Boddy House Reopens; Includes Heritage Exhibit

Formerly the home of E. Manchester Boddy, founder of Descanso Gardens, the newly renovated Boddy House is now open to the public Tuesday through Sunday (closed on Monday), from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., offering a glimpse at the glamour of a bygone era while also providing an incomparable rental venue for special events, weddings, receptions, parties, conferences, meetings, and, by prior arrangement, filming.

Boddy, publisher and owner of the former Los Angeles Daily News, purchased the land that is now Descanso Gardens in 1937 and hired the prominent Los Angeles architect James E. Dolena, known then as the “architect to the stars” for his many commissions in Beverly Hills and Hollywood, to design a home for himself, his wife Berenice, and their two sons. Working in his trademark Hollywood Regency style, Dolena produced a 12,000-square-foot, two story, 22-room mansion for the Boddy family and nestled it into a prominent hillside in the far southeast corner of the property, with a panoramic view of the San Gabriel Mountains. The house incorporated many features that were quite advanced for the day, including steel framing, a built-in stereo music system, and heating and cooling based on geothermal principles.

In 1953, Boddy sold his estate—including his house—to Los Angeles County. At the same time, a vigorous volunteer group sprang up to lend assistance and support. Known as the Descanso Gardens Guild, this nonprofit volunteer group led many of the improvements that subsequently have shaped today’s Descanso Gardens.

In 2007, Pasadena Showcase House for the Arts chose the Boddy House to be transformed into its 43rd annual Pasadena Showcase House of Design. Working with Showcase volunteers, interior and exterior design firms completely rehabilitated and restored the Boddy House, bringing it back to life in a contemporary re-interpretation of its original Hollywood Regency style.

Subsequently, a major grant from the Ahmanson Foundation enabled the addition of a museum-quality Heritage Exhibit and provided furnishings and further renovations for the house.

Joy Sullivan, Boddy House project manager, worked with David Reaume Construction & Design in Pasadena on the furnishings and renovations. Robin Sease, Descanso’s manager of visitor education, worked with Pasadena’s Hunt Design on the historical accents that grace the foyer, solarium, living room, camellia room and hallway.

"For the Heritage Exhibit, we decided to tell four stories," said David R. Brown, Descanso’s executive director: 'A Great Place for a Garden,' 'Manchester Boddy's Life and Times,' ‘Romance of the Camellia,’ and ‘Volunteers and Philanthropists.’ We also decided that the house itself, as a newly restored but historically significant structure, needed to be integral to the visitor experience at Descanso Gardens.”

Docents will lead hour-long tours of the Boddy House on Saturdays and Sundays at noon. Visits and tours are free with Gardens’ admission. If you are interested in reserving a date for use of the Boddy House, please call (818) 949-4206 or e-mail rentals@descansogardens.org.