California’s small towns – Beverly Hills: part 7 – Greystone Mansion

Greystone Mansion, also known as Doheny Mansion, is a Tudor Revival mansion surrounded by distinctive English gardens, located on the Trousdale Estates in Beverly Hills. The house and grounds are often used in TV shows and as movie sets. The “falling stairs” of the house is one of the most famous movie sets in Hollywood.

History

Greystone Mansion and its surrounding grounds are woven into California’s history. The first owner of the site was Edward Laurence Doheny, who bought the land in 1910. He was born in 1856 in the small town of Fond du Lac in the Midwest of Wisconsin. He was an adventurous and wildlife-loving teenager, which led him to wander west in search of gold, and soon after oil. In 1892, Doheny and his friend Charles A. Canfield were the first to extract oil in Los Angeles. They later discovered large deposits of oil in Mexico, which, combined with their properties in Los Angeles, made them the largest oil producers in the world at the time.

Edward Doheny and his wife Carrie Louella Wilkins had two children. Their first daughter, Eileen, died when she was just seven years old. On November 6, 1893, their only son, Edward “Ned” Laurence Doheny Jr., was born and grew up the heir to one of the world’s greatest financial empires. Ned married Lucy Smith of Pasadena, and in 1926, Edward Laurence Doheny, Sr. gave his son a 12.58-acre plot with stunning views of the city as a wedding gift.

Construction of the new manor-style home began on February 15, 1927, and although Ned, his wife Lucy, and their five children moved into the mansion in September 1928, it took three years to complete and cost more than $3 million, an almost unimaginable total for the property at that time. The original construction cost for the entire Greystone estate was $3,166,578.12, the mansion alone cost $1,238,378.76. The building was named Greystone for its heavy use of stone construction and rather sombre gray appearance. In addition to the residence, the grounds originally included stables and outbuildings, tennis courts, a fire station, a porter’s lodge, a swimming pool and pavilion, a greenhouse, a lake, gurgling brooks and cascading waterfalls.

On the night of February 16, 1929, just five months after the family had moved in, 35-year-old Ned Doheny was shot to death at home by his longtime close friend Hugh Plunkett. After her husband’s death, Lucy lived in Greystone until 1955, after which she and her second husband, Leigh M. Battson, sold most of the original land to Paul Trousdale Corporation, developers of the prestigious “Trousdale Estate” in Beverly Hills. The following year, Lucy and her husband sold the remaining 18.3-acre lot, along with the Greystone mansion, to the Chicago-based Park Gray Corporation, owned by Henry Crown, for approximately $1.5 million. However, Crown never formally occupied the site, but instead leased it as a popular location for film sets.

The City of Beverly Hills purchased the property from H. Crown in 1965 for approximately $1.3 million with plans to install a 19 million gallon water reservoir on the site, as the hilltop location provided tremendous natural water pressure. This site still serves as the largest reservoir in the city of Beverly Hills. On September 16, 1971, the entire 18.3-acre site, including his central Greystone Mansion, was formally made a public park by the City of Beverly Hills. Five years later, on April 23, 1976, Greystone was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In 2013, Greystone was designated as Beverly Hills Local Historic Landmark No. 4.

Architecture and interior of the residence

The Greystone Mansion was designed by renowned Southern Californian architect Gordon B. Kaufmann and was built by the PJ Walker Company. The landscape architect was Paul G. Thiene, who used the potpourri of Gothic and Neoclassical architectural styles.

The basic structure of Greystone Mansion was built of steel-reinforced concrete and clad in Indiana limestone and Welsh slate. The mansion’s handrails and arched staircase are all typical of the opulence and craftsmanship of the era, the oak handrails, balustrades and rafters are all hand-carved, and each of the five fireplaces is designed and crafted by a different artist. The floors of the great hall were inlaid with black and white marble, and one of the drawing rooms had a balcony where musicians often performed on special occasions. The kitchen had a pantry built to secure a large wall-adhering safe that was used to store the family’s silver and gold dinnerware sets. In the mansion, on two floors of the east wing, there were servants’ quarters with a staff of fifteen. With 46,054 square feet of living space, the mansion has fifty-five living rooms. The bedrooms were distributed on the second floor, where the master bedroom was located in the west wing and consisted of a main lounge, two bathrooms, a dressing room and a massage room. All south-facing rooms offered panoramic views of the Los Angeles Valley, from downtown to the Pacific Ocean.

The two eldest boys’ bedrooms were in the north wing, where a circular staircase led to the adjoining recreation wing, which contained a cinema room, the original Brunswick bowling alley, a billiards room and a hidden bar.

Greystone now

Greystone is now a public park open to the public and hosts special events, including the Beverly Hills Flower and Garden Festival. It is also popular as a location for many film sets due to its beauty, manicured grounds, and Beverly Hills location. Some film productions contribute to the upkeep and restoration of the mansion and grounds. For example, the 2007 film There Will Be Blood, loosely based on Edward Doheny’s life from the book Upton Sinclair Oil! He contributed to the refurbishment of her two-lane bowling alley on the property to include it in the film.

Among the many events held there each year, from mid-June to early August, the mansion hosts Catskills West, a theater and drama camp run by Beverly Hills Parks and Recreation. In the summer, the camp organizes pool parties twice.

The mansion also hosts the play The Manor by Kathrine Bates, directed by Beverly Olevin and produced by Theater 40 of Beverly Hills, which takes place in various rooms. The audience is separated during the performance to watch the scenes in different order. The plot of The Manor is a fictionalized account of the life of the Doheny family, including Doheny Sr.’s involvement in the Teapot Dome scandal and the murder of his son. It has been performed annually at Greystone Mansion since 2002, making it the longest-running play in Los Angeles. Today you can recognize some scenes from the movies as many famous movies were shot here in Greystone using this stately mansion and green spaces as backdrops. The splendor of the surroundings also makes it a popular venue for weddings and elegant events.

Greystone Park is located at:

905 Loma Vista Drive, Beverly Hills, CA 90210

Park opening hours:

• 10:00 – 17:00 Pacific Time
• 10:00 – 18:00 Daylight Saving Time

Closed Thanksgiving, Christmas, and occasionally for filming or special events.

No parking or entry fee to the park.

The Greystone Residence is only open for special occasions.

For information on park closings, weddings, photography and for other private events in Greystone, please contact the office Greystone, 310-285-6830 or visit the Park’s website at beverlyhills.org/Greystone