Doris Duke, the wildly rich tobacco heiress, was just 22 when she got married to James Cromwell in 1935. As newlyweds they traveled through the Far East and when they reached Honolulu Doris Duke’s architectural taste has been permanently altered. From the NY Times:
They had planned to build a Mughal-style newlywed wing on the grounds of the estate of Mr. Cromwell’s mother in Palm Beach, Florida; [but] it morphed into a five-acre Islamic flight of fantasy on Oahu, at the base of Diamond Head on the Pacific. For the next six decades, Ms. Duke poured passion and millions of dollars into the 14,000-square-foot white rectangular structure of modernity and magic that she called Shangri La.
Cecil Beaton, who photographed Shangri La several times called it a “really fabulous Arabian Nights dream Persian house.” You can see here it really was. Her foundation just completed a restoration of the house and grounds and have opened her private bedroom wing, much as it was when she was in residence there for 7+ decades. Why would you ever want to leave?
