A unifying vision: improvement, imagination and Bernhard Hoffmann of Stockbridge (New England) and Santa Barbara (New Spain)

“A Unifying Vision” explores the little-discussed link between two important civic phenomena in America: the village improvement movement, which began in mid-19th century Stockbridge, Massachusetts, and the imposition of Mediterranean-influenced architecture in Santa Barbara, California, instituted a half century later. That connection came in the form of civic activist Bernhard Martin Luther Hoffmann, born in Stockbridge in 1874. After a career based primarily in New York City, Hoffmann arrived in Santa Barbara in 1919, immediately and directly applying the village improvement tenets his father and community had modeled for him throughout his life. Hoffmann’s organizational work both before and after the Santa Barbara earthquake of June 28, 1925 rendered him a kind of civic celebrity; however, this was a designation he modestly refused to indulge. ❧ As the idea of “improvement” was disseminated across the United States between 1830 and 1910, its basic tenets – basic sanitation, definition of land use, meaningful monuments, planting and horticulture, and general beautification - segued into the home economics movement before being enveloped by small-scale “City Beautiful” interventions inspired by the Chicago World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893. These mutually-supporting activities, bolstered by new technologies, combined with civic education to undergird the very beginnings of the urban planning movement around 1909. Interpretations of the Exposition’s organizational and aesthetic conventions were seen in the pioneering work of Charles Mulford Robinson and John Nolen, among others, from that time forward. Utterly reflective of the pragmatic, yet aspirational, nature of early American society, the ideal of “Improvement” was advertised perpetually by relocating boosters, writers, and investors as the railroad extended west. ❧ Nowhere, perhaps, were village improvement’s dual premises of selfless volunteerism and the imposition of taste more directly interpreted - or more successfully applied - than through the civic activism of Bernhard Hoffmann and Pearl Chase in 1920s Santa Barbara. A successful professional at mid-life, Hoffmann left his historic hometown of Stockbridge, Massachusetts to join a newly forming class of elites perfectly positioned between San Francisco arts and culture and an increasingly Anglicized Los Angeles. One of these elites was Miss Pearl Chase, a Yankee daughter of New England lineage who, returning as a young woman to Santa Barbara after graduating from Berkeley in 1907, applied herself zealously to the improvement of civic and societal conditions for the remainder of her life, The fiercely independent Chase found a steadying, and highly focused, counterpart in Hoffmann, as they worked effectively together (although often physically apart) for many years. ❧ Among the many Santa Barbara philanthropic and cultural activities with which Hoffmann and his wife, Irene, were involved, it was the completion of three important municipal projects: the Casa de la Guerra with El Paseo; the Meridian Studios, and the Lobero Theater which illustrated the centrality of the evolving Spanish Colonial style in the development of the city’s resonant paradigm. These case studies, and the events surrounding their construction, reveal how the legacy of historical New England village improvement contributed to Santa Barbara’s successful unity of form and image.

“‘统一愿景’（A Unifying Vision）探讨了美国两种鲜少被学界关注的重要市民现象之间的内在关联：其一为19世纪中期发源于马萨诸塞州斯托克布里奇（Stockbridge）的乡村改良运动（village improvement movement），其二则是半个世纪后在加利福尼亚州圣巴巴拉（Santa Barbara）推行的、受地中海风格影响的建筑范式。这一关联的核心纽带是市民活动家伯恩哈德·马丁·路德·霍夫曼（Bernhard Martin Luther Hoffmann）——他于1874年生于斯托克布里奇。在主要以纽约为事业基地多年后，霍夫曼于1919年抵达圣巴巴拉，随即直接将其父亲与社区毕生践行的乡村改良准则付诸实践。1925年6月28日圣巴巴拉地震前后，霍夫曼所开展的组织工作使其成为市民界的知名人物，但他始终谦逊地拒绝接受这一公众赞誉。

随着“改良”理念在1830年至1910年间传遍全美，其核心要义——基础卫生设施建设、土地用途划定、标志性纪念物打造、园艺种植与整体城市美化——先是融入家政运动（home economics movement），随后又被1893年芝加哥世界哥伦布博览会（World's Columbian Exposition）催生的小型“城市美化”（City Beautiful）运动所吸纳。这些相辅相成的活动借助新兴技术与市民教育，共同支撑起1909年前后现代城市规划运动（urban planning movement）的雏形。自彼时起，查尔斯·马尔福德·罗宾逊（Charles Mulford Robinson）与约翰·诺伦（John Nolen）等先驱者的开创性工作，便充分体现了对该博览会组织与美学范式的解读。这一兼具务实性与理想主义的“改良”理念，完美映照出早期美国社会的特质；随着铁路向西延伸，迁居推动者、作家与投资者始终在持续宣扬这一理念。

或许没有哪个地区能比20世纪20年代的圣巴巴拉，更直接地诠释——也更成功地践行——乡村改良的两大核心前提：无私的志愿精神与审美风格的统一推行，而这一实践的核心推动者正是伯恩哈德·霍夫曼与珀尔·蔡斯（Pearl Chase）。中年时已是成功专业人士的霍夫曼，离开故乡马萨诸塞州斯托克布里奇，加入了一个新兴精英阶层——这一阶层恰好介于旧金山的艺术文化圈与日益盎格鲁化的洛杉矶之间。其中一位核心成员便是珀尔·蔡斯小姐：她出身新英格兰洋基家族，1907年从伯克利（University of California, Berkeley）毕业后返回圣巴巴拉，此后毕生都热忱投身于市民与社会状况的改善。这位性格桀骜独立的蔡斯，与霍夫曼形成了稳定且高度专注的搭档关系：二人虽时常身处异地，却在多年间高效协作。

在霍夫曼与妻子艾琳参与的诸多圣巴巴拉慈善与文化活动中，有三项重要市政工程的落成最能体现不断演变的西班牙殖民风格（Spanish Colonial style）在塑造这座城市标志性风貌过程中的核心地位：德拉瓜拉宫（Casa de la Guerra）与埃尔帕索（El Paseo）、子午线工作室（Meridian Studios）以及洛伯罗剧院（Lobero Theater）。通过这些案例及其建设始末，我们可以窥见新英格兰乡村改良运动的遗产，如何助力圣巴巴拉实现形式与形象的成功统一。