Filoli Ballroom

The ballroom at Filoli was one which I instantly recognized, do you? It's the home gym of Warren Beatty in Heaven Can Wait! The space was restored for the movie along with other parts of the house and impresses everyone who enters it, as it should!The flowers, seen best in the picture at top, were probably the most beautiful in the house. Not an easy feat as each room has a gorgeous bouquet fresh from the garden. The mixture of bright colors in the pale green room with gilded accents was really striking. Forget the Bagues chandeliers modeled on the ones from the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles, everyone on the tour noticed the flowers first.The murals are the core of the room. They were completed in 1921 by Ernest Peixotto for the original owner Mr. Bourn after he suffered from a stroke and was unable to leave the house. The murals depict his daughter's beloved castle in Ireland he had gifted to her (Muckross, seen below) which he was unable to visit during his illness.

The maguette or model seen below of the Ballroom was gifted to Filoli after the artist's nephew saw the movie Heaven Can Wait and recognized his family's dollhouse! This scale model of the room was created so that Peixotto could work from his studio in the city and plan out the large scale canvases.

I hope you are looking forward to more of Filoli! Read more about the ballroom's murals on their website; click on 'ballroom' towards the bottom of the page.

Gardens of Filoli and some detective work!

Filoli is known primarily for her gardens admittedly. Yes I love the house but most visitors are drawn there for the gardens and the Dynasty connections (more on that later in the post, stay tuned Ed!).

A few years ago I briefly blogged about the gardens HERE but you can never have enough pretty pictures, right?

The gardens encompass many outdoor 'rooms' which because of deer (and security one would imagine) are walled off.

The deer actually linger just outside of the gates, visibly!  They probably smell all of the goodies inside!

The carriage house has been turned into a lovely gift shop and garden center. Some of the produce from the garden is sold here; I bought some lovely rose tea grown on site.

The roses weren't at their peak during my visit in early June but were none-the-less lovely.

If you're curious about any of the rose names the images are entitled by the names I got off the tags.

And as always you can click on any image to enlarge it on your screen!

Most of the roses were heavily scented.

Why have a one color rose when you can have two in one?

The colors were vivid and beautiful in the California sunshine.

Areas of shade were never far away either; a blessing for my sunburn!

I loved this rose arbor over a bench; a wonderful spot to rest.

The summer or tea house remains my favorite part of the property.

See a lengthier post on the summer house from my previous visit HERE.

However the best view of all isn't of the gardens but of the adjacent mountain.

Now down to the detective work.  Filoli is known to many from the 80s tv drama "Dynasty". Both of my visits I overhead snippets of conversation about the lily pond and a cat fight.  Above you see the swimming pool with the house beyond.  To the right of the pool is the lily pond and then the carriage house.

Above is the lily pond which is off the dining room terrace and the carriage house.  However the lily pond is clearly not the one used in Dynasty. Thanks to youtube I have proof - see the video below!

After driving into the entry court of Filoli the women are seen talking in the library. I watched the video closely and it is this exact library (with different furniture and artwork). See my earlier post on the library HERE.  HOWEVER you can see that the lily pond is different - different shape, different plantings, AND A DIFFERENT HOUSE in the background! 

Does anyone know where this iconic scene from Dynasty was actually filmed?

Filoli: part 1

The greatest surprise of my trip to California was my visit to breath-taking Filoli. While renowned for its' appearances on screen (most notably the movie 'Heaven can wait' and the Dynasty series) and gardens, I was most taken with the house itself.Filoli was built as a country estate 25 miles south of San Francisco between 1915 and 1917 for William Bowers Bourn II and his wife Agnes Moody. Designed by Willis Polk in a Neo-Georgian style, the house normally fades discretely into the background for most guests, shown up by its' spectacular gardens.However, in a lot of ways, this is the perfect house in my mind: Elegant with a nice rational flow, generously sized rooms which are not too large, open to the beautiful outdoors and most important of all, comfortable to be in. It's a large mansion that feels like a home. The house doesn't bowl you over with showiness but rather impresses you with intelligence and simplicity.You can see the floorplan of the first floor HERE. I'll share some of the house and gardens in the next few posts as there is much to see. Trust me when I say the house deserves a visit in person and I'm only showing a tiny fraction of its charms!

