Paramour Estate Wedding Photographer
A 1923 hillside villa above Silver Lake, a marble pool in the courtyard, and a room that has been marrying people since 1954.
Crestmount, then a convent, then this
The Paramour Estate — officially the Canfield-Moreno Estate, originally called Crestmount — stands at 1923 Micheltorena Street, high on the Silver Lake hillside. It was commissioned in 1918, finished in 1923, and designed by Robert D. Farquhar for the oil heiress Daisy Canfield, who lived there with the silent-film star Antonio Moreno. It is Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument No. 391.
Its second life is the reason it feels the way it does. The estate was deeded as a home for girls in 1929, and in 1953 became the Immaculate Conception Home for Girls; in 1954 the Sisters consecrated the grand living room as a chapel. Weddings have happened in that room, on and off, for seventy years. Dana Hollister bought the property in 1998 and reopened it as the Paramour.
A note before you plan: the estate’s own descriptions call it Spanish Mediterranean in one document and a Beaux Arts-inspired 1920s villa in another, and third-party sources say Mediterranean Revival. It is genuinely hard to file, which is part of the appeal — it does not photograph like anywhere else in Los Angeles.
Four rooms, four different films
Dimensions and capacities below are the estate’s own published figures from its private events kit.
150 guests
105 by 40 feet, built around the original hand-tiled marble pool — 66 feet by 19 — with a three-storey brick turret on one side, Italian cypress, and downtown Los Angeles in the distance.
150 guests
50 by 25 feet under a 25-foot hand-stencilled wood-beam ceiling, with a nineteenth-century marble fire surround and one tall arched window onto the grounds. Dark, and worth lighting properly.
200 guests
Reached down a run of palace steps and ringed by century-old Tipu trees, terraces and fountains, with a view toward the Hollywood sign. At 45 feet square it is smaller than the capacity suggests — think cocktails and ceremony rather than a seated 200.
25 guests
Under 500 square feet, with a nineteenth-century Venetian blown-glass chandelier and gilded statuary. The room for the private vows, the signing, or the ten minutes before the doors open.
Getting ready
Gate House, Corner Cottage and Coach House sit as separate cottages with their own courtyards, plus six suites and guest rooms. None is branded a bridal suite; couples use whichever suits.
How it runs
Outside catering from a preferred-vendor list. There is no all-inclusive package here, which means more control and more coordination than a hotel would ask of you.
Indoors, by candlelight. The estate takes a non-traditional wedding better than almost anywhere in the city.
What this property asks of a photographer
The interiors are dark on purpose
A 25-foot stencilled ceiling, one arched window and a nineteenth-century fire surround make a beautiful room and a difficult exposure. I light these rooms to keep the candlelight reading as candlelight — enough to hold detail in the ceiling, not so much that it turns into a flat white box.
The lawn is smaller than the number
Forty-five feet square is a courtyard, not a field. It changes where a ceremony aisle can go and how far back I can stand for the wide frame, and it is worth walking with your planner rather than assuming from a capacity chart.
Two views, opposite directions
Downtown from the Courtyard, the Hollywood sign from the Great Lawn. You cannot have both in one frame, so pick which one you want behind you for the ceremony and use the other for portraits.
Stairs, turret, cypress, pool
The estate is full of frames that do not need people posed in them: the palace steps, the three-storey turret, the Italian cypress, the marble pool. Ten minutes of that between courses gives the gallery its architecture.
The Paramour, practically
Where is the Paramour Estate?
1923 Micheltorena Street, Los Angeles 90039, on the Silver Lake hillside near Sunset Junction. The estate is also known as the Canfield-Moreno Estate and is Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument No. 391.
How many guests can it hold?
The estate publishes 150 in the Courtyard, 150 in the Ballroom, 200 on the Great Lawn and 25 in the Salon. The Great Lawn is only 45 feet square, so treat 200 as a standing figure rather than a seated one.
Is catering included?
No. You bring a caterer from the estate’s preferred-vendor list. There is no all-inclusive package.
Can we stay on site?
There are nine rooms across the main house and three separate cottages. Note that the estate’s own policies say photography and video shoots are not included in an overnight stay and must be arranged in advance for a fee — so booking a room does not, by itself, buy you a portrait session.
How late can the music go?
The estate publishes no event curfew that I could find. It sits on a residential hillside subject to the city noise ordinance, so assume a hard outdoor cut-off and get the number in writing before you book a band.
What is the best time of day for portraits?
Late. The Courtyard faces roughly toward downtown and the Great Lawn toward the Hollywood sign, so the lawn backlights beautifully in the last hour while the Courtyard is at its best earlier. The interiors are candle-and-chandelier rooms and only improve after dark.
More of Los Angeles
Getting married on the hill?
Send me your date and I will come back with a plan for the dark rooms and the two views.