Modjeska House
Renowned Polish actress Helena Modjeska emigrated to California with her husband, Karol Bożenta Chłapowski, and others in 1876. They bought a ranch near Anaheim for a venture that ultimately failed, but while there they discovered the live oak and sycamore woodland of Santiago Canyon. Modjeska returned to the stage, making her American debut in San Francisco in 1877. Returning to Orange County after nearly a decade on the road, Helena and Karol bought a ranch home in the canyon and hired famed New York architect Stanford White to create the picturesque Modjeska House. The beauty of the surrounding oak groves reminded Helena of the Forest of Arden in the Shakespearean play, ‘As You Like It,” and when the house was finished, she christened it Arden. It is a California Historical Landmark and on the National Register of Historic Landmarks.
Modjeska Canyon, Orange County
Photographer: Al Russell
Photographer: Andrew Schmidt