We begin in the reception room, just inside the house from the small entry hall. Probably the most formal room in the house, special details such as this overdoor below would impress any guest who made the trek from the city. Only a few of the furnishings are original to the Bourns, such as the tapestry above the fireplace. Others were part of the Roths' collection (the 2nd and last private owners of the estate who gifted it in 1975 to the National Trust) but primariliy the furnishings you see were only put into place 10 years ago by a very generous collector, Melvin Martin; Previously the house was shown nearly bare.
2 barrel vaulted hallways move off of the central reception room which are wide enough to be partially furnished. The tall ceilings throughout the house help to naturally cool the space, as do the 4 feet thick exterior walls.
The most disappointing part of the visit is that guests are not allowed to see the upstairs! Wouldn't you love to walk up this staircase? I couldn't get enough.

More interiors later this week, but I thought I would share the back which opens up to the italianate gardens. The house forms a U in plan with the entry centered on the heavily planted courtyard.

If I were to build my dream house, it would be very similar to Filoli, albeit on a less grand scale! I love the elegant Georgian simplicity and rational with a touch of California breeziness. Look for more interiors here soon!

Filoli Gardens

Are you tired of Filoli yet? I don't think I could ever be, but maybe I've devoted a little too much time to this magnificent estate. I'll wrap up the gardens in this post and we'll start fresh next week! Beyond the formal gardens lie an oasis of more informal plantings; Acres of amazing little outdoor rooms, each one more amazing than the last. If the structure for the grounds was laid by the Bourns, the Roths added the finishing touches (Mrs. Roth was an avid gardener) .The Summer house is incorporated into the side of the walled garden which contains the most sheltered area. Remember nothing is safe out here from all of the hungry animals!

The wedding place within the walled garden was where the only wedding at Filoli was held. It was built for Berenice Roth and I think it's such a shame they don't open it up to others. Don't you want to get married here?

The following pictures barely begin to explain how breathtaking the rose garden is. After stepping through the last arch of the walled garden, every person on the tour gasped.

A profusion of color and textures...

Where are you even supposed to look or smell! Roses, lavender and other herbs overwhelm the senses.

I really think this is what heaven looks like. Not shown in the pictures are the gorgeous mountain views beyond.I love these wild jumbled rose bushes the best.Does anyone know what these striped roses are; Sandra? They had a heavenly scent.

The gardens get progressively informal the further you are from the house. These wild flowers were the last part of the gardens before entering the nature preserve. Notice all of the fencing. I hope you enjoyed these glimpses of Filoli through my eyes (and camera)!

Thanks to ChipSF for the drawings of the gardens from the time of the Roths.

Filoli Drawing Room

The drawing (or WITHdrawing) room at Filoli is, after the reception room, the most grand room in the house. Meant for entertaining guests (ladies) after dinner, this is a formal space. The overdoors of broken pediments, seen above, hark this formality.

The drawing room lies between the reception room and the dining room with the library, seen above in the distance) at the end of an enfilade created by this suite of rooms. Formal architecture like this makes my heart sing! I love the matching overdoors through the rooms.

The carrara marble fireplace is unusually underscaled for the large room. It creates a feeling of intimacy in this seating group but the room lacks a strong focus. This may have been purposeful as it forces one to look at the view of the gardens through french doors. I love the texture of the linen covered walls. To one side of the seating group is a card table while the other side holds a piano. Mrs. Bourn originally used this space as her music room. The stunning Parquet de Versailles floor is of quarter sawn white oak. Each room has a different floor which generally would feel discordant but because of the scale and varied nature of each space, works at Filoli. One last room with some hidden surprises to share tomorrow before we explore the gardens. I can't wait to share them with you!

Filoli entry

The thing I adore most about visiting  house museums is checking out the amazing details caught in time. While at Filoli I must have taken 20 photos of the entryway itself!

Everyone knows the neo-Georgian front facade of Filoli from numerous tv shows and movies but it was used by Hollywood for a reason; the quiet good taste and great details just are dying to impress.

Looking up to the portico ceiling is rewarding with amazing plaster and stonework. Even the bronze lantern with leaded glass would be beautiful on its own.

Flanking the front door are antique Roman birdbaths - each slightly different but similar enough to appear a matching pair to the common observer.

Once inside even the front doorknob is a work of art, chased with detail. One small overlooked detail however: the screws are all different directions!  Horizontal or vertical I want them all to align!

The interior plaster walls are scored to resemble stone, a common technique used in my own coop building lobby.

And as everyone knows by now I adore a vintage light fixture.  These iron sconces  in the entry vestibule are also works of art.  Detail is everywhere if one just opens their eyes to SEE!