By Deborah Osterberg
When most people visualize Capitola, the first scene that comes to mind is likely the Venetian Court. Completed in 1924, this striking cluster of multi-colored stucco dwellings adjoining the beach and lagoon is Capitola’s most iconic locale.
Captured over the years on film and canvas by countless artists, in 1987 the unique history and design of the Venetian Court was recognized as an Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places. In 2024, this colorful landmark celebrates its centennial.
Colorful Capitola Begonia Festival floats sail past the Venetian Court • Courtesy of Capitola Historical Museum
Situated at the base of Capitola Wharf, the Venetian Court was one of the earliest and most architecturally distinctive of the developments which comprised oil entrepreneur Henry Allen Rispin’s modernization of Capitola. By the time Rispin purchased much of F.A. Hihn’s Victorian era resort in 1919, many buildings were outdated or dilapidated, or both.
The property at the base of the wharf was dotted with abandoned shacks of a once vibrant Italian fishing village. In the 1870s immigrant fishermen from Italy (mostly from the Riva Trigoso region) leased the property at the foot of Hihn’s 1857 wharf. Though the small fishing settlement flourished for several decades, most residents abandoned it in favor of the new and larger Santa Cruz Municipal Wharf completed in 1914. The fishermen’s languishing wood frame shanties and warehouses quickly fell into ruins and upon Rispin’s arrival, what remained was quickly demolished.
In 1923 Rispin sold the cleared site to Henry Roth and Homer Langdon of Roth Realty Company of San Jose, who in turn, contracted for a residential design with the San Jose firm of Wolfe and Higgins. The architects conceived of a three-tiered, five-structure complex with 46 (which became 24) individually owned bungalows done in the popular Spanish Colonial Revival/ Mediterranean style, a favorite of Rispin’s.
The Venetian featured textured stucco siding, decorative relief work, and a flat red tile roof with a parapet and small pyramidal caps. The original plan also included eight small gardens, with a central garden at the front of the complex. Situated along Capitola Lagoon, the development, originally called “Venetian Villa,” lived up to its name.
One reporter noted that “At night the effect is very Venetian, the colored lights in front of each bungalow reflecting on the water most pleasingly.”
Canoes anchored in front of the Venetian Court in the late 1920s. Henry Allen Rispin’s failed Capitola Light Tackle Club can be seen on the wharf in the background. • Courtesy of Nicol Family Collection, Capitola Historical Museum.
An April 29, 1924, a Santa Cruz News advertisement noted that each bungalow had a 41-foot frontage along a shared walkway and each unit contained a living room (11’x16’), bedroom (9.8’x12.9’), kitchen (7’x15’), breakfast room (7’x8.6’) and bath (6’x9’). The lagoon and beach facing frontage was protected with a low, cement sea wall.
Later in the summer the newspaper reported that “… the cement used along the lower row was colored an unusual pink” and the other rows were to be graduated in colors to blend.
It must be noted that the Venetian Court’s famous, vivid multi-colored exteriors were not part of the original architectural design. The story is that back in the early 1960s, after seeing colorfully painted houses during a European trip, Ann Bucher was inspired to paint her unit pink. Ms. Bucher’s neighbors soon followed suit. Another misconception is that the Venetian Court was the first condominium complex in California.
Though the claim of first cannot be substantiated, the Venetian was certainly among the earliest such designs in California.
The Venetian cost approximately $150,000 to build (2.7 million in today’s money). The May 16, 1925, Modesto Bee declared that “… the new Venetian Court bungalows on the beach at Capitola …are as modern as a city home.”
Initial prices for individual units started at $2,000 and the parcels they sat upon ranged from $500 to $750. The Venetian’s proximity to the beach, lagoon and Soquel Creek was a major selling point. Most units were sold before construction concluded on the first row.
In 1923, completion of the Glenwood Highway (later Highway 17), easily linking inland towns to the coast, also likely played a role in the development’s speedy sales. Many original owners were Santa Clara Valley residents. Unit owners began to refer to themselves as members of the “Venetian Court Colony.”
By the late 1920s furnished units rented for $40 to $50 a week during the summer.
In 1926 the Venetian Court suffered damage from its first major storm. Two years later the Santa Cruz News noted “One-half of the main walk in front of the Venetian Court apartments had been carried away and two of the apartments on the southern end had been almost completely undermined.”
The resulting storm damage spurred the construction of a new, higher sea wall.
A few days later the Venetian’s developers stated they “… saw no engineering difficulties to speedy and permanent repairs, and with the lessons learned from the present unusual experience such repairs will be of a nature to successfully challenge a repetition of any storm damage.”
Though winter storms continue to batter it, the Venetian has stood the test of time.
Starting in 1926, Frank T. Blake, one of the original unit owners, began acquiring several of the street-side units to create the Venetian Court Motel.
When Ray and Edna Messini moved to Capitola in 1950, they purchased the motel. That same year, Capitola mounted its first Water Fantasy, the precursor to its famed, annual Begonia Festival. Edna Messini served as the festival’s director for many years and the Venetian Court became backdrop for the parade of colorful begonia-bedecked floats each Labor Day weekend over the festival’s 65-year run.
View of Venetian Court in 2004. • Courtesy of City of Capitola
In 1976 Lou and Isabel Bartfield bought the motel and embarked upon an extensive renovation. According to an article in the April 1977 issue of Sunset Magazine, Lou Bartfield said “… he found lots of surprises like solid redwood floors, doors, and beams that had been covered by layers and layers of paint and intricate castings on the exterior walls of medusa heads and dolphins.”
Bartfield commissioned nine new doors carved by artist Alan Thorpe. Bartfield chose themes for the doors from the art, literature, and music of Venice, Italy. Some of the doors contained whimsical elements such as Venetian gondolas moored at Capitola’s wharf.
Today the Venetian Court boasts 24 townhouses and a 17-unit hotel with adjacent office.
According to its National Register nomination in 1987, “… the property retains a high degree of its original appearance.”
Some research suggests that the Venetian Court Motel may be the oldest continuingly operated motel of its kind in California.
Former Venetian Court Motel owner Lou Bartfield once stated that “… many Capitolans are so used to the Venetian that they don’t realize the beauty of it.”
We beg to differ. Today’s residents and visitors to Capitola alike have valued the Venetian’s rich history and aesthetic appeal and continue to do so.
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Throughout the year, the Capitola Historical Museum will feature a series of rotating exhibits on the history of the Venetian Court at the Capitola Library at 1500 Wharf Road. The admission-free Capitola Historical Museum, at 410 Capitola Ave., is open every Friday through Sunday from noon until 4 p.m. This year the annual exhibition is “Little City Under Canvas” — The 150th Anniversary of Camp Capitola. Deborah Osterberg is curator of the Capitola Historical Museum.