PARADISE REVEALED HAWAIIAN HIDE-OUT OF DORIS DUKE BRIMS WITH THE ART OF ISLAM.

Byline: Eric Noland Travel Editor

HONOLULU - Barely out of her teens, she became simultaneously fascinated by the exotic art of the Islamic world and the sublime serenity of Hawaii.

She was able to indulge both passions freely. You undoubtedly would have, too, if you'd received a $30 million inheritance - in Depression-era dollars - by your 30th birthday.

Doris Duke, the only daughter of a tobacco and hydroelectric tycoon, preferred the gentle, tropical caress of Hawaii to the high-society whirl of America's East Coast. And her oceanfront estate on the back side of Oahu's Diamond Head landmark - she called it Shangri La - became a refuge for this intensely private, occasionally eccentric woman whose riches certainly didn't shield her from trouble in life.

After she died in 1993 at age 80 (fittingly, perhaps, in the Beverly Hills mansion that was once Rudolph Valentino's Falcon Lair), Duke's will stipulated that the door of her mysterious island retreat be nudged open for the public.

Small tours have been conducted for a little over a year now, and what sights visitors behold after they cross the threshold.

Duke became fascinated with Islamic art and furnishings while on a honeymoon trip through the Middle East and Central Asia in 1935. She had this home built on five acres a short time later - opting for an architectural theme that could be described as Ali Baba's hideaway - and then spent the rest of her life meticulously outfitting it, authorizing costly renovations every time she acquired cumbersome new elements.

An entire wall of windows in the living room descends into the basement at the touch of a button. A lanai off the dining room affords a breathtaking view of the ocean and Diamond Head, while also overlooking a private boat anchorage. The dining room itself is done in the motif of an elaborate desert tent, its colors now resplendent following a recent restoration.

If you get puzzled while conducting a mental inventory of the floor plan, be assured you didn't miss something. ``It's a 14,000-square-foot house,'' said our guide, Paul Carry, pausing for effect. ``With two bedrooms.''

The exotic, geometric designs of mosaics and tapestries greet the visitor at every turn, notably at the home's most celebrated feature, a 13th-century Iranian mihrab.

Mihrabs are prayer niches that are intended to point Muslims toward Mecca for prayer, but in Hawaii that would be northwest. This one faces east. It's an issue guides are asked about endlessly: No, Duke never came to embrace Islamic faith; she was simply intrigued by the aesthetics of its art.

Outside are lush gardens, fountains and a 25-yard competition-style pool, complete with lane stripes. Stone steps descend to the ocean.

Photos from the late 1930s show a young woman frolicking about these inviting digs in casual togs, inevitably barefoot, tanned and smiling, her blond hair glowing in the sun. It's eerie, but she bears a vague resemblance to Patty Hearst.

How appropriate, for Shangri La is Hawaii's answer to Hearst Castle. With a notable exception: Here, the art, artifacts, textiles and furnishings are integrated in a single theme, whereas William Randolph Hearst's manse in San Simeon holds a convoluted hodgepodge of unrelated items, jammed together as if art exists solely for the sake of accumulation.

Duke clearly indulged her passion with great care, yet Shangri La is by no means a museum. She collected historic objects and commissioned other works, then displayed them according to how they pleased her eye, rather than using a room to pay homage to a particular era or even country.

The tile panels, rugs, doors, screens, paintings and architectural elements - 3,500 objects in all - may be separated by hundreds of years and span geographically from the Moors of Spain to the Mughals of India, but the Islamic thread runs throughout.

After we entered the foyer through an utterly unpretentious front door, Carry pointed out the carved plaster windows with brilliantly colored glass. During cloudy periods here in the South Pacific, incandescent lights showcase the colors, but when the sun comes out, the electric lights dim automatically and get out of the way of the sunshine, which causes the glass to gleam like jewels.

A stairway descends to a central, open-air courtyard - popular in the ancient Middle East. Duke, who referred to this site as ``pure Persia,'' had a particular fondness for ceramics, and they're in their glory here. Cobalt blue, turquoise, green, yellow. During our visit, the colors were nicely complemented by the yellow blossoms of the golden shower tree at the center of the courtyard.

The beauty of this confluence was so exquisite that I only tuned in for bits of Carry's learned commentary: ``... 13th-century molded ceramics by the stairs ... predominance of these large panels from the 17th century ... huge, contemporary mosaic ...''

In the living room, we gazed in wonder at the oldest pieces in the collection, Persian vessels with a simple, monochrome blue glaze, circa eight to 11th century. These were used to hold water, wine or oil, we were told.

The Turkish Room holds a mid-19th-century interior, purchased as one from a dealer and reassembled here. It's actually from Damascus, Syria, but ``she already had a Damascus Room,'' Carry said drolly.

