Greystone Mansion & Gardens has traded its usual quiet elegance for thousands of fresh blooms arranged into life-size Gilded Age gowns, as the Beverly Hills estate hosts a floral exhibition inspired by HBO's hit period drama from Wednesday, Oct. 28 through Nov. 4. More than 15 elaborate floral installations fill the grounds, each one built by local designers out of fresh flowers shaped into mannequins meant to evoke the show's late-19th-century world of old money clashing with new money.
The exhibit comes from Fleurs de Villes, a global floral exhibition series that has partnered with HBO Max to bring the Emmy-nominated series into physical form, according to Thursd. Beverly Hills marks the fourth stop on a national tour that is bringing the show to six historic estates and gardens across the country, according to the City of Beverly Hills. Floral designs on display draw from specific characters, including the bold, aspirational gowns of Bertha Russell, the refined sophistication of Agnes van Rhijn, the understated elegance of Marian Brook and the modern perspective of Peggy Scott, per the city's announcement.
Thousands of Flowers, One Beverly Hills Icon
Local floral designers used thousands of fresh flowers to build the life-size mannequins, as reported by Variety. General admission starts at $34 before fees, and the exhibition is open daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., the outlet noted. Because Greystone has no on-site parking, admission includes a complimentary shuttle from the Crescent Drive Parking Garage, per the same report.
Visitors can vote for their favorite floral mannequin, watch live demonstrations from the designers behind the installations, and wander the grounds of the mansion itself, according to the city's announcement. That participatory format echoes how the touring exhibition has worked elsewhere, with each venue tailoring its floral works to its own historic setting, Thursd reports. Greystone itself has history to spare: the mansion was completed in 1928 for the Doheny family, and Beverly Hills purchased the estate in 1965 before dedicating it as a public park in 1971, according to the Beverly Press.
A Sunset Soiree for the 21-and-Up Crowd
For guests who want more than a daytime stroll through the gardens, there is a separately ticketed after-hours event called the Gilded Age at Sunset, scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 30. It includes exhibition access along with champagne, live music and charcuterie, according to Variety's reporting. The affair is restricted to guests 21 and older, per Fever.
New York Post writer Allison Dinner also toured the exhibit for a piece describing the lavish floral bash, offering a closer look at the installations transforming the Beverly Hills landmark, as detailed by the New York Post.
Timed to the Show's Return
The exhibition's run was planned around the fourth season of The Gilded Age, which is set to return Sunday, Nov. 1. Variety described the Nov. 1 date as falling midway through the Beverly Hills exhibition's run.
Beverly Hills is not the only estate to get the Fleurs de Villes treatment this fall. A version of the exhibition ran at Filoli in Northern California from Sept. 9 through Sept. 18, featuring 15 floral mannequins displayed throughout the historic house, according to Filoli. Another stop unfolded at Lynnewood Hall in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, from Sept. 25 through Oct. 4, where Philadelphia-based florists built 15 installations and the estate opened to the public for the first time in more than 80 years, according to the Lynnewood Hall Preservation Foundation. Adult admission there ran $30.50 for timed entry, per the foundation.
Rather than setting up in a standard convention center, the touring exhibition has instead chosen historic estates and gardens as its backdrop at every stop, a choice The Age of Grace says lets each location shape its own floral interpretation of the show. For Beverly Hills visitors, that means a chance to wander a nearly century-old Doheny-family mansion while Gilded Age gowns rendered entirely in flowers stand watch over the gardens through Nov. 4.
