By Shari Kaplan
The San Jose Symphony Auxiliary's 19th annual Designer Showcase, which opens May 11, features tours through a 6,000-square-foot, custom-designed house located in San Jose's Almaden Valley.
The two-story house includes more than 25 rooms whose ambiance was created by numerous local interior designers and decorators, many of them from Los Gatos. The emphasis of this year's show is on the beauty and history of the house and its Almaden Valley environs, where cinnabar (now called quicksilver or mercury) was mined from the nearby hills.
Included among the areas being decorated for the tour are the library, landing, staircase, kitchen, pantry, several bedrooms and bathrooms, dining room, children's rooms and even a laundry room and walk-in closet.
Visitors passing through the terraced front yard and outside entrance to the house will notice decor by SueLynn Estby of Natural Creations. Through the French doors of the airy family room, which is decked out by William Shean of C'Est Bon, visitors can wander outside to see the creative touches Jack C. Senteney of JADE has put on the gazebo, backyard and swimming pool area.
Fashion shows are scheduled throughout the run of the Showcase during luncheons held at the Almaden Valley Country Club. Custom Hats by Linda Maynard, a Los Gatos home-based business, is the fashion feature May 14-17. Vida, a downtown Los Gatos boutique, presents "The Latest in Fashions" on May 18 and 25 and June 1. Dresses, gowns and shoes from Fancy Feet Boutique, also located in Los Gatos, will be modeled May 28-31.
As an opening gala, a "Fiesta Elegancia de los Rancho San Vicente y Almaden" takes place May 9 at the Almaden Valley Country Club, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 6 p.m., followed by cocktails and dinner. Cost is $75 per person, reservations required. Rancho San Vicente comprises more than 4,000 acres of land granted by Mexican Governor Alvarado to Jose de Los Reyes Berryessa in 1842. Included in the grant were many of New Almaden's quicksilver fields.
Among the San Jose Symphony executive board members from Los Gatos and Monte Sereno are Chris Davison, parliamentarian; Kay Eshleman, co-president; Nancy Fash, historian; Carol Mardesich, treasurer; and Jane Robertson, budget. Other local residents and auxiliary members assisting with the Showcase are Dorothy Creffield, Mary Anne Foley, Audrey Haines, Mariette Kennedy, Ellen Orlady and Beryl Rodenbaugh.
Symphony Showcase 1996 runs May 11 through June 9. Hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday, with extended hours on Thursday nights. Admission is $15, with proceeds benefiting the San Jose Symphony; group rates and after-hours parties are available. Visitors may park and ride a shuttle bus at the lot at Almaden Expressway and Camden Avenue. For more information, call 354-0773.
This article appeared in the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, May 1, 1996.
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