Tacomas Citizen Kane was Chester Thorne and his Xanadu was Thornewood, a Gothic replication designed and built in 1910 by the eccentric, almost Daliesque, Spokane architect Kirkland Cutter. Still very much standing on the shores of American Lake, the extreme landmark was constructed in concrete then clad in old brick and cut stone and finished on the interior with woodwork, carvings and whole rooms stripped from real English Downton abbeys that didnt survive the Edwardian period. Like William Randolph Hearsts castle in California, Thornewood was surrounded by acres of perfectly kept lawns and high formal gardens designed by the Olmsted Brothers. Of course the estate was used as a movie set several times, first in 1926 for the silent melodrama Eyes of the Totem and more recently the Stephan King horror story Rose Red. In the movie still shot of the convertible limo from Eyes of the Totem, the dude in the back seat is the murderer Philip La Rue played by Tom Santschi. Dont you wish you could see that long lost silent film shot entirely in and around Tacoma? Hum...
Posted on: Tue, 25 Nov 2014 01:36:49 +0000
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