Kids & Family
Local Gilder Assists The Beverly Hills Hotel Restoration
Palm Desert Resident Bret Fiore spent six-weeks assisting the hotel in a project to renovate and decorate its lobby.
Earlier this month, The Beverly Hills Hotel, Sunset Boulevard’s famous luxury hideaway, celebrated 100 years since its opening and unveiled the restoration of the hotel’s beloved lobby, showcasing a beautiful banana leaf center medallion crafted of limestone and a newly gilded ceiling of gold. Local resident, Brett Fiore, was a major part of the hotel lobby’s restoration efforts.
Fiore was subcontracted by the hotel to start work in mid-May on a project to renovate the lobby, which is first stage of the hotel’s compete renovation plans that will be completed in stages throughout the next two years.
“Out of all the places in the country, it is pretty fascinating that they subcontracted a gilder from Palm Desert,” said Fiore, who owns a local business, Signature Sculpture, and also holds the Public Arts and Maintenance contract with the City of Palm Desert.
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Gilding is a decorative technique of applying fine gold leaf to surfaces.
Fiore and his affiliates worked around the clock, creating 30,000 leaves of 12-karat gold, and then embarked on the meticulous process of gilding these 3” by 3” leaves to six interior dome ceilings of the hotel.
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“Hotel guests watched us in the lobby, and appreciated being able to be a part of the process, some guests commented that it was like an interactive art,” said Fiore.
The project was completed in six weeks, in time for the hotel’s centennial celebration, where many guests and celebrities gathered in honor of the anniversary.
