Transformation of Casa Romantica

When they set out to restore Casa Romantica, the picturesque but decaying estate of San Clemente founder Ole Hanson, the goal was to bring back the seaside villa’s splendor and elegance and make it a cultural center for the community.

Easier said than done.

Not long after the restoration began in July 2002, a 20-foot-deep sinkhole was discovered beneath Hanson’s study, an octagon-shaped room with large windows on five sides overlooking the ocean and the San Clemente Pier.

A sewer line to a nearby condominium building that was left off most maps was accidentally severed, and the 250-pound chandelier in the grand salon mysteriously continued to stay up with the barest thread of support.

But after months of cautious, painstaking work, Casa Romantica is now living up to its promise as a center for poetry, dance, music, instruction and quiet reflection.

A permanent exhibit of period photos, advertisements and artifacts from the 1920s that illustrate Hanson’s vision for San Clemente is in place, and the restoration of the 8,000-square-foot villa’s interior and exterior is finished.

A nonprofit group that leases the house from the city and operates it as cultural center has opened the doors to a community apparently hungry for lectures on surfing, classical guitar concerts, flamenco dance and children’s puppet shows.

“We sell out almost every event,” said Katie Arons, marketing and communications director.

A feasibility study projected that the center would attract 15,000 people a year when open full time.

“In eight months,” Arons said, “we’ve had 8,000 people without being open full time.”

The preview events were a “test for the community,” she said, “to see if they wanted a cultural center in their community. Would they come to poetry readings? Would they come to a classical music concert? They came in droves.”

Yet, the center still has a way to go before it is ready for full-time use.

The landscaping, designed by famed landscape architect Isabelle Greene, is incomplete, a reception center and gift shop are in the works, and a planned 85-seat amphitheater is just a deep depression in the earth. A 1,000-square-foot workshop for gardening and instruction is awaiting completion.

But the work can’t happen without funds, and the nonprofit group needs about $1.6 million to complete the transformation.

The operators have raised substantial amounts with “naming opportunities” of rooms and garden paths around the complex, starting at $20,000 and going as high as $175,000. The cultural center also sponsored a black-tie fundraiser in 2003 that raised about $60,000, Arons said. She hopes another, on Sept. 24, will do as well or better.

Looking around at the restoration, the additions and the promise of the gardens, Arons smiled and said: “Ole would be happy.”