As the Pasadena Showcase House of Design enters its 59th year, it’s returning to a familiar setting. The Potter Daniels Manor, the English Tudor Revival–style residence that hosted the 1975 and 1996 showcase houses, has been reimagined with 30 new interior and exterior spaces for the 2024 edition, which is now open until May 19.
The landmark mansion was built in 1902 by architect Joseph J. Blick for Gertrude Potter Daniels, who paid $15,000 for the shingle-style home. In 1905, Susanna Bransford Emery-Holmes—known as the Silver Queen thanks to the source of her late husband’s fortune—purchased the home and soon made it her own. In 1922, she spent $37,000 to have the Postle Company of Los Angeles, who also built the Pasadena Playhouse, remodel it into an English Tudor Revival–style mansion, giving it the regal exterior that remains today.
As one of the country’s oldest house and garden tours, the Pasadena Showcase House of Design benefits the Pasadena Showcase House for the Arts, an all-volunteer organization that contributes to arts and music nonprofits in Southern California. The event draws more than 25,000 guests each year and offers several dining spaces, including Roe Japanese Fusion, the Tudor Rose Bistro, and Wattle & Daub Tavern. The Shops at the Showcase offer an array of merchants, from handmade jewelry to artisanal chocolates, and are also home to the Shops’s Wine & Cheese Bar.
The designers worked with a color palette of Dunn-Edwards paints, and several chose to highlight the brand’s 2024 Color of the Year, a steely blue called Skipping Stones. Nods to Pasadena’s famous peacocks can be found throughout the designs, and many creators fearlessly brought in statement floors, enveloped their spaces with jewel tones, and added texture to ceilings. Others focused on bringing the beauty of the estate’s gardens and views inside with verdant murals, floral fabrics, and nature-inspired lighting.
Below, tour the inspiring rooms and outdoor spaces of the 2024 Pasadena Showcase House of Design.
