Little Cottage: Country Home of Countess Gizycki
c. 1916.
Address: 90 N. Ahwahnee Road, Lake Forest
Year built: 1907
Architect: Howard Van Doren Shaw
Original owner: Bessie Swift Fernald
Bessie Ethel Swift Fernald (1883-1920) and Charles A. Fernald (1872-1956). Image source: U.S. Passport Applications.
This white-shingled house was a wedding gift from Louis F. Swift to his daughter, Bessie Ethel, and her new husband, Charles Fernald. The couple soon separated (divorced in 1912), and the house was available for Countess Gizyski, Eleanor Medill Patterson or “Cissy,” to rent from about 1909-1913. Felicia, Cissy’s daughter, named the 7500 square foot house “Little Cottage.”
Countess Gizyski with her daughter, c. 1910. Felicia Eleanor Josephine Medill “Cissy” Patterson, Countess Gizyski (1884-1948). Felicia Leonora Gizyski (1905-1999).
The streetscape of what was once a summer place has changed little over the years. Still evident is Howard Van Doren Shaw’s English traditional hipped-roof design and Georgian detailing. The south-facing porches remain, though now enclosed. The gracious house was once very visible from the Onwentsia Club.
2018. Photography by Georgia Hale.