Solvang (Danish for “sunny field”) is a city in Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Located in the Santa Ynez Valley, the population was 6,126 at the 2020 census, up from 5,245 at the 2010 census. Solvang was founded in 1911 and incorporated as a city on May 1, 1985. Solvang has been described as “The Danish Capital of America”.
In 1804, Mission Santa Inés was founded by the Spanish under Esteban Tápis. A small community grew up around the mission called “Santa Inés” during the Mexican period, but it was largely abandoned after the American Conquest of California. In 1911, a new settlement was founded around the mission by a group of Danish Americans who purchased 9,000 acres (3,600 ha) of the surrounding Rancho San Carlos de Jonata, to establish a Danish community far from Midwestern winters. The community began building Danish-themed architecture in 1947, and has since become a tourist destination. The community attracts tourists from Nordic countries, and has been the subject of several Danish royal visits including Prince Henrik in 2011. A minority of residents in the 21st century are of Danish origin.
Initially, most of Solvang’s buildings were built in the same style as others in the area. The Lutheran church was the first to be based on Danish architecture and bears a close relationship to Danish equivalents. But after World War II, interest grew in the concept of a “Danish Village”. The pioneer of the Danish Provincial style was Ferdinand Sorensen, originally from Nebraska. In the mid-1940s, after returning to Solvang from a trip to Denmark, he first completed Møllebakken, his Danish-styled home, and then went on to build the first of the village’s four windmills. A little later, Earl Petersen, a local architect, gave the older buildings a new look, adding façades in so-called “Danish Provincial” style. Buildings in the half-timbered style of Danish rural houses proliferated, creating a new tourist attraction. While much was done to create an “authentic” Danish atmosphere in the town center, it has been pointed out by Scandinavians that fake thatched roofs and artificial timbering are largely a result of local interests in general rather than those of the Danish immigrants themselves. The older buildings have simply been restyled to look Danish even if there was nothing Danish about them originally.
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