Let's Tour the Romantic Vizcaya Estate
September 21, 2011 
(Vizcaya - East Terrace)
Janet Ramin - If you ever fantasized about being transported to another world ... back in time to a period of glittering balls, palatial mansions, formal gardens, and old-world European charm, you may want to visit Vizcaya in Miami, Florida. Yes, Miami! The city of bikinis, nightclubs, and pink flamingoes may not be the first place you associate with old-world charm, but nestled south of its famous beaches is a local treasure, the Vizcaya estate.
Vizcaya was home to James Deering, a wealthy executive at International Harvester. Deering envisioned Vizcaya as a winter retreat reminiscent of Italian palazzos. During the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, many industrialists built mansions inspired by European palaces to announce to their peers that they have “arrived.” Deering hired designers F. Burral Hoffman, Paul Chalfin, and Diego Suarez to create the mansion, its interiors, and its romantic gardens.
(Vizcaya - Front)
Vizcaya was completed in 1921, taking two years to finish and employing nearly ten percent of Miami’s population - about 10,000 at that time. In the photos above, you can see the East Terrace as well as the front entrance. Invited guests can arrive in two ways: by automobile or by yacht. Those driving would pass by a forest of rockland hammock trees, fountains, and a circular driveway to finally gaze upon an Italian Renaissance façade made from local limestone.
Those arriving by yacht encountered a Venetian stone barge, at once beautiful and highly functional. The barge provided a unique outdoor space for parties as well as acting as a breakwater against tidal surges. After docking, a guest would enter the mansion via the East Loggia (see photo below), a foyer decorated in classical columns and busts, vaulted ceilings, and marble floor. A model ship of San Cristobal, Spanish explorer Ponce de Leon’s ship, hangs in the center.
(Vizcaya - Stone Barge)
(Vizcaya - East Loggia)
Despite the Italian Renaissance exterior, the interiors were decorated in a variety of styles – Italian Rococo, Baroque, and Chinoiserie (Chinese-influenced), as well as the neoclassical style. One of the most beautiful rooms is the Tea Room, decorated in both neoclassical as well as Baroque manner. The grandiose iron gates with gilded detail, bought from a Venetian palace, certainly reflected the more flamboyant Baroque style, as well as the floor torchieres that light the room. The walls itself are decorated with
