L. Frank Baum Designed the Royal Crown Chandeliers

Between 1904 and 1910, Lyman Frank Baum spent multiple extended winter seasons residing in Coronado. He called Coronado "The Queen of Fairy Land" and found the climate, ocean air, and Victorian fantasy architecture of Hotel del Coronado so enchanting that he wrote three full Oz books here: The Marvelous Land of Oz (1904), Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz (1908), and The Emerald City of Oz (1910).

Baum stayed frequently at the hotel and later rented a charming yellow frame cottage at 1101 Star Park Circle, just two blocks from the beach. He became close friends with hotel managing directors and community founders.

In early 1910, hotel management decided that the original Victorian brass and globe gas-electric chandeliers in the Crown Room were visually outdated and failed to capture the imperial splendor of the room’s name. Knowing Baum’s artistic talents and whimsical design sensibilities, management invited the author to submit design sketches for new regal fixtures.

Baum drew a sequence of crown-shaped chandeliers featuring beveled gold-gilded wooden rims, decorative finials, and exposed incandescent globes mimicking royal coronation jewels. The design was approved enthusiastically, fabricated by master woodcarvers, and hoisted into the sugar pine ceiling vault, where they have illuminated royal banquets, Hollywood stars, and millions of dining guests ever since.