Villa Vizcaya
A trumped-up pastiche it may be, but Villa Vizcaya is undeniably grand and glorious, with the authentic feel of a 16th-century Italian palace. Which is exactly what its makers, industrial magnate James Deering, designer Paul Chalfin, and architect F. Burrall Hoffman, intended when they built it in the early 1900s. Embodying a 400-year range of styles, both the genuine and ersatz have been skillfully assembled to evoke another culture, another continent, and another age.
- 3251 South Miami Ave
- Tel: 305 250 9133
- www.vizcayamuseum.org
- 9:30am–4:30pm daily
- House closes at 5pm, gardens at 5:30pm
- Closed Christmas Day
- Adm $12; children 6–12 $5; 5 & under free
The villa’s gardens, will probably give you the greatest pleasure. The many splashing fountains of gracefully carved stone, statuary, and cleverly laid-out formal plantings offer myriad harmonious and ever-changing vistas. The Secret Garden conceals the greatest artistry
This portico frames magnificent views of the sea and of the quaint breakwater known as the Barge. Carved in the shape of a large ship, it provides a perfect foreground to Key Biscayne, lying off the coast.
The room includes a 2,000-year-old marble Roman tripod, a 15th-century Hispano-Moresque rug, a tapestry depicting the Labors of Hercules , and a Neapolitan altar screen.
All flowers and fluff, the room is graced with an exquisite Italian harpsichord from 1619, a dulcimer, and a harp.
Four massive ceramic Chinese Foo dogs guard the steps that ascend to what is probably the most bombastic room in the house.
Few bathrooms in the world are more ornate than this marble, silver, and gilded affair. The bathtub was designed to run either fresh- or salt-water from the Bay of Biscayne.
Another echo of the antique Italian taste, featuring a 2,000-year-old Roman table, a pair of 16th-century tapestries, and a full set of 17th-century chairs.
The assemblage is a mix of styles, but the overall look is of a salon under the 18th-century French King Louis XV. The tinted plaster ceiling is from the Rossi Palace in Venice.
Though still 18th-century, the mood is considerably more sober in these rooms, which are in the English Neoclassical style, inspired by the work of Robert Adam.
In imitation of Italian Renaissance and Baroque architects, who were in turn imitating ancient Roman styles, this pool extends under the house and resembles a natural cave or sea grotto.
Money was no object for industrialist James Deering. He wanted his winter residence to provide a sense of family history as well as luxury. Thus he bought up bits of European pomp, shipped them over, and reassembled them on this ideal spot by the sea.