The latter room and several others are being restored and may eventually be added to the tour, said Shangri La executive director Deborah Pope. She added, ``People really want to see that (master) bedroom.''

In the meantime, Pope said, some special-focus tours are being considered - the estate by night, perhaps, or the grounds and gardens - and maybe the occasional poetry reading.

On the current tour, amid all the elaborate decorative wood panels and gleaming ceramics, you might be struck, as I was, by the incongruity of all of this.

Hawaii is a place of extraordinary natural beauty, such that a homeowner seeking artistic expression need only install a large pane of glass - there to frame an ocean scene, a mountain or a tangle of jungle greenery, entwined with wild-growing blossoms. The climate is also so mild that the most comfortable homes allow sunlight and breezes to wash freely through them.

Many of Shangri La's dark interiors, by contrast, seal out Hawaii's elements, while its elaborate ornamentation clashes with the island's natural sights.

But Duke clearly wasn't seeking public or social validation when she designed this place. For her, this was a refuge, a place to gather about her items of artistic beauty and hide away from the world.

Despite the wealth, her life was a troubled one. Her father, James Buchanan Duke, who founded the American Tobacco Co. in an era when it was socially acceptable to smoke, died when Doris was one month shy of her 13th birthday.

Her first marriage, which she entered into at age 22, ended after only a few years, amid her complaints that her husband's demands for money were ``constant.'' Her second marriage, to a Latin playboy, lasted only a year. A band leader later insisted she'd secretly married him as No. 3 - the allegation was contained in his suit for divorce, which sought a settlement.

Acts of eccentricity were legion: adopting, at age 76, a 35-year-old Hare Krishna devotee, then disowning the woman and referring to the episode as a colossal ``mistake''; posting $5 million bail for Philippine first lady Imelda Marcos; naming her pony-tailed butler as executor of her $1.2 billion estate (the lawyers undid that in a hurry); leaving $100,000 in her will to her dogs.

``A lot of people come to Shangri La having read trashy tabloid accounts, many of which are simply falsehoods,'' Carry said. ``... One of the myths is that she was this cold-hearted person who didn't give ordinary people the time of day. It just wasn't true.'' The offspring of craftsmen who worked on the house, he said, have returned with stories of Duke interacting easily with the workers, bringing them drinks, inviting them in out of the heat.

She is also believed to have quietly contributed half a billion dollars to charity during her lifetime. And her will stipulated that her Islamic art be shared with scholars and students, and that Shangri La be opened to the public.

Members of the tours invariably gasp when they walk from the dining room onto the lanai, which provides a sweeping view of the ocean and Diamond Head.

They inevitably engage in a little real-estate envy as they survey the terraced fountain that tumbles down to the pool, overlooked by that shuttered bedroom suite.

Doris Duke certainly chose well. Shangri La might be the finest place money and tears could buy.

Eric Noland, [phone]

eric.noland(at)dailynews.com

IF YOU GO

TOURS: Guided tours of Shangri La, limited to 12 people, are offered Wednesday through Saturday, with the first tour beginning at 8:30 a.m. and the last at 1:30 p.m. To reduce traffic in the residential neighborhood where the home is located, tour patrons meet at the Honolulu Academy of Arts downtown (900 S. Beretania St.) and are shuttled to the estate in vans. A comprehensive video on Doris Duke's life (the sordid details are left out) is aired before the departure to the estate. Allow 2 1/2 hours for the entire process, about 90 minutes of which will be spent at Shangri La.

COST: The tour costs $25, which includes admission to the outstanding Honolulu Academy of Arts. The tour is not appropriate for children under age 12. Advance reservations required - and because of the tour's popularity, it's a good idea to book your tour a few weeks before you leave the mainland. Shangri La is closed to the public during the month of September and on select holidays.

LUNCH TIP: Specify one of the late-morning tours so that you arrive back at the Honolulu Academy at midday or in the early afternoon - in time for lunch at the academy's excellent Pavilion Cafe, which occupies an interior patio. You might want to make a reservation before departing for Shangri La, though.

INFORMATION, TICKETS: [phone]; www.honoluluacademy.org.

CAPTION(S):

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Photo:

(1 -- 3 -- color) From the fountains and pools of Doris Duke's Shangri La estate on Oahu, top, visitors are treated to a matchless view of the back side of Diamond Head. Guided tours illuminate the late heiress' passion for Islamic art, expressed in the elaborate Turkish Room, above, and a 17-century Iranian tile panel in the central courtyard, above left.

Eric Noland/Travel Editor

David Franzen/Doris Duke Foundation

(4 -- 5) The Hawaiian estate of the late heiress Doris Duke, right, contains an Islamic art collection like no other, and tour guide Paul Carry, above left, places it all in context for visitors.

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IF YOU GO (see text)