It is known as the last great Gilded Age Mansion in the United States.
Hi everyone, Ken here, welcome to "ThisHouse!" Today we are exploring Carolands near San
Francisco’s Bay Area.
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In 1869, Harriett Pullman was born to an extremely wealthy family.
Her father, George Pullman, was a successful industrialist and engineer who invented the
Pullman Sleeping Car and established the company town of Pullman, Illinois.
Harriett grew up in Chicago, during the height of the Gilded Age, in her father’s mansion.
For her wedding, George had a massive addition added onto the house including a 40 foot wide
glass dome, under which she tied the knot with Francis Carolan in 1892.
Just a few years later, in 1897, George passed away, leaving Harriett with a trust in the
amount of 1 million dollars, or the modern day equivalent of about 35 million dollars.
The young couple lived out their first married years in Burlingame, California in a house
known as Crossways Farm.
Harriett let her money gain interest for some time, then, in 1912, she began buying up land
in Hillsborough, California.
Overall, she acquired 554 acres, portions of which included sweeping views of San Francisco’s
Bay Area.
Now that she had a dream location, it was time to plan her dream house.
She hired architect Ernest Sanson to design for her a stately mansion in the Beaux Arts
style.
He was in his late 70s at the time and living in Paris, so he never traveled to the United
States to oversee the construction of the mansion, relying instead on a local architect
to correspond with him and interpret his drawings for the site.
By the time the mansion was finished, it boasted over 46 thousand square feet, with 98 rooms
spread across 4 and a half floors.
At it’s base, it was surrounded by a dry moat to allow light to flood the lower levels.
The walls were built from brick and covered over in scored concrete to give the illusion
of a limestone façade.
Though the landscape architect, Achille Duchene, had planned for a driveway to wind for miles
through the estate, a more straight forward approach ended up being built with perfectly
manicured gardens surrounding the house which were modeled after the gardens of the Palace
of Versailles.
Walking inside, passing below a stone archway, you would be greeted by a bifurcated staircase
gracefully flaring above the marble floors.
Looking up, an atrium surrounded by columns rose two floors to support a dome with a square
base punctured by skylights.
Several architectural elements, including entire 17th century rooms, were transported
from Europe and reassembled in the house.
Such as this one with gilded wall panels surrounding a crystal chandelier suspended from an elaborate
plaster medallion above a radial chevron floor.
The Dining was finished out with wall panels accented by fluted columns and decorated with
tapestries below a peaceful mural of a cloudy sky floating overhead.
Continuing through the house, you would encounter built in book shelves run below a mezzanine
with overstuffed furniture resting on complex parquet floors.
The music room continued this theme, though it was planned to have plain walls, directing
guests attention towards the stage where a grand piano rests, simply framed by columns
and curtains.
Now that the house had been completed, Harriett and Francis moved in during the fall of 1916.
But by the following year, the couple had separated.
Harriett moved to New York, leaving Frank behind in California.
The two were unable to finalize their divorce because Francis died shortly after the separation.
In 1925, Harriett remarried and over the next few years she emptied the house of it’s
furnishings and placed the house up for sale.
It sat abandoned for decades, unable to find a buyer.
The US Government, considered purchasing it to use as “The West Coast White House”
but a budget couldn’t be agreed on.
Finally, in 1945, the estate was sold to the Moseley family, but it had fallen into a state
of disrepair from being neglected for over 20 years.
They began sub dividing the land until the house sat on only 25 acres.
They had considered demolishing the house before placing it up for sale again.
At this time, in 1950, it caught the eye of Countess Lillian Remillard Dandini.
She fell in love with the architecture and felt compelled to preserve the house.
She began extensive restoration work and opened the house for various charitable and academeic
events.
Upon her death in 1973, she willed the house to the city.
But without an endowment to maintain the estate, the city declined.
Every few years after that, the house changed ownership with most of its owners letting
the house slip into foreclosure, being repurchased at auctions over and over again until 1991
when Dr Ann Johnson visited the house for a charity event.
She was overwhelmed by the beauty of the architecture and couldn’t stop imagining how exquisite
the house could be if it were to be fully restored once again.
Later on, in 1998, the house was placed on the market one last time and she purchased.
Together, with her husband, billionaire Charles Bartlett Johnson, the couple began restoring
the mansion, including its mechanical systems.
After 14 years of meticulous work, they donated the estate to the Carolands Foundation.
Today, the house is open to the public for complimentary guided tours by reservation
only.
Which room was your favorite?
let me know in the comments section.
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