Madrona opens in Healdsburg

While Oscar Wilde is perhaps best known for his embrace of excess, he once said of beauty: “Beauty is a form of genius—indeed higher than Genius, because it needs no explanation. It is one of the great truths in the world, like sunlight, or separation Spring, or the reflection in the dark waters of that silver crust we call the moon.” Jay Jeffers, designer and co-owner of The Madrona, which just opened on April 22, has linked his carriage to this aesthetic star — more accurately, to the aesthetic movement through which the long-beloved mansion was born. This time period served as the downward weight of the (outer) Victorian funnel.

This 24-room lodge on eight lush acres took on its last incarnation in recent years, until Jeffers and his business partner/owner Cory Schishler went to see the property, with their curiosity in check. . After all, while Schisler opened 16 hotels, first with Viceroy and then as an independent consultant, he never owned any of them, and Jeffers’ career was solidified in residential design—in other words, they weren’t looking to buy a hotel motel. But their mood soon changed as they toured the property, and each found a deep echo with its structures, landscapes, and even some of the many artifacts left behind by previous owners, Bill and Trudy Conrad, including original pieces for the Paxton family, who were first built here in 1879. That property included over 80 acres, but the land was divided by second-generation Paxton. In 1981, John Harry Muir (apparently, he has nothing to do with the famous naturalist) called it “Madrona Manor”. The Conrad family, who bought it in 1999, made it a destination for fine dining with chef Jesse Malgren, who remains in the kitchen today.

Madrona takes his Victorian bones and thrusts into a lush saturation realm, with beautiful views, inside and out to the surrounding forest, in every visible setting. While the Victorian restoration would have been equally appropriate, it would have been first and very appropriate for Jeffers’ vision, which elevates elegance and extravagance in surprisingly harmonious ways. If the aesthetic movement is Jeffers’ design inspiration, twenty-first century hedonism is its new look—not redundant kind but encapsulated fun.

No detail has been left unchecked, from vintage vintage-inspired upholstery fabrics inspired by William Morris to whimsical lighting fixtures to the art salon, curated by San Francisco’s Dolby Chadwick Gallery (everything you see hanging on the walls is available for purchase). Each room is unique, with nods to the past and present. A stroll around the property with Jeffers and Schizler revealed stories that would take time to provoke the most brooding visitor: Jeffers first thought he wanted all the walls to be white, perhaps as a reaction to the palace darkness like he first encountered. A friend designed one wall of the Carriage House, once a horse barn, from dyed cowhide cut into a mosaic pattern to commemorate its history and bring it to the present; With a stroke of Leonard Cohen’s genius, Jeffers filled cracks in one room’s green floor tiles with gold leaf paint. No symmetric match occurs here.

Schisler discussed budget challenges for Jeffers, a designer who used to work on residential projects where money is usually no object. But there is absolutely no evidence that luxury is cut corners. The spacious, high-ceilinged rooms have, as you’d expect, all amenities, including plush toiletries from Farmington Estates (think botanical ingredients like mango seed butter, holy basil, sea buckthorn, and wild sage) and plush alpaca throw blankets by Alicia Adams — and a serene ambiance. Elusive California Wine Country has become, all with different types of scenery, from jungle to vineyards to distant mountains.

A stroll through the citrus grove in spring is the perfect introduction to the place, with the scent of orange blossoms in the air, ending around the pool into the quarter-acre vegetable garden and ending at Mallgren’s table over a freshly harvested salad and some oysters or salmon crudo. Food and Drink Director Ashley Luna’s old-fashioned spirits program began with a pour of pre-Chernobyl vodkas, retro amari, and other exotic delights. Oscar Wilde is sure to find himself at home here.

Meanwhile, we the living can participate in this glorious evolution of this beloved Sonoma teacher.