| Canfield-Moreno Estate | |
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| L.A. Historic-Cultural Monument #391 | |
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The Paramour Mansion during the 1930s
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| Location: | 1923 Micheltorena St. |
| Built/Founded: | 1923 |
| Architect: | Robert D. Farquhar |
| Architectural style(s): | Mediterranean Revival |
| Designated as LAHCM: | 1988[1] |
| Governing body: | private |
The Canfield-Moreno Estate, also known as The Paramour Mansion, or The Crestmount, is a historic residence and estate, and a present day recording studio, located in the Silver Lake district of Los Angeles, California. The estate is named after its original owners, and is a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument.
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The mansion is a 22,000-square-foot (2,000 m2) Mediterranean Revival architectural style country villa. It was designed by architect Robert D. Farquhar and built in 1923. When it was the opulent residence of silent film star Antonio Moreno and his wife and oil heiress, Daisy Canfield Danziger, it was the scene for lavish Sunday afternoon parties for members of high society and silent screen notables.[2]
On 23 February 1933, Daisy Canfield was returning from a party and died when her car plunged off Mulholland Drive. Since then, the 22-room estate has seen many incarnations, including the Chloe P. Canfield School for Girls. In 1950, it became a convent for Franciscan nuns. In the 1970's the Franciscan nuns ran a home for girls at the estate. They sold the property in 1987 after it was damaged by the Whittier Narrows earthquake.
In 1998, Dana Hollister, a philanthropist and civic patron, bought the property for $2.25 million and has since rented the mansion primarily to musicians. The alternative rock/ metal band Papa Roach recorded their fifth major album, The Paramour Sessions inspired by and entitled after the house. Papa Roach returned to the Paramour Mansion to record their sixth major album, Metamorphosis. My Chemical Romance recorded their third album, The Black Parade inside the mansion.
Other renowned artists like HIM, Gwen Stefani, Lucinda Williams, Fiona Apple, Sarah McLachlan, Colin James and Vic Chesnutt have also recorded in the mansion. Sting, Elton John, John Mayer, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Beck, and the Adaskin String Trio have played benefits on the grounds. The house has also been the set for the reality shows Rock Star: INXS, Rock Star: Supernova, Scream Queens, From G's to Gents, Rock of Love: Charm School, Charm School with Ricki Lake and MTV's The X Effect. It has been host to the 2000 Silver Lake Film Festival and set location for Halloween H20: 20 Years Later, Brothers & Sisters and Scream 3 as well as for Britney Spears' "My Prerogative", Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds' "If I had a Gun..." and R.E.M.'s "At My Most Beautiful" music videos. Season 2 of the Bad Girls Club spin-off Love Games: Bad Girls Need Love Too was filmed at the estate. The estate's interior was redressed and given a new updated look.
My Chemical Romance singer Gerard Way describes in the song Sleep a "night terror" he experienced while recording at the Paramour Mansion. He describes a feeling of being strangled, and says he couldn't wake up or move. He has also claimed in interviews that in his night terrors he saw Joan of Arc burning as well as his loved ones dying. During the band's stay at the house, they came across a painting of an angel above a fireplace. When a band member moved something, the painting was revealed to have a demon reaching for the angel's feet. Bassist Mikey Way became depressed whilst staying in the house so the band took the decision to remove him from the house. Drummer Bob Bryar also claimed that in the middle of the night, the bathtub in his bathroom would fill itself with water.
Papa Roach's vocalist, Jacoby Shaddix, has said that he went down to Daisy's gravesite to sit and write the band's popular single Forever and had help and inspiration from Daisy's ghost. Their drummer David Buckner also had some experiences there as well. "The whole property was completely f___ing haunted, and I saw it as a sanctioned opportunity for me to lose my mind—And I did exactly that. I was visited by inter-dimensional beings, had out-of-body sex with spirits from old Hollywood, learned how to see specters, and now know what it feels like to have a ghost walk through me. It’s a very enlightening and inspiring experience, and something to check off the list." he said. They claim that while recording the track Crash off the album, every time they'd get to the lines "I'm going to crash", the power went out.
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