"Three Women and a Chateau" Screening to
Benefit Christmas-in-Newport
Annual
Benefit set for Saturday, December 2nd at 4:00 p.m.
Newport Art Museum, 79 Bellevue
Avenue, Newport RI
 THREE
WOMEN AND A CHATEAU
Description
The Heiress. The Countess. The Doctor. Although they
never met, these three women shared a place and a passion:
Chateau Carolands, a 100-room architectural masterpiece
in Hillsborough, California, the second largest private
home in the United States, and a three- dimensional
window into the last 100 years of American history.
It is a story of fabulous wealth and financial ruin,
great loves and bitter betrayals, earthquakes and murders,
and an insider’s look at the struggles of the
ultra-rich in America, where even limitless money cannot
guarantee that dreams come true. The story of the Chateau
is like a Greek tragedy with a twist, with the house
in the role of an enchanted magic mirror, so grand that
it encourages the hubris of those who fall under its
spell. We watch the drama of three generations of owners
of Carolands as they fall into failure and near-ruin
until the current restoration brings about an artistic
triumph for the house and its current owner.
About the Directors
Catherine Ryan and Gary Weimberg have been personal
and professional partners since 1980. They specialize
in documentary programs that address issues to make
the world a better place. Their projects celebrate the
diversity of the human experience. They also make historical
programs and portraits of ordinary people with extraordinary
lives. Recently, they have begun supporting non-profit
organizations through making videos for fund-raising,
awards events, and outreach. Their films, and films
they have worked on, have won Emmy Awards; have been
nominated for Academy Awards; and have been seen and
won "best of" awards in festivals around the
world.
Credits:
Directors: Catherine Ryan, Gary Weimberg
• Christmas in Newport Benefit Screening
Saturday,
December 2nd at 4:00 p.m.
Newport Art Museum, 79 Bellevue
Avenue, Newport RI
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2006 Rhode Island International
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THE
FILM'S BACKSTORY:
 The
Carolands Chateau is a 65,000 square foot mansion in
Hillsborough, California. Its 75-foot-high atrium holds
the record as the largest enclosed space in an American
private residence. The architecturally significant Chateau,
of American Renaissance design, is a California Historical
Landmark, and is listed on the National Register of
Historic Places.
Built between 1912 and 1915 at a total cost of $3,000,000,
The Carolands Chateau has lain unoccupied for much of
its existence. The design and construction were commissioned
by Harriet Pullman Carolan, heiress to the Pullman sleeping
car fortune. Harriet Pullman Carolan, born in 1869,
was the daughter of George Pullman, the 19th Century
American industrialist who became the wealthiest man
in Chicago after he created the Pullman Palace railway
car. Perhaps because her father was the very inventor
of modern "luxury" or "first class"
travel, Harriet Pullman came to expect perfection and
beauty in her surroundings, and her particular tastes
revolved around the French. The mansion originally occupied
a 544 acre plot of land, situated at the highest local
geographical point in order to "look down on the
Hearsts and surpass the Crockers." The Chateau
exterior was inspired by the 17th century designs of
Mansart, while the interior was designed by noted San
Francisco architect Willis Polk who was working from
the inspired designs of landscape architect Achilles
Duchene and the renowned French designer of prestige
private homes Ernest Sanson.
It is often claimed that the Chateau was modeled after
the French chateau Vaux-le-Vicomte although the resemblance
is remote apart from the shared circular room featured
in both buildings. More accurately, it can be said that
both share an authentic Beaux-Arts tradition. The gardens
on the property were patterned after those at Versailles
and originally consisted of 32,000 trees and shrubs
(Rhodes,1985). Sometimes the Chateau is called the last
of the great homes in the U.S., a reference to a spree
of mansion building that began with the residence of
W.K. Vanderbilt in 1881 and ended with Carolands just
after the national income tax was enacted in 1913. However,
in 1917 the Carolans separated and moved out of the
Chateau; Harriet married Colonel Arthur Schermerhorn
in 1925, and the new couple re-inhabited the Chateau
in the year 1927. Most of the property was subdivided
and sold by 1929. Harriet sold the remnant parcel of
25 acres along with the Chateau in 1945. In 1948 the
Burlingame High School Senior class held its prom at
the Chateau, reviving the glittering candlelight setting
of past grandeur.Panelled library with ornate chandelier
and fireplace.
