Basic HTML Version
38
winter
|
spr ing
“Reginald Johnson probably could have bought a fifteen-dollar grill,”
Greg jokes, “but these now have to be handmade. You’ll notice too, that
all the grills have different designs; they’re all different.”
“We didn’t have modernized heat and air-conditioning in all of our
buildings here,” says Victoria, who stresses correcting
that
was a major
undertaking. “We had to take it from what were these little wall units and
This original tile mural, uncovered in a hallway on the upper floor of the main building is
from the 1920s and is linked in craftsmanship and design both to Casa del Herrero and
the Santa Barbara County Courthouse
somehow create a ventilation system that didn’t impact the look of the
building, so that the room would look now like it would have in 1927.
In all 18 buildings, they had to
underground
heat and air-conditioning
from their main central plant via ducts through ceilings, crawl spaces, wall
thicknesses, etc.
Other Expensive Improvements
Radiant heat under bathroom tiles provide winter warmth; all
suites have steam showers. All the plumbing throughout the hotel was
replaced. Carpeting is skein-dyed wool. Runners are no longer allowed
in hotels for safety reasons, but hallways are painted to look like runners.
There are hand-painted (not stenciled) designs around all the doors, so
that doors in the hallways are matching, but inside they are different.
Other touches include Venetian plaster finish on the walls in the spa
locker rooms; hand-stitched parchment shades, limestone walls with
insets of hand-painted porcelain tiles. Tables and vases and even lamp
bases made by Roger Capron, an artist who once created ceramics for
Picasso. To expand the kitchen, they had to make the basement larger
and to also give employees a better locker room, so under what was La
Marina, there is now an entire basement.
The water table here is about 16 feet and the Biltmore basement
manages to stay just above it, as does the elevator shaft at Coral Casino,
which just touched it and required “de-watering.” Everything there now
is above the water table level.
The list of costly improvements is virtually endless, but suffice to say
that a guest at Four Seasons Biltmore is invited to inspect
every
aspect of
the hotel and its guest rooms. Reginald Johnson designed the Biltmore
for its era, and its era lasted for 80 years; Ty Warner has seen to it that
Mr. Johnson’s era has been extended for another 80 years. And, it seems
likely that by 2088, when the Biltmore will probably be in need of a
billion-dollar makeover, a mere $240 million will have proven to have
been money well spent indeed.
The bar in the Ty Lounge is a work of craftsmanship, with a hand assembled marble bar top
comprised of selected stones: Oasis Green Serpentine from Argentina, Green Onyx from the
Antolini Quarries in Italy and white accent Thassos marble from the ancient Greek region of
the same name. The bar face is Mozambique hardwood and features Madrone burlwood
medallions inlaid with alternative ivory.