Lanterman House celebrates its 100th year

When high-society Emily Lanterman moved into her new 11,000-square-foot La Cañada bungalow in 1915, she could not stand the boondocks that surrounded her.

Now bordered by similarly grand houses, her house-turned-museum debuted its centennial exhibit Saturday. The concrete Lanterman House stood frozen in time over the next 100 years, thanks largely to the bachelor sons who lived past their parents in the home.

“This house is really a time capsule,” Robert Moses, museum board president, said. “It tells us, as a community, a lot about where we came from.”

Back in 1915, a few hundred farmers were scattered across the valley. Emily and husband Dr. Roy Lanterman inherited the La Cañada property from his parents, Jacob and Amoretta Lanterman, who once owned all the land where the communities of La Cañada, La Crescenta and Montrose thrive today. Tired of life in bustling Los Angeles, Roy convinced his wife to move to his familial plot by building a lavish home.

The compromise between Roy and Emily led to “tragic comedy,” according to museum executive director Melissa Patton. Emily Lanterman had an upstairs ballroom to host dances for her two sons, Frank and Lloyd, but that room never hosted a ball until after her 1949 death. She had 37 sets of French doors installed in the house to open to the western wind, but no help willing to move to the country and sweep up the resulting dust.

“This house was very much designed to please Emily Lanterman, but she never was satisfied with her life here,” Patton said.

Frank Lanterman eventually changed the landscape that his mother had found insufferable. As a state senator in 1951, Lanterman co-sponsored the Municipal Water District Act that brought water to La Cañada and allowed it to boom.

Lanterman House now holds family files such as school records and sheet music alongside historical archives handed over by the defunct La Cañada Historical Society.

The museum foundation has slowly been renovating the house since its launch in 1993. When it first opened to visitors, only the dining room was restored. Now every room of the historic home has been renovated.

Guests who take in the centennial exhibit will see vintage photos that have never been seen by the public before, Patton said. “The exhibit really shows the journey of this house, each stage of its life so far,” she said. “There are original photos from 1916, right after the Lantermans moved into their new home, and some from the 1920s. We’ve also included low-point photos of how the house had degraded by the end of the ‘80s, then the restoration work.”

The Lanterman House centennial exhibit will be on display through December 2015. The museum, located at 4420 Encinas Drive, is open Tuesdays, Thursdays and the first and third Sundays of the month from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is $5 for adults, $3 for seniors and free for children under 12.

Visit https://www.lantermanfoundation.org or call (818) 790-1421 for more information.