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124
winter
|
spr ing
The Architecture
K
ate Starr, director of Communications and Public Relations
for the resort directed a guided tour of the property and
pointed out many of its subtle touches. She noted, for example,
that the columns used throughout are Tuscan, which means they
are seven times as tall as they are wide. Proportion. Symmetry.
Grandeur.
Scattered throughout are Italian tapestries and furniture
(no reproductions) that go hand-in-hand with the Palladian
architecture, “similar to what one may find in a seventeenth-
century villa,” Kate says. The boutique Allegra is named for
Palladio’s wife, and the rotunda in the main building resembles the
Villa Rotunda in Vicenza.
The Art
I
n addition to the Italian artwork, some 120 plein-air paintings done by
California artists – Donna McGinnis, Simon Addyman, Mark Jacoby,
Joan Horsfall Young, and others – have drawn so much attention that the
Resort now arranges a weekly tour, open to the public, devoted to the
collection.
The Palladio theme is omnipresent: Andrea Ristorante, Pelican Hill’s
award-winning restaurant, is named for Mr. Palladio (if you go – and I
heartily recommend doing so – be sure to order something with fresh
pasta, made daily on the premises in a temperature-controlled room next
to the kitchen). Andrea is popular with nearby Newport Beach and Orange
County residents and was nearly full the Tuesday evening we ate there, so
reservations should be made ahead of time. If you want to sit on the patio,
say, to enjoy a sunset meal, it’s first-come, first-served out there, so go early.
Our two-bedroom villa at the Resort at Pelican Hills
featured three flat-panel television sets, a fireplace,
two and a half baths, kitchen, living room, spacious
terrace, and expansive views