What do you know about Suffolk Hills in Oro Valley?

This is the fourth in a series of articles written by The Oro Valley Historical Society. Future OVHS articles will appear on LOVE every other Thursday.

Heiress Daisy Leiter and The Earl of Suffolk
This area once had its own Downton Abbey heiress. Like Lady Grantham from the television series, many young, wealthy American women married English nobleman in the pre-World War I era. Margaret (Daisy) Hyde Leiter was an heiress who married the 19th Earl of Suffolk, Henry Molyneux Page Howard. She followed in the footsteps of her sister Mary, Baroness of Kedleson and Vicereine of India, who also married a nobleman.

Daisy was the daughter of Levi Leiter, a very successful Chicago investor and department store owner who partnered with Marshall Field. John Singer Sargent was commissioned to paint Daisy’s portrait in 1898 (prior to her marriage). While visiting her sister, Mary, Daisy met Henry Howard, the Earl of Suffolk. They were married in Washington D.C. in 1904 and during the course of their marriage had three sons.

The Earl was sent with British forces to Mesopotamia in World War I and died there of shrapnel wounds in 1917. Margaret, now the Dowager Countess of Suffolk and Berkshire, never remarried and remained an international celebrity. Though the Countess guarded her private life carefully, she traveled extensively, and was an accomplished pilot and photographer of wildlife.

The Countess purchased land near what is now Magee and Oracle
As part of a stipulation in her father’s large estate, Daisy was required to spend at least four months of each year in the United States. Like many wealthy visitors, she was fascinated by the mystique and isolation of the desert. In 1937 the Dowager Countess came to Arizona with her son, Cecil Howard, and purchased land along the south side of what is now Magee Road, east of Oracle. Margaret commissioned local architect Robert Morse to build Forest Lodge on her land. The grand home was built in the international style, popular with wealthy European and American families in the pre-World War II era. The home had five bedrooms and several terraces, servants’ quarters, a four car garage and even rudimentary air conditioning.

Suffolk Hills was named after the Countess
The splendid isolation of Forest Lodge was disrupted in the 1950s by the growth of suburbia. It was time for the Countess to move on. She sold the home and surrounding land in 1957. The Suffolk Hills development was named after the Countess. She sold 320 acres to the Lusk Corporation for $500,000. The Lusk Corporation planned to construct 250 houses on the one acre lots. They used the hilly ground that adapted development to the natural environment. Eventually, 190 homes were built and the company won a national award for Suffolk Hills in 1960 for “usage of natural terrain, and preservation of the natural desert scenery.” The original homes were priced from $16,000. The remaining property and the Dowager’s Forest Lodge home were purchased by the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart for an academy to be built on the site where it remains today.

Seeking solitude
The Countess relocated to the Oracle area to once again find solitude. This time her home, “Casa del Oro,” was designed in the Spanish style with arches, tiles, walls, gates and private gardens. It was located in what is now the Biosphere II complex.

The Dowager Countess of Suffolk and Berkshire died of a heart attack while en route by plane from San Francisco to her home in Oracle on March 5, 1968. She was 88.

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This article is an excerpt of the book Claiming the Desert – Settlers, Homesteaders and Ranchers in Oro Valley, Arizona 1865-1965 by James A. Williams. Williams is a local resident, retired teacher and historian. He is an Honorary Member of the Oro Valley Historical Society (OVHS) and former president of the same. If you would like to learn more about Oro Valley homesteaders you can purchase his book at amazon.com or through the Oro Valley Historical Society (contact tcolmar@comcast.net). Jim generously donates profits from his book to OVHS!

Additional Credit Royalty in Residence by Barbara Marriott; Oro Valley Voice, November 2015.

Interested in local history?
Stop by Steam Pump Ranch on the second and fourth Saturdays in February, March and April. The Oro Valley Historical Society presents docent-guided tours from 10 a.m. to Noon. No reservations are required for the 50-minute tour that leaves on the hour and every fifteen minutes thereafter. Tours leave from the OVHS tent that is located just south of the Farmer’s Market ramada. The suggested donation supports the cost of our displays, exhibits and ongoing programs. We hope to see you!

The Oro Valley Historical Society is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit volunteer organization, whose mission is “To promote research, preservation, education, and dissemination of historical information related to the greater Oro Valley area.” We invite you to become a member or volunteer or donate.. Visit us at ovhistory.org and help keep Oro Valley history alive!

Heather's Corner: British Nobilty Cloaks Oro Valley Historic Property

There is an area of Oro valley called Suffolk Hills. It's name is derived from an interesting source. It's a piece of our local history that involves an Earl, a wealthy duchess, and the Viceroy of India. It is a most fascinating modern fairy tale that one could imagine.

Born in 1879, Margaret Leiter was youngest daughter of Chicago businessman Levi Ziegler Leiter who co-founded the Marshall Field & Company retail empire. Levi sent all three of his daughters to private boarding schools in England. After his death, they inherited a $48 million estate.

Margaret’s eldest sister Mary married the British Conservative statesman George Curzon, later 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston, who was Viceroy of India in the late years of the nineteenth century. It was while visiting her sister in India that Margaret was introduced to the Viceroy’s aide-de-camp Henry Molyneux Paget Howard, 19th Earl of Suffolk, 12th Earl of Berkshire. They were married in December 1906. Henry & Margaret had three children.  The Earl was killed in World War I at the Battle of Istabul in April 1917, serving as a major in the Wiltshire Battery, 3rd Wessex Brigade, Royal Field Artillery.

It is not certain why Margaret came to live in Arizona preceding his death, although it is known that she accompanied an Englishman by the name of Colonel Gillette who had respiratory problems, so climate may have been a major factor. In 1934, using the assumed name Marguerite Hyde, the Countess bought the land to the north of Westward Look & east of Oracle Road.

A local architect known for his modern designs, Richard A. Morse, began the task of possibly the first modernized architecturally designed home lacking in the typical characteristics of homes seen in Tucson at the time. In fact it was such a departure from the typical that it became nationally published in the book "The Modern House in America," in 1940 and in "Architectural Record Magazine," in 1941. She called the five bedroom house “Forest Lodge” as it was surrounded by citrus groves. She used the house as her winter residence; spending around four months each year there.

In 1954 she sold the property because she felt city development was encroaching on her property. The mansion eventually sold to Sisters of Immaculate Heart who started a school that still operates today. The caretaker’s building became the school office. Stables were converted into classrooms. The former garage now houses sixth-grade classes, and the mansion house itself is still home to eight sisters.

An interesting end to the story.

Margaret bought 3,500 acres in the Nortwest foothills of Santa Catalina mountains in the town of Oracle. This Suffolk house nestled against the mountains was lavish in design and remained her residence until her death in 1968. Motorola bought 300 acres and then donated the land to the University of Arizona in 1980. In 1984, the University sold this land to a group called Biosphere Ventures for $3.4 million and in turn created the one-of-a-kind experimental terrarium.

If you haven't had the opportunity to experience some of this history, take a drive around the area and wave to the sisters in the school yard of Immaculate Heart.  And if you're inclined to, stop off at their little store along the roadside, "The Cottage," and donate some items or search the shelves for second-hand treasures. All proceeds go toward the school.

Want to learn more?
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Heather Nenadovich has lived in Oro Valley a total of five years. She has a B.A. in Psychology from the University of Arizona. Her husband is Canadian so she is a hockey fan by default and so are her two very clever children. When not being a mommy, she enjoys hiking in Catalina State Park, hand building pottery, and gardening. Her favorite things about living in Oro Valley are the towns recognition of art and culture, their commitment to preserving nature and the Christmas parade. (Also anything from GMG Chinese Bistro.)
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