Countess Lillian Remillard Dandini purchased the Carolands
Chateau in 1950 and, in so doing, saved it from demolition
by developers more interested in the land than in the
historic architecture. The 20 years she lived in the
chateau were a period of parties, of entertaining and
being entertained. Her generosity in sharing the house
resulted in her receiving a "Woman of the Year"
award from the city of Hillsborough. Sadly, when the
Countess died in 1973, the Chateau was in greater risk
of demolition than ever before. The Countess left the
Chateau and its remaining 5.83 acres to the town of
Hillsborough to be used as a French and Italian musical,
artistic and literary cultural center. The city fathers
ruled out any such use, saying they could not afford
to pay the necessary maintenance expenses, and sold
the building.
Oil and real estate heiress Roz Franks bought the Chateau
in 1976 for $313,000, but lost title three years later
to land developer George Benny in a legal battle. Benny
in turn lost the property when he was indicted on racketeering
charges in 1982. Robert Clayton offered to spend $10,000,000
to remodel the Chateau and use it as a corporate think
tank, but the Hillsborough city fathers turned down
the proposal on zoning grounds. In 1986 an Environmental
Impact Report was conducted for a proposal to further
subdivide the parcel and build additional homes thereon.
Historically the Carolands Chateau has been known variously
as: Carolands, Chateau Remillard, or simply the Chateau.
In 1939, the U.S. Government evaluated the purchase
of the Carolands Chateau to be used as a Western White
House. In 1985, David Allen Raley, a security guard,
kidnapped, tortured, and sexually assaulted two teenage
girls after giving them a private tour of the mansion,
killing one.
Design features
The Chateau's height exceeds 80 feet and presents a
square shape, with four different chateau-like facades.
A total of 98 rooms are enclosed by the four-and-one-half
story Chateau. The building footprint occupies more
than three-fourths of an acre and is surrounded on three
sides by a dry moat. The basic construction of the Caroland
Chateau is reinforced masonry.
The ground level houses the immense atrium, which rises
the entire height of the building. There is a grand
central staircase, which rises from the ground floor
to reach the principal or second level. Also housed
on the ground floor are a series of inconspicuous service
rooms (kitchen, laundry, boiler), a walk-in silver vault,
a pastry room, as well as a room originally dedicated
to the cutting of flowers.
The principal level above contains large rooms primarily
intended for entertaining: a ballroom (including a stage
and puppet theatre), a 'State' dining room, and a library
(allegedly designed to exceed the dimensions of the
Vanderbilt library at Biltmore). The third level is
divided into seven bedroom suites, including two suites
originally occupied by Harriet and Francis Carolan.
Sandwiched between levels two and three is a hidden
mezzanine, featuring walk-in dressing rooms and a built-in
jewelry safe. The fourth level includes servants' rooms,
minor guest bedrooms, and the rotunda. The fifth level
comprises the light chamber over the entranceway. The
Countess Dandini, who professed a fondness for orchids,
used the glass-enclosed room as a greenhouse.
 Current
status
The Carolands Chateau remains a private single family
residence on 5.83 acres, and has undergone an extensive
restoration since 1998.
Many of the homes of present-day Hillsborough —
which, along with Belvedere and Atherton, is one of
the wealthiest suburbs of San Francisco — were
carved out of the former Carolands estate.
The feature-length documentary film entitled "Three
Women and a Chateau" tells the nearly 100-year
history of the chateau. In 2006 the documentary had
its world premier at the Santa Barbara International
Film Festival and was featured in seven other film festivals,
winning Best Documentary (Grand Jury Award) at the Rhode
Island International Film Festival.
Bibliography
. California Department of Parks and Recreation,
California Historical Landmarks (1981)
. California State Historic Building Code, California
Senate Bill no. 2321, September, 1984
. C. Michael Hogan, Steven Wanat et al., Environmental
Impact Report for the Poposed Nine Unit Subdivision
at 565 Remillard Drive (Carolands Chateau Site), Hillsborough,
prepared for the town of Hillsborough by Earth Metrics
Inc, Burlingame, CA, January 15, 1986
. Chet Rhodes, The Doomed Chateau, San Francisco Chronicle,
July, 1985
. John Horgan, Carolands Chateau may be Razed, Peninsula
Times, June, 1985
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