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| "THE DOVECOTE"'of the Farm Group on the Thomas lnce Estate, Beverly Hills. Roy Seldon Price, Architect. The roof is random laid with Varicolored Granada tile made by Gladding, McBean & Company—Los Angeles Pressed Brick Company. Watercolor sketch by J. E. Stanton. |
Thomas H. Ince Estate, "Dias Dorados" - GOLDEN DAYS
The famed motion picture director and studio mogul built his California Spanish Mission-style estate between 1923 and 1924. Constructed on 30 acres, the entire estate was designed by architect Roy Selden Price as a motion picture setting. Ince and Price turned the estate into a theatrical version of an old Mission-style mansion. The mammoth circular living room was decorated as a Mexican cantina with stone fireplace and a totem pole in the center of the room. The basement screening room was made into a romantic version of a pirate ship's deck. Another themed room had floors covered with sand and punctuated by cactus plants. There was an autograph room which contained many documents and pictures concerned with the early history of California. Mr. Ince's own suite boasted a complete Turkish bath establishment. Additional amenities included a shooting gallery and a scaled-down roller skating rink. On the grounds were a trout pool, a bowling green, tennis courts and a swimming pool.
So that everything in the house would look very old, materials were weathered in various ways. The stucco on the house itself was painted with adobe mud, which was later washed off. The tiles and ironwork were made by Mexican workmen who used the most primitive methods. The home was demolished in the late 1940's.
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