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the mansion to his son. His son introduced two
bathrooms, one upstairs and one down, and the
Warring family, who bought the house in 1912,
added a third bath in the 1940s.
THE PRESENT OWNERS, Mr. and Mrs. Scott
Newhall, bought the mansion from the Warring
estate in 1968. They went slowly about install-
ing wainscoting, papering, and finally were
modernizing the kitchen and painting the
exterior in 1980-81. In February 1981 a spark
from a painter's torch apparently escaped
under the eaves to the attic, and the mansion
burned to the ground. By the time the debris (86
dumpsters full of remains) was carted away,
nothing remained but the floor tile, the stone
work, the lower two-thirds of the tower, and
two chimneys.
GUIDED BY PHOTOGRAPHS contributed by
many visitors to the mansion, and by the expert
knowledge of people who had helped maintain
and restore it over the years, the Newhalls
began reconstruction.
COMPLETION of the rebuilt mansion took
two and one-half years. The materials, includ-
ing all-redwood exterior siding, the stained
glass, the tile patterns in the floors, and the
carved wood of the original have been faithful-
ly reproduced. Thanks to skilled and imagina-
tive artisans, some additional design elements
(like the library ceiling) have been added. One
of the additions is the bird, carved from ,
redwood, atop the small tower on the west
front, where before the fire was an ejgg-shaped
finial. The bird is a sympolic phoenix rising
from the ashes.
WITH RARE EXCEPTIONS, the furniture is
antique, as are the chandeliers. The design of
the kitchen is new, as are the bathrooms-one
for each bedroom. The fire made it possible to
install modern heating and air conditioning, so
that the owners were able to combine the best
of Victorian with the best of modern living.