Efforts are underway to re-imagine the historic Franceschi house in Santa Barbara.

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – Santa Barbara’s Franceschi house originally belonged to Dr. Francesco Franceschi, who introduced hundreds of plants and vegetables to the area in the early 1900s. 

Social reformer and philanthropist Alden Freeman purchased the home in 1926, transforming it into a venue for public and civic events and adding his own personal embellishments to it including dozens of medallions that each tell a story.
 
“Nobody else has got medallions that draw on such a wide range of history, from Julius Caesar to contemporaries of Freeman's in the middle and late 1920s, all of that entire range is represented in the 85 medallions that are here in the house. Each one almost got its own story,” said historian Rick Closson from the Pearl Chase Society.

Since 1971, there have been multiple attempts to restore the Franceschi House, but its remote hilltop location, in addition to its deteriorating condition, have made those attempts extremely challenging.

“It's got a big retaining wall in the back that's not reinforced. That could come down in an earthquake. There are a number of reasons that this becomes a money pit, just even to erase it, just to scrape it is an expensive thing and for which there's no real easy money to do,” said Clossen.
  
A conceptual design will be presented to the Historic Landmarks Commission Wednesday.

But there are mixed reviews on how to preserve the home’s legacy.

“There are some people that say rebuild it. There are some people that say, well, do something with it, but retain some of the house elements so that people actually know this used to be a house. That's the Francesca house, part of Francesca Park. And then there are other people who are interested in more of a slimmed down version, which is to use the footprint as a pavilion, because frankly, people come for the view part of it,” said Clossen.

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