History

The darl center

Unique /yu̇-ˈnēk/
Adjective: Being the only one of its kind.

When describing The Darl Center, one word that applies is unique. Imagine spending over 50 years collecting the things you love, you find beautiful, you receive as a gift from the most interesting people in the world.

Now find a location with such imagination, designed to impress, and give it 120 years to find its real purpose. Match that collection of memories, artifacts, love affairs and luck with architecture that inspires and surprises. Put this mixture in the care of a master showman and storyteller and you have The Darl Center.

Discover a life filled with adventure, travel, curiosity, and opportunity, be inspired to create, to collect and to love every day. The Darl Center is a visual feast, the table is set with wonders and a taste for life that few have tried. We always ask our guests the same question. If you wanted to display what your life collected, what would that look like?

ABOUT DARL

Darl Schaaff

Amidst these remarkable experiences, I cultivated a passion for collecting art and antiques, a journey that continues to enrich my life.

Our host Darl Schaaff grew up in a regular middle-class family, three sisters and a brother. The family did all those things families do. Dad worked, Mom raised the kids and managed the house. The kids were involved in sports, school and life. Darl was studying classical ballet. Nothing about his childhood was typical. Performing from the age of 7, discovering the good and the bad parts of being sexually active during my youth.

After running away at 16, life was then and always has been a series of chance encounters with people who provided inspiration and the remarkable gift of life well lived. After successful careers in Theater production, performing, business, world travel and intense love affairs, the creation of The Darl was the obvious choice, the next great adventure, where all the other things could come together and become the one great story of life.