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Greystone Comes to Life Once Again: The Beverly Hills Garden & Design Showcase at Historic Greystone Estate

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Greystone sits broodingly on a prominent hillside in prime Beverly Hills. The Gothic-revival mansion exudes an air of haunted mystery with its massive blocks of Indiana limestone, fanciful brick chimney pots, leaded bay windows and three-inch-thick slate roof. In fact, this house?the largest private estate in Los Angeles has seen its share of tragedy.

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Completed in 1928, Greystone was a wedding present from oil magnate Edward Doheny to his son, Edward, Jr., known as Ned. On the night of February 16, 1929, just five months after the family moved into Greystone, both Ned Doheny and his longtime personal secretary, Hugh Plunkett, were found dead of gunshot wounds in the mansion. Rumors abounded, but the supposed murder/suicide was never actually solved, leaving a residue of suspense lingering in the mansion’s vast hallways and on its wide flagstone terraces.

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Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976, Greystone is now owned by the City of Beverly Hills and used as a movie and event location. Each November, the city organizes its Garden & Design Showcase at Greystone. This year’s edition, which runs through November 17, is one of the most memorable in the history of the event.

With 46,000 square feet of floor space and generously proportioned rooms, Greystone provides a huge and beautifully detailed canvas on which designers can go to work. The mansion’s historic status, however, prevents them from making any structural changes. No nails can be used, and much of the original millwork has to be left intact with its myriad layers of off-white paint, giving designers some problem solving to do.

This year’s brief to the designers was to make Greystone look as if the Dohenys lived there today. Some of the L.A.’s best and brightest, including many up-and-comers just now making their mark on the design world, took the mission to heart, with fabulous results. (Last year’s 1920s-period theme was far less successful.) Here are a few of the many highlights.

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The very public Grand Hall on the first floor, which runs the length of the building, is brilliantly treated by Happy Fernandez and features fabrics and furnishings from Valentini Home. While indulging in modern touches such as silver starburst mirrors from Arteriors Home, Fernandez also acknowledges the mansion’s conservative past with a sophisticated rococo grisaille trim by talented decorative painter Leonard Greco.

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Christopher Gaona brings soign mid-century modern touches to the paneled Library, fitted out with a large, comfortable reading table and a pair of gorgeous custom-built club chairs from Los Angeles furniture designer Jean De Merry. Gaona wisely disguises the less attractive portions of the built-in bookcases (which I painfully remember from last year’s showcase) with panels covered in handsome clay-green fabric. One focal point of the room is a striking overscale pendant lamp of Gaona’s own design, and the overall effect is masculine and supremely inviting.

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Suzanne Furst’s opulent Dining Room is appropriately scaled, centered on a massive Savonnerie rug from Aga John and jeweled with crystal and other objets d’art from Christofle, Baccarat and Lladr. Breaking the seating into two separate tables adds intimacy and keeps the large room from feeling overly stately.

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On the more private upper floor, Mr. Doheny’s Bedroom is a show-stopper, with dramatically mounted big-game taxidermy and thoughtfully positioned artwork on the deep charcoal-toned walls, painted by Bob Quinn. The room, designed by Carolyn Baylon and Kathleen Clements, feels at once restrained and deeply alive. A wooden model staircase from Obsolete in Venice rises in the the west-facing window and a sumptuous custom fox-fur throw puts the final, lavish touch on the immaculately dressed bed. As in all the bedrooms, the linens are by Frette.

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In Guest Bedroom No. 2, Edward Byrd has created a soothing white-on-white-on-white zone, with seashells punctuating the gauzy curtains lining one wall. A collection of vintage Louis Vuitton luggage, on loan from a private collector, is stashed under the bed, as if waiting for the guest to depart Greystone. But then again, why would anyone really want to leave?

For those who care about Los Angeles history, architecture or interior design, this year’s Greystone Showcase is a must-visit. For tickets, call 310-550-4796 or visit www.beverlyhills.org

About the author

Amy Grensted