One of the biggest surprises
Heather and I had on our trip to Florida and Nassau was definitely
Vizcaya in Miami, the James Deering estate; we were blown away!
The designing and building of Vizcaya was a labor of love for Deering, which he did with the aide of Elsie de Wolfe's protege, Paul Chalfin. Chalfin was the driving force and visionary behind the entire estate, and indeed, it was his one masterpiece which he worked on for decades.
Chalfin envisioned the estate as an Italian Villa due in part to the fad with Italian design from Edith Whartons
Italian Villas and Gardens which was ideal for the climate. In fact, he convinced Deering to abandon his plans for a more conventional Spanish styled villa.
I'll start with the gardens, as I promised
Sandra, and hopefully they'll begin to give you a peek into this magnificent estate.
Construction was started in 1914 on the house with completion in 1917 but the gardens weren't complete until shortly before Deering's death in 1925. Sadly, much of this work was ruined in the major hurricane of 1926 but Deering's family, who had inherited the estate, hired Chalfin to patch up the damage.
Chalfin opened a studio in NYC with a staff of architects, craftsmen and drafters, funded by Deering, which designed many aspects of Vizcaya (and other projects he took on) such as these lanterns above which dot the estate. The colors blue and yellow become a theme throughout the estate and hark to a Venetian scheme.
The photos above (and the main estate plan) show the entry from the northwest (bottom left of the map) through an original hammock (hardwood forest) which was important to Deering to preserve. This forest now acts as a barrier from the surrounding neighborhood and harbors a lot of wild life, like the little lizard seen on the pergola above!
The first glimpse of the main house, above, is after reaching a statue-filled, round entry court (entrance seen in the 3rd photo above) and then down a drive flanked by walkways with fountains leading you down to the house.
This trickling water, neccesary to every Italian styled garden, also connects you to Biscayne Bay on the other side of the house.
Magnificent statues of the local coral limestone are abundant.
Above you see the arrival court from the house, looking back up the drive towards the entry court. In Deering's time, this green patch surrounding the pond was heavily planted, as was much of the estate.
This really is the back of the main house, as it fronts both Biscayne Bay and the main southern gardens (which we'll explore in my next post).
Notice the continuation of blue and yellow in the curtains and awnings. Originally, the center of the house was completely open and these curtains provided shade and protection from the elements. It was glassed in for preservation in the 1980s.
The stucco has a pink tint with the local grey stone providing an accent. I love the texture of this stone and the little pockets provide places for greenery to sprout; Probably not the best for preservation but great for effect.
The entry is flanked by more urns and statuary and these great copper sconces; the green is striking against the pink hued stucco.
While the design remains Italian, lots of the details and the name itself remain true to Deering's original Spanish intentions; Spanish galleons are seen throughout, like this one below at the entrance.
The court is flanked by 2 triumphal arches, which make a great backdrop for photoshoots!
The stucco of the surrounding court walls is a coral pink color, much stronger than the house's light pink hue.
The Beaux-arts influence is evident by the site lines, everything aligns! Below we are looking through the arches and central court.
Chalfin designed the house to appear as it had evolved and changed over generations of an Italian family. The house was to seem to have been added onto as time progressed and these baroque arches would have been 'later additions' style wise.
Chalfin however, was not the architect of the house but more of an owner's representative and design director. He worked closely with Deering on the design, even traveling with him throughout Europe scoping out precedents and, much like at San Simeon, buying architectural 'salvage' to use and copy in the estate.
The architect they chose was Francis Burrall Hoffman, who was unceremoniously dismissed after the bulk of the main house was complete, with Landscape architect Diego Suarez (who had studied in Italy) designing the gardens (even if Chalfin later took credit!).
To the side of the house are the servants entrance and maintenance sheds, which this time are in a beautiful yellow stucco. These are the entry for visitors today into the main gardens which we'll see soon, I promise!
As a non sequitur, I loved seeing a true
'Florida door' (louvered wood door) in use in Florida as my old apartment here in DC used them as entry to our apartments!
The most interesting parts of any house museum, in my opinion, are the service spaces.
Vizcaya was planned primarily around the public and entertaining rooms, which leaves only awkward leftover spaces for the numerous servants which were required in this time period. Oddly enough, the kitchen is on the 2nd floor, not in the basement (but we'll get to that later!). 
The first of these service spaces is a cupboard off the dining room (marked passage on the plan above in blue). Functioning as a small butler's pantry, the space also worked as a hall between the dining room and tea room so had to be attractive.
The ceiling has a gorgeous painted wood ceiling with painted wood gates hiding the service cupboard which houses china storage and wash-up sink. The gilded English china seen here has an interesting story which I'll talk about at the end of this post. PS: don't you just love these painted wood cabinets?
Located on the opposite side of the Tea Room (seen on the plan above in green), the main butler's pantry is larger than most modern household kitchens. The room boasted the most modern of conveniences for the time period, including the electric annunciator panel above which showed where a servant was required when rung for.
Another modern contraption was the master clock, seen behind the cabinets above, which controlled the time on 10 clocks throughout the house (much like many schools have today).
Above you can see the painted door into the tea room. The open countertops have been converted into glassed-in display cases for the many sets of china Vizcaya posesses. 
Above is the yacht china which was in Deering's yacht moored at Vizcaya. It bears the New York Yacht Club emblem as well as his own. The china is rimmed in silver to protect it from chipping on bumpy voyages.
The china seen here was ordered by Deering from England for his house in Chicago and was originally brought over, unfortunately, on the Titantic. The china obviously had to be remade and was shipped over a few years later (hand gilding isn't fast!) 
By this point Vizcaya had been completed so it was brought here where it remains to this day. The originally ordered china, however, still lies at the bottom of the Atlantic. No word however on whether the White Star Line covered the replacements; does anyone know? Now THATS a story!
The largest room at Vizcaya is the Living Room - 25' wide and 50' long with ceilings which soar to 20 feet high. This is nearly a double-cube which follows the Renaissance rules of porportioning. The ceilings again are imported from a 16th century Venetian Palazzo but are modified to fit the room. 
Chalfin decorated the room in French Renaissance style, perhaps not the most cozy of styles to select but appropriate for the collections.Originally the room also housed more 'modern' couches for comfort and was not as museum-like as it appears today. 
The tapestry decorates plain plaster walls and dates from the mid 16th century from Ferrara and depicts the labors of Hercules.
The fence you see helps to protect a valuable heraldic rug woven in the 15th century for the grandfather of King Ferdinand of Spain, an Admiral in the Spanish navy. The flooring underneath is dark terrazzo which is appropriate for the seaside setting.
The figural top is actually not original but was created by Chalfin's design staff as a sort of finial to complement the chimneypiece.
After leaving the living room one passes through the East Loggia which faces the bay, opposite the courtyard from the 
The highlight of the space is a 5' long model of a Spanish caravel. Imagine this ship swaying in the bayside breezes when the loggia was open.
The loggia was originally treated as the outdoor living room and was furnished with comfortable wicker furniture with brightly colored cushions. As it had one of the best views of Biscayne Bay in the house, it's not hard to imagine guests spending the majority of their time here.
The main facade of Vizcaya is really the 'back', facing Biscayne Bay. The first time Deering ever saw his completed winter house was actually arriving by boat.
This construction photo shows the first floor as well as gives you an idea of what the house looked like when the center was an entirely open courtyard. You can see right through the house to the 
The terrace steps right down to the water. Deering actually chose the location for the house, unusually close to the water, against the advice of the design team members. This relationship is so important in person that it was an ingenius decision.
Just to the right is the tea house, built prominently out into the bay.
Probably the most charming space on the entire estate, I can see breakfasts and afternoon tea being served here. Besides the view back at the house seen below, an excellent view of downtown Miami is also visible.
The use of interior trellis was big at the time, popularized by Elsie de Wolfe, who had recommended Paul Chalfin to assist Deering.
The most well known aspect of the garden is probably the stone barge, built out in the bay from the terrace.
Originally, the barge was heavily planted, covered with statues and had a small pavilion as well. 
This design obviously doesn't weather hurricane season very well and is a bit high maintenance for a house museum! Below you see the barge in 1934, a simplified version after the 1926 hurricane.
Just around the corner from the terrace was the swimming pool.
The swimming pool, in Roman fashion, is submerged half into the house and half in the open air, so that entry can be gained without going outside in your bathing costume (this was prior to the bikini being the official dress code of Miami). 
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