📷 Margot Gerber
We’re off to visit the 1927 Greystone Mansion, a 46,000 square foot, $3.1 million Gordon B. Kaufmann designed estate with panoramic views stretching from downtown to the Pacific Ocean, hand carved oak balustrades and rafters, five chimneys each designed and crafted by a different artist, a movie theatre, a bowling alley (where THERE WILL BE BLOOD was filmed) and a hidden prohibition era bar. And did we mention that the Hearst Castle of Southern California is also associated with an unsolved murder-suicide and scandal?
The Jazz Age was a time of rapid growth (and incredible wealth) in Los Angeles. Adventurers who came West in the late 1800s to seek their fortune found it in land, oil, banking, construction and other vital businesses new to the young city.
One such fellow, future oil baron Edward L. Doheny and his partner Charles Canfield were the first to strike oil in Los Angeles in 1892. He amassed a fortune that exceeded that of John D. Rockefeller, becoming the richest man in America. By 1925 Doheny had a net worth of around $100 million. In 1927 he began work in the rapidly developing Beverly Hills area, on a 55-room Tudor style mansion made of grey stone for his son Edward “Ned” Laurence Doheny, Jr., Ned’s wife Lucy and their five children.
Tragically, Ned only enjoyed a few months in the mansion before he was shot dead there in what appeared to be a murder-suicide involving his longtime secretary, Hugh Plunkett. Tensions were running high. As the junior Doheny’s home was being built, his father and he were being investigated for their involvement in the Teapot Dome Scandal with the Secretary of the Interior whom they bribed.
Greystone is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is also a local Beverly Hills landmark. It is now owned by the City of Beverly Hills and is a public park. While the gardens are regularly accessible, complete tours of the house are not. This is a golden opportunity to journey back to the 1920s to imagine life inside an opulent mansion and learn the story of the Doheny family that ultimately rose above scandal to become a philanthropic force in Los Angeles, building schools, churches and hospitals.
📷 City of Beverly Hills.
The Art Deco Society of Los Angeles will meet at 11:00 AM for the tour. It is self-paced with docents in every room. If you are unable to meet us at 11:00 AM, you will have until 2:30 PM to come tour the house apart from the group, but you must make arrangements to get your ticket from us.
Tickets:
$25 Members of ADSLA (plus fees)
No refunds or exchanges, but you are welcome to sell or gift your tickets to a friend.
Know Before You Go:
Limited access for those who are unable to climb stairs.
There is a gift shop onsite.
The average amount of time people spend in the house is 90 minutes. Last entry is at 2:30 PM.
Save some time to enjoy the gardens.
Wear flat, comfortable shoes.
Parking:
Limited parking in the lot on the property. Greystone
Parking at 9255 Sunset Blvd. Shuttle to the house available.