a broken range of many-hued mountains forms a great decorative
background.”
Water features graced the house both inside and out. On its
south façade, between articulated Ionic columns, sculptor Lee
Lawrie created a frieze of nine scenes from Arthurian legend.
The constraint and simplicity of the villa’s stark white walls and
simple grated windows contrasted with the interior where Islamic,
Spanish, Gothic, Saracenic, Renaissance, Occidental, Oriental,
Arabian, Roman, and Greek architectural features created a merry
bazaar of styles.
Writing in
Stately Homes of California
in 1915, Porter Garnett
asserts that there is a mingling of exotic influences in Spanish
architecture and ornament. “Gillespie,” he said, “has re-expressed in
California, the curious and romantic composite so generally met on
the Iberian peninsula.”
Not only did the dining room have a frescoed, barrel-vaulted
ceiling, it had a musician’s gallery hung with elaborate tapestries.
One section of tiles in the entry hall showed stations of the
cross and another depicted Gillespie himself as a bachelor and
cosmopolitan.
The conversation room, according to Mrs. Henry Wadsworth
MOGULS
&
MANSIONS
(top)
The barrel-vaulted dining room where Henry Wadsworth Moore painted scenes from the life of a young Nero. Local artist Friedrich Alexander Funke performed
the copper-stippled work. The antique chairs were covered in tooled and painted leather. (LOC)
(middle)
Two views of the drawing room anchored by antique columns on the south and an ornate fireplace on the north. The carved surround came from Cuba and
Goodhue designed the frame for a painting by Caravaggio to match it. (Estate photos)
(bottom)
The library featured cozy banquet seats in the fireplace and a plethora of carved and gilded furniture (Estate photo)
54
summer
|
fall
