MAISON&OBJET Americas
Issue link: http://digital.greengale.com/i/503691
In 1891, JulIa TuTTle, Miami's first real estate developer, bought 600 acres of raw land in what would eventually become the core of downtown Miami. She knew the area needed the boost that a major piece of architecture would provide, and fve years later Tuttle enticed Henry Flagler, the railroad tycoon and hote- lier, to bring his Florida east Coast Railway south from Palm Beach and build the Royal Palm Hotel, a Gilded age wonder. In the late 19th century, Miami was still new, a city without the burdens of the past and free from the social self-consciousness of its neighbor to the north, Palm Beach. It was the ideal destination for rich pio- neers with an adventurous and playful spirit. In that era, other american cities were already developing the problems of urban living, but Miami was inspired by the paradisiacal nature of the tropics and remained a haven for pleasure. Most of its wealthy residents were exiles from more sober american cities; both Tuttle and Flagler, for instance, had come from Cleveland. From the beginning, Miami was defned by the exoticism of endless sunshine, Biscayne Bay, the ocean, and the everglades. Its leaders did not believe in living modestly, and they refected Miami's natural world in equally extravagant architecture and design. The city's wealthy residents wanted their architectural spectacles to be seen and admired (as they cast a covet- ous eye on the wonders built by their neighbors). This Gilded age sensibility is ingrained in Miami's architec- tural Dna, as seen in Morris lapidus's Fontainebleau Hotel, built in the 1950s, and the "starchitecture" of today. One of Miami's early moneyed visitors, James Deering, co-owner of the International Harvester Corporation, decided to build his own playhouse for plutocrats, the circa 1916 Villa Vizcaya. The 70-room palace on 180 acres, still Miami's most beautiful estate, was the frst Mediterranean revival mansion in South Florida, an architectural style that would become the rage in the building boom of the 1920s. Deering modeled Vizcaya on the Venetian palazzo Ca' Rezzonico, and his interior decorator, Paul Chalfn, created a masterpiece of fantasy design. brilliant: Te Magic of Miami How a rich architectural legacy helped make the city a center for art and design. by tom austin top row from left: The skycourt at 1983 Atlantic; 1111 Lincoln Road; the Fly's Eye Dome in the Palm Court. middle row from left: Faena Forum; the life- guard station at the Raleigh Hotel swimming pool; an architectural detail of the Fontainebleau Hotel. bottom row from left: The Biltmore Hotel; Pérez Art Museum Miami's hanging gardens; Park Central Hotel, an example of South Beach's Art Deco style. m a i s o n - o b j e t. c o m 75