BARNSDALL: It’s funny how far the influence of Bradford’s rich oil-drilling history reaches.

In fact, family money from one Bradford native is responsible for an art facility clear across the country in California. Local woman Lori Charnisky shared the story she recently learned of the famous Bradfordian.

Lori writes, “My daughter lives in Los Angeles. She was researching the Hollyhock House in Los Angeles, which was a Frank Lloyd Wright creation. Aline Barnsdall commissioned the building of the house in 1919.

“My daughter was quite surprised to find that Aline Barnsdall was born in Bradford, PA in April, 1882. No surprise, her father made a fortune in oil in this area and Titusville.”

The project exists today as Barnsdall Art Park, and we found some history on the property on the complex’s website.

Aline worked with Frank between 1919 and 1921 with the intention of creating an art community that was to include both a home for her and her daughter and facilities such as a studio, a theater, living spaces for artists and actors and shops.

“Wright himself referred to it as California Romanza, using a musical term meaning ‘freedom to make one’s own form,’” the park’s website states.

However, the project was halted with only a main home and two other houses built due to “financial and artistic differences” between Wright and Barnsdall.

Aline gifted 11 acres of land perched on a site called “Olive Hill,” including the Hollyhock House, to the City of Angels in 1927. She made the gift in memory of Theodore Barnsdall, her father.

The complex, which began as the vision of one girl from Bradford, is active as an art center today and includes facilities such as the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, the Barnsdall Art Center, the Barnsdall Gallery Theatre and the Junior Arts Center Gallery. Visitors can tour Hollyhock House, too.