Bridge For Design Spring 2014 Bridge For Design Spring 2014 Issue | Page 142

determined to build a property identical to the one which they
had admired abroad, yet do not follow up this decision with any
analytical study. Instead they hire an architect who lacks the
necessary understanding of art and authentic classical reproduction
to enable him to copy faithfully from the original.
By Los Angeles standards, I was fortunate to have found a
fairly good Spanish-Moorish styled home, which I felt in the
right hands could assume the aura that had so beguiled me in
Europe.
I read, studied and schooled myself in the art of creating an “old/
new” house or a “new/old” house, in the belief that copying an
existing property was the key.
My secret was never to go too far nor to embark on a process
or technique which, after analysis, could not duplicate exactly
the wear, patina and antiquity of the “real thing”. In addition,
it was equally important that the exterior of my “villa” possessed
no characteristic that would give it away as a Californian imposter.
The property is encircled by 25-foot hedges and huge stands of
bamboo, its exterior walls are encrusted with overgrown vines and
the once salmon-coloured awnings are black from years of dirty
rainwater.
However, once inside, the visitor has no inkling that the house is
not located in Sicily, Seville or Rome. The brackish stone pool in the
garden, anchored at one end by an absolutely faithful reproduction
of a Palladian portico, suitably eroded, patinated and weatherbeaten by a skilled Hollywood set designer, further reinforces the
illusion.
Clearly a folly, I like to tell my more gullible friends that it is
the only surviving Roman ruin in the United States!
The extensive boxwood garden was inspired by the Chateau de
Marqueyssac in south-west France. ►
TOP LEFT: On a George III giltwood console