Pasadena Showcase House tickets go on sale this week

The members of the Pasadena Showcase House for the Arts (PSHA) are busy preparing for the opening of their 49th annual home tours. Tickets went on sale this week for the tour that will begin on April 21 and continue through May 19th. This year, the home is located in the Oaks section of Arcadia. It is a Roland E. Coate’s design showing his Monterey influenced Spanish Colonial style. This uniquely California style has become synonymous with Coate.
Some may remember this particular house as it was the group’s Showcase House in 2000, but there are many changes. Gone is the remuddled white stucco exterior to reveal the original brick façade. Also this year the tour will feature more of the house. Previously only the main portion of the house and the pool house were on the tour. This year, the tour will also include a double suite of rooms over the garage and the garage itself.
The house was originally designed for C. Lawrence Barker (remember Barker Brothers Furniture?) in a 1941. The house itself is over 10,000 sq. ft. and set on an almost 2 acre estate. This provides plenty of space for the numerous designers involved. There are 20 interior design spaces including five bedrooms, a library, living room, family room(s) and retreats as well as the usual living room, dining room and kitchen.
Even if you toured the house in 2000, you may not recognize the house. Not only has the exterior undergone a major renovation, but also walls are coming down and new ones are going up in several places. The butler’s pantry is being merged into the kitchen and new spaces are being created by melding older smaller rooms.
There are, however, touches of the old remaining. Wallpaper, originally designed for the house, but not installed in the living room until the 2000 remodeling. The hand-painted paper is being retained and experts are being brought in to carefully work around this elegant design feature.
It is not only in the interior that there are major changes taking place. There are eight separate garden spaces with nine designers. The pool and adjacent pool house itself are both undergoing major changes as well. And perhaps of greatest interest to the gentlemen attending the tour, the aptly named Garage Envy is back with a complete makeover of the three-car garage.
In addition to the home tour, there will be a restaurant at the showcase house. This year, the caterer may be well known to many in this area. She is the caterer for the Huntington Library and Gardens. This year in addition to the restaurant there will also be a California Style Pub (rather intelligently placed just outside the garage). As usual there will also be the Shops at Showcase.
For information about buying tickets, go to the PSHA website http://www.pasadenashowcase.org
The showcase house will be open Tuesdays, Saturdays and Sundays from 9:00 AM to 3:30 PM and on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from 9:00 AM to 7:30 PM. Showcase is closed to the public on Mondays. As always, there will be continuous complimentary parking and shuttle service to the House. This year the parking will be at Santa Anita Racetrack in Arcadia- Gate 6 on Colorado Place.
The gardens, restaurant and shops are open to the public without a ticket on any day Showcase is open to the public. The proceeds from the ticket sales go to support the group’s grant and other music programs. And this year, the group has a blog on Facebook so that everyone can see updates on the construction projects.

By Susan Motander

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