The Campbells: Dan brings his bride back home to Glendale
After Dan Campbell made his fortune in the gold fields of the
Klondike, he returned to his Irish village. There, on Nov. 21, 1900,
he married his sweetheart and cousin, Margaret McPeak, in the
upstairs sitting room of her parents’ house in the village of
Ballymoney.
They left that same day for America, by way of Liverpool, arriving
in New York on the second day of December.
After two days in New York, they left for Los Angeles by train,
arriving Dec. 12. The next day they went to Dan’s old friends, Leslie
and Mary Louise Brand, for tea.
Dan had met Joe Brand, Leslie’s younger brother, while he was in
the Klondike looking for gold. During the long, dark winter nights,
Joe described a golden land of opportunity in Southern California --
the place where his older brother had become a great success.
After his own success in the Klondike, Dan visited the Brands in
their Angelino Heights home, staying a year before he returned to
Ireland to marry. So, it’s no wonder that their first stop in Los
Angeles was at the Brands’.
By Christmas, Dan and Margaret were also established in Angelino
Heights, moving into a new cottage on West 25th Street.
Soon after, the Brands bought a huge plot of land in north
Glendale and commissioned Nathaniel Dryden to design and build a
house for them.
Brand convinced Dan to buy 25 acres near his and develop a citrus
ranch. Dan did so, hiring the same architect to design a new home for
his family.
Working with their architect, Dan and Margaret placed their home
on a point of land that extended out from the foothills between two
small canyons. During construction, the builders leveled the point,
placing the building on solid granite. The point was then rounded and
a low retaining wall of stone erected.
The front of the house followed the circular lines of the
retaining wall, as did the driveway. All the rooms looked out on the
valley below.
The two-story house was built in a West Indian plantation style --
with a colonial revival touch. It contained nine large rooms, all
plastered, several with frescoed ceilings. It was as modern as the
times could be, and was lighted with acetylene gas, according to the
Glendale News, October 1905.
While the house was under construction, Mrs. Campbell’s father
wrote to a Mr. Duncan asking for an Irish name for his daughter’s
house. “It is being built on an orange ranch. It is at the foot of
lofty mountains overlooking a vast and fertile plain. It is also an
entirely frostless region. My daughter,” he added, “is very anxious
to have an Irish name.” It became Ard Eevin, Gaelic for beautiful
heights.
The Campbells moved into their home Feb. 4, 1903, when their son,
Dan Jr., was a year old. Incidentally, the Brands didn’t move into
their home until a year later.
Next week: more about the house and ranch.
* KATHERINE YAMADA’S column runs Saturdays. To contact her, leave
a message at 637-3241. For more information on Glendale’s history,
contact the reference desk at the Central Library at 548-2027 or
visit the Special Collections Room at Central. It is open from 1:30
to 5:30 p.m. Saturdays or by appointment.