year for tours and a variety of performances and programs.

DeNault went on to join a number of causes throughout the city and quickly became known as a well-regarded benefactor. Her philanthropic efforts were honored in 2014 with her name mounted on the city’s Wall of Recognition at the San Clemente Community Center.

“You don’t think of it just as a home,” DeNault said. “Everything is utilized in a variety of ways, and people of all ages feel like this belongs to them.”

‘Everybody loves a winner’

To carry out its outreach to the community, the board hired as executive director Berenika D. Schmitz, a Harvard alumna who spent a year as a fellow with the DeVos Institute of Arts Management at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.

Schmitz, a concert pianist who also serves as chairman of the Dana Point Arts and Culture Commission, wanted to develop programs that would engage the community in different ways.

Since she began her role in 2013, she has introduced jazz concerts and contemporary dance shows to classical music performances and gardening workshops.

On the calendar’s current lineup is an evening with acclaimed Broadway actor Ivan Rutherford, whose career includes more than 2,300 performances as the lead role of Jean Valjean in “Les Miserables,” and an art exhibition featuring London-based installation artist Rebecca Louise Law, who will use native plants and materials to construct an art piece.

Casa Romantica will again host its annual black-tie Toast to the Casa event Sept. 24, featuring Venetian art and food and wine from more than 30 restaurants and vintners. The gala raised $90,000 in 2014 to support the organization’s programs, which benefit 2,000 children a year.

These include a free music academy for children interested in learning how to play the violin, viola, cello or piano — through one-on-one lessons and music theory lectures — a dance workshop for children to create their own movement and choreography, with the work showcased in a free recital.

“Anyone can tap into creativity of any genre in the arts here,” Schmitz said as she toured the grounds with DeNault. “It’s exciting now and it’s very special.”

“Yes, it is,” DeNault said. “Everybody loves a winner.”