The Architectural Digest: A Pictorial Digest of California's Best Architecture - Volume VII, Number 2 (1929) [featuring the Greystone Mansion, Beverly Hills]

Los Angeles: John C. Brasfield. Fair. (c.1929). (Vol. VII, No. 2). Periodical. [moderate external wear, some damage to binding at both ends of spine, numerous short tears in edges of covers (due to overlaping the text block by about 1/4"); also NOTE that two pages have had photos cut out]. (B&W photographs, drawings) There's no doubt about the "star" of this issue: it's Greystone, the mansion built on the expansive estate of Edward L. Doheny, Jr. in Beverly Hills. It's featured on the front cover, and in nearly three dozen photographs of the house (exterior and interior) and grounds that comprise the first section of the journal. (NOTE that one of the pages in this section has been cut, with about half the page missing, affecting two of the photos.) Designed by Gordon B. Kaufmann and completed in 1928, Greystone had only been occupied for four months in February 1929, when Ned Doheny and his secretary Hugh Plunkett died in what is generally accepted to have been a murder-suicide (although there has always been some lingering doubt about just who killed who, and why); given the prominence of the Doheny family in the culture and politics of Southern California, there was much about the deaths of the two men that was kept from public knowledge with the collusion of the ever-compliant BHPD. Although it's not clear exactly when this issue was printed and distributed, I suspect it was relatively early in 1929, before the mansion had been forever tainted by this tragic event. And it's not just the front section that's a paean to the Doheny manse: many of the advertisements in the back of the issue were taken by firms who had contributed to one feature or another of the design and construction of the house (the garden designers; the suppliers of the marble, tile, and brick; etc.). Some of these ads feature additional photos of various features of the house and grounds. But wait, there's more, much more! The 194-page issue features photographs of numerous other notable houses in various parts of California (although the preponderance are in the Los Angeles area, it seems) -- including one other iconic L.A. residence, that of William Andrews Clark Jr., which after his death in 1934 became the UCLA-owned library that now holds his rare book collection and bears his name. (There are four shots of the interior of the house, on pages 66-69.) Flipping through this issue naturally makes one wonder how many of these lovely homes are still extant today; without actually doing the research, my guess would be "most of them." ****NOTE that additional postage charges will be assessed for international shipping of this oversize, heavy volume; if this concerns you, please contact us for a shipping quote before placing your order.**** .