View of the Flintridge Biltmore Hotel, signed lower right: Granville Redmond, oil on canvas, 24'' H x 20'' W, est: $50,000/70,000
Note: Originally named the Flintridge Hotel, the resort in the present painting opened in 1927 and was designed by noted Southern California architect Myron Hunt. The hotel was built and managed by Senator Frank P. Flint for a short time before it was sold to the Biltmore Hotel chain. The hotel struggled to attract guests to the secluded hilltop location and shortly after the onset of the Great Depression, the hotel closed. In 1931 the entire resort, which comprised nine original buildings, hotel furnishings, and surrounding land, was sold at auction for $150,000 to the Dominican Sisters of Mission San Jose for use as a school. Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy opened in September 1931 with 200 students enrolled in grades one through 12 and today is a young women's college preparatory high school.
Redmond captures the remoteness of the hotel's location in the present work, painting from an extremely low vantage point looking up toward the buildings. He painstakingly paints the scattered oak trees and low mountain brush in a naturalistic palette of greens and browns. The building, upper mountain ridge and sky explode with bright sunshine in contrast to the shadowed foreground. This poetic composition reveals the artist's deep love of the Southern California landscape .

Visual: Generally good condition. Blacklight: A possible small area of restoration along the upper roof line of the building.