Colorful Velvet Victorian Fantasy.

Occupant: Larry Flynt

Title: President

Company: Larry Flynt Productions Inc.

Designer: Santana Interiors

Style: Victorian

THE Victorian era was the height of prudishness, when all things sexual were harshly repressed. And that makes the inner sanctum of Larry Flynt the height of irony. America's most notorious pornographer has decorated his office in over-the-top Victorian style.

"In the Victorian age they also had pornography, but only for the privileged, who always had their leather-bound collections," says Flynt, in explaining his d[acute{e}]cor. "The difference is that now we have porn for the masses through video stores and bookstores."

High above the intersection of Wilshire and La Cienega boulevards, Flynt's lavish digs are covered from top to bottom with French Provincial and English antiques, Tiffany lamps and marble statues. The opulent theme is overwhelming from the moment one steps out of the elevator. The reception ball and long corridor leading to Flynt's office are lined with velvet couches, dragonfly lamps, and life-size reproductions of baroque paintings.

The real show pieces, however, are reserved for Flynt's roughly 2,000-square-foot private office, where numerous large, extremely comfortable couches and chairs, all in rich hues, are arranged around tables along the walls, with a velvet couch-and-chair set in the middle of the room.

"I am passionate about Victorian art because nothing expresses passion more directly to me," Flynt says.

Flynt has been collecting antiques for over 20 years, relying mostly on his own expertise to select pieces that capture his fancy. Although he admits that in the beginning he got burned once or twice by buying fake antiques, time and experience have taught him how to tell the real stuff from the imitations.

Flynt was closely involved in the design of the offices, though he had help from design firm Santana Interiors in South Pasadena.

"At first I was afraid it was a little too gaudy, a little over the top," says Flynt, seated behind an enormous 18th century English desk. "But people who have lived in Los Angeles for many years and came here have written me afterward that they have never seen anything as beautiful here in L.A. as this office."