Spring Brings the 2023 Pasadena Showcase House of Design

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For more than half a century, the Pasadena Showcase House of Design has marked the start of spring in the Southland. Continuing in its 58th year—it reimagines Stewart House—a 1933 grand colonial estate set on two impeccably manicured acres tucked into one of Pasadena’s most elegant neighborhoods.

The 11,000-square-foot-home, designed by Marston & Maybury for Arthur Stewart and his wife, Ruth Nicholson Stewart, is now owned by their children. From its colonnaded exterior, elegant entry foyer and front staircase, to its living room, sunroom, speakeasy, library, butler’s pantry, dining room and open plan kitchen and family room on the first floor, to the second floor’s four bedrooms, three bathrooms, primary suite and large veranda, to its guest house, garage, a pool, a pool cabana, changing rooms and its long vegetable garden—the home is the epitome of gracious living.

“Featured in 1983 as the 19th Showcase House, we are revisiting this majestic estate, stewarded by the same family for nearly 40 years, to introduce it to a new generation,” says Vikki Sung, 2022/2023 President of Pasadena Showcase House for the Arts, which has supported local music and arts programs since 1948. The Pasadena Showcase House of Design is its sole fundraising initiative. 2022/2023 Benefit Chair Matt McIntyre echoes her enthusiasm. “This is such a spectacular piece of architecture with such a graciousness about it,” he notes. “The designers considered this and have brought cutting-edge design while honoring the house’s traditional roots.” 

Photo here, above and throughout by Chris Considine

Like many of the home’s 32 interior and landscape designers, who pulled together their spaces in just under four months, Halter Home principal Kira Halter drew inspiration from the Art Deco period in reinventing the cozy and inviting Library.

Photo by Chris Considine

Rachel Duarte Design Studio incorporated the dining room’s existing hand-painted wall mural, softening it with the help of decorative artist Linda Sarkissian of LS Decorative Art. A chandelier from Modern Lighting by Visual Comfort, which resembles a bevy of upside down champagne flutes, illuminates the table, set for a dinner that includes Albert Hadley and Kelly Wearstler among its honored guests. 

Photo by Chris Considine

Now in her tenth year with the Pasadena Showcase, principal designer and owner of The Art of Room Design Maria Videla-Juniel chose a room inside the guest house in which to create “The Garden Retreat,” covering the walls in an Anna French paper from Thibaut

Photo by Chris Considine

Courtney Thomas Design shouldered the home’s expansive Primary Suite — which includes the primary bathroom, a dressing area and and a walk-in closet by California Closets — swathing it in a soothing shade of green from Dunn-Edwards Paints (who provided all of the paint for the home) that mirrors the dense foliage just outside the windows.

Photo by Chris Considine

Just off the Primary Suite, Meredith Green Design has infused the private lanai, which overlooks the back garden, with a tropical vibe, underlined by Varaluz’s arresting Banana Leaf chandelier, discovered at Ferguson Bath, Kitchen & Lighting Gallery, who is celebrating their 7th year with the fundraising initiative.

The 2023 Pasadena Showcase House of Design is open through May 21 daily except Mondays. Tickets can be purchased online or by calling 626-606-1600. All proceeds from the tour admissions, The Shops at Showcase, which offers a variety of boutique and craft merchandise, and the restaurants, go to the Pasadena Showcase House for the Arts philanthropic activities.