Party on a pirate ship
Vizcaya, James Deering’s villa and estate turned museum and gardens in the northeastern corner of Coconut Grove, is the Versailles of the tropics. Deering (1859–1925) was a farming equipment magnate whose name could frequently be found in the social columns of the day. With his immense wealth came opulent taste. Magnificent landscaping surrounds the 30,000-square-foot Mediterranean revival mega-mansion built between 1914 and 1922 and furnished like a pre-Revolutionary French chateau.
Visitors often get lost in Vizcaya’s gardens and interior. Many meander through the house with audio tours, while others stroll the grounds, admiring the blooming orchids neatly placed along geometric hedges and intricate moats. But a less frequently appreciated and equally decadent component of Vizcaya floats in the backyard, past the glistening pool and its luxurious grotto.
Info
Address 3251 S Miami Avenue, Miami, FL 33129, +1 305.250.9133, www.vizcaya.org | Hours Wed–Mon 9:30am–4:30pm| Tip After a day at Vizcaya, spend a night with the University of Miami’s jazz band. For an extraordinarily affordable experience in Coral Gables, visit Gusman Concert Hall (1314 Miller Dr) on the university campus and check their schedule of events.
Appearing to be something between a marble dock and a Venetian battleship, an ornate breakwater known as “the barge” sits in the cove behind the villa. Tropical flora, fountains, statues, and even a teahouse were once housed on the stone barge. Today, the staircase and sides, coated with thin layers of