Lee Dill Esty: Architect from Soquel

In 1911, Lee Dill Esty of Soquel was chosen to be the architect of the clubhouse for the Casa del Rey Country Club and Golf Links (later the Pogonip clubhouse). At a time when most architects were trained in the East, the question is: How and where did this young man receive his training? His article postulates that he received some of his training from a local architect, his father-in-law, and mentor, Austin D. Houghton.

Youth and Early Education

Lee (LeBaron) Dill Esty was born August 19, 1876, in Maine, the eldest son of Jarvis Duncan Esty and Cora Florida Newman. In April 1878, Cora Esty’s grandfather, Seward Dill of Maine, purchased about eighteen acres on the county road about a mile east of Soquel. Here he built a home, known as “Rose Acres,” for himself and his wife, Shuah.
Seward was a retired postmaster and had been a delegate from Maine to the Republican convention that nominated Abraham Lincoln for president. Between the years 1878 and 1902, the year he died at the age of ninety-four, Seward Dill crossed the continent thirteen times.