Imogen Calderwood
HOLLYWOOD has come calling for a Sevilla businessman, who has built his own spectacular Alhambra-style home from scratch.
The 68-year-old draper, Jose Luis Romero, crafted his Mudejar-style home, in Sevilla, over 12 years, with just the help of a few stonemason friends.
Now, the Olive Press can reveal, that a Hollywood starlet is so impressed with the elaborate construction that he has invited Romero to America to build his own home.
Nicknamed ‘the last Moorish palace of Andalucia’, the house is built in the same style as the famous Alhambra Palace in Granada.
“I did not expect the house to be so widely admired,” said the self-taught architect, who has spent decades studying the Moorish design.
Romero visited the palace an incredible 170 times while creating his home – christened the ‘Carmen de los Arrayanes’ – to stay faithful to the style.
Romero handcrafted more than a hundred different silicone models to create the intricate plasterwork that lines the walls.
Since last October the house has seen more than 1,700 visitors – most of whom are fellow architects, school groups, journalists and wedding parties.
Romero, who has never set foot on a plane, is set to head to Los Angeles next month.
He refused to be drawn on the ‘star’, who he has not yet met.
