Picture-Play Magazine (Sep 1928 - Feb 1929)

The Home Dolores Built 49 finally disposed of her home in Mexico City and set about acquiring one here. Intending to build a permanent home, Miss del Rio waited for an interval of leisure between pictures before beginning actual construction. She had already, more than a year ago, selected and bought the lot. Originally wild, unused land with a crude highway cut through it, used principally by bandits, it later became a ranch in possession of one of the first Spanish families to settle here. It was a thickly wooded section, dense with giant sycamores that defied speculations as to their age. When it was subdivided, many of these were, of course, preserved. On one semicircular corner lot stood the daddy of them all — a sycamore of tremendous proportions, with four separate and gnarled trunks. It was known as "Hangman's Tree" bcause, its branches being eminently suitable to the purpose, it had been the impromptu gallows for the victims of the bandits who traversed the road which ran beside it, tradition says. It was this lot which Dolores chose, and directed her architect to build the house around the tree. At the conclusion of "The Trail of '98." with the prospect of a brief holiday before "Ramona," construction on the place was begun. Dolores was on hand constantly to see that things went as she wished. Combining the talent of her architect and Dolores' own excellent taste, the result is one of the loveliest houses in Hollywood. The grounds comprise tne entire semicircle of a corner, and are surrounded by a wall of whitewashed brick. The house itself is white stucco, with a red-tile roof. The entrance is charmingly inconspicuous — a heavy oak door set in the wall on the east side. The door has a small, iron grille in it, and directly above, set in the wall, is a niche containing the figure of a saint. Instead of leading into the house itself, the door opens onto a cloistered veranda facing the garden. The floor of the veranda is tiled in dull red, with decorative, varicolored tiles set at intervals. To the left, on entering, is the broadest part, where deep bamboo furniture, up Dolores del Rio's bedroom gives the impression of fragile, green sunlight. holstered in the same shade of red, is placed. On the wall, here, is hung a hand-woven rug of Aztec design. To the right of the entrance is a large niche containing a porcelain figure, while facing the door at the far end, is a small fountain with a picture in tiles above it. In the center of the garden is the sycamore mentioned above. Around the wall, on the inside, cypresses have been set and will soon form a dense hedge. At the convergence of the paths is a large fountain of tiles. The entrance to the house itself is at the far end of the veranda — an elaborately carved oak door almost a foot thick. This opens into a hall two stories high, whose length is to right and left of the entrance. To the left it leads to the living room, to the right to the dining room. The stairway is midway between the two. This hall is also tile floored, but made warm by small rugs, and a small red-velvet settee of Spanish design. Great urns of beaten brass contain flowering shrubs and, at the base of the staircase, is a huge Pueblo vase patterned in brilliant greens, blues, and yellows. It is the only bright color in the hall, the dominating red being of . a very dull hue. It is an example of wise discrimination in the use of color. Continued on page 118 Miss del Rio's study adjoins the office of her secretary.