Book excerpt: "Austin Val Verde, situated on seventeen and a half acres, is one of the few great early twentieth-century Southern California estates to have been preserved. It is a pivotal work in the career of the famous American architect Bertram Goodhue (1869-1924). Its celebrated and extensive gardens are the masterpiece of Lockwood de Forest Jr. (1896-1949), one of the most important landscape architects to have worked in Southern California. For three decades, Austin Val Verde housed one of the finest private collections of Greek and Roman sculpture, and for many years a number of celebrities from the worlds of film, stage, music, literature, and art visited or stayed at the estate. Although Austin Val Verde has been included in a number of survey publications on major estates and gardens, this is the first book that focuses on its beautiful mansion and grounds."--BOOK JACKET.