Tiburcio Parrott
Tiburcio soon became close friends with his neighbors, the Beringers, and through them, was introduced to Albert Schroepfer, the architect. Schroepfer had built the
Niebaum mansion at Inglenook and
the Rhine house for the Beringers. He had also designed the Orpheum Theater in San Francisco.
Though his step-mother kept title to the property, perhaps doubting Tiburcio’s financial judgment, Tiburcio began to build a palatial residence of Schroepfer's design that
he named Miravalle, literally meaning "look valley". From fourth floor tower room or from the cupola two levels above Tiburcio, indeed, had a panoramic view
of the Napa Valley.
The home would be bigger than both the Niebaum and the Beringer residences, with its wraparound verandas, conservatory, and grand tower. In the massive front double
doors he put exquisite stained glass cupids and in the over-door glass he put his initials. On the first landing of his wide staircase he put the famous “Parrot” window,
which later in the 1980’s, Lorimar, in its TV production of Falcon Crest, insisted on calling a falcon. |
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