Pasadena Showcase House

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What you will see: On display are a Tudor-style mansion and coach house with rooms by various interior designers. The gardens feature native plants and water features. The Shops At Showcase offer jewelry, clothing and other goods. One restaurant is overseen by Phillip Ozaki, owner and chef of Roe Fusion in Sierra Madre.

Why it matters: This annual event by volunteer group Pasadena Showcase House for the Arts raises money for music education, including a scholarship and gift program and a youth concert.
The Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra also benefits from this.

Maybe it’s the proximity to the busy 134 Freeway, but this year Pasadena Design Showcase is not concerned with flaunting urban modernity.

Instead, the designers who used this 1902 Tudor revival for its 2024 fundraising redesign largely embraced nature. Floral wallpaper and vibrant colors abound in the renovated rooms. Outdoor spaces bloom with new California native plantings amid mature coastal live oaks.

“Fall in love with native plants!” That’s the advice of the landscape architect, whose room on the west terrace overlooks the Arroyo Seco and the noisy highway.

Apparently Elisa Read Pappaterra did this herself. She lined her walkway with native plants like poppies, California lilac (Ceanothus), and penstemon.

The owner of Studio Pappaterra also filled the huge classic fountain with hanging plants while also creating a far more bird and bee friendly water feature from a large, upside down pot. It provides dry perches for insects amid streams of water running down the side, while a rosette at the top serves as both a birdbath and a decorative cover for the pot’s unsightly bottom.

Inside the home, known as “Potter Daniels Manor,” the walnut paneling in the foyer and adjacent library is quietly unpainted, its rich wood grain exuding a forest atmosphere. Rooms feature heavily patterned wallpaper (yes, they’re back!) with flowers, ferns, and fauna.

And while rooms follow the muted color palette chosen for the project, others shine in jewel tones such as: CS domains“Romantic Chambers” with emerald bedspread and carved Indian backrest guarded by a stuffed peacock sitting next to a formal bird head portrait.

Images of birds and flowers dominate, especially in the two-story carriage house Samantha Williams‘Tea room reminiscent of a Victorian garden. Above, artist Shari Tipich has decorated the entire wall space of one bedroom with pastoral horse scenes, while the neighboring spa room opens up its tiny space with a misty landscape mural.

However, nature takes a back seat in the stunning main dining room B. David Levine. Its sumptuous design, with its rich colors, opulent furnishings, frescoed ceilings and exaggerated place settings reminiscent of a palace state dinner, is a departure from the more understated dining areas of previous Showcase editions. The exuberant Levine himself is visually different from his fellow participants. He sports unruly purple hair, a full beard, and an open-collared purple shirt that reveals layered chokers. The Los Angeles designer clearly enjoys playing with perception, as evidenced by his choice of a fake Dutch old master portrait as his room’s painting, the image of which is blurry and pixelated.

How to visit

Public tours The volunteer-run Pasadena Showcase House of Design continues through May 19 to raise money for the Los Angeles Philharmonic Music education. The tours, on-site restaurant and pop-up shops are particularly popular Mother’s Day destinations.

The address of the house is not public, but tickets are available with a shuttle service. Parking and shuttles operate from the Explorer Road parking lot, accessible from Explorer Road at the intersection of N Windsor Ave and Ventura St in Altadena.