MODJESKA : Comeback’s First Steps Are Hidden

Dusty shelves and fireplaces and cobwebbed corners and windowsills lend a lifeless appearance to the century-old house that was the focal point of what Shakespearean actress Helena Modjeska once called her “Forest of Arden.”

Its 14.4 acres of grounds in Modjeska Canyon are littered with dead palm fronds and needles from stately redwoods hovering over the house.

Although the house and grounds do not readily show it, the county has spent $600,000 to turn the property into a museum and park.

Ultimately, the county would like to restore the house and grounds fully, with original artifacts and furnishings. For now, officials plan to show the historic house in its bare state.

“We think there is a story here that can be told without everything in place,” said Denton Turner, design manager for the Harbors, Beaches and Parks division of the county’s Environmental Management Agency.

Still, officials have pinpointed several tasks that need to be completed before the grounds officially open to the public.

Officials are eyeing a nearby piece of private property, which would become a buffer between the Modjeska site and the outside world. In addition, they are negotiating to buy land for an off-site parking lot from which visitors would take a shuttle or van to the house.

In the next six months, county supervisors are expected to establish guidelines for an advisory board, which will include local residents who want a say in the museum and park’s operation.

The shuttle, advisory board and operation guidelines are being hammered out to help offset residents’ objections to opening the house to the public. They have complained that a public park will generate increased traffic and noise, destroying the serene habitat near Santiago Creek.

Turner said it should take a year to 18 months to have the parking and other services in place, pushing the opening to late 1992 or 1993.

The restoration and refurbishment, meanwhile, will probably be an “evolving, ongoing” process that could take 20 years and $14 million to complete, he said.

Money and much of the legwork would come form the Helena Modjeska Foundation, Turner said.

A year ago, county officials spent about $600,000 to stabilize the house, built in the 1880s by Modjeska and her husband, Charles Bozenta Chlapowski.

The work left the house structurally sound for future restoration, said Dan Thomas, a ranger with the Harbors, Beaches and Parks division.

The original cobblestone foundation was crumbling, so it was replaced with cement, which was also used to line fireplace flues in the house’s six bedrooms. Steel beams were added to reinforce the walls, which were also strengthened with wooden studs.

Surrounded by lush greenery and colorful rose blossoms, the house and grounds reminded Modjeska of the fabled forest in Shakespeare’s “As You Like It.”

She and Chlapowski bought the land from a friend in 1883 and built their house around the friend’s small wooden cabin.

Today the enclosed cabin, which resembles a closet off the living room, is partly covered with newspapers dating to the late 1800s. Thomas said the owners used newspaper and wallpaper to block the cool air during the winter.

A burglar alarm was also added, as were new plumbing and electrical equipment.

Turner is quick to admit that the work is subtle.

“There are a lot of improvements that are buried or hidden in walls,” he said. “You go out there and you think it looks like an old dilapidated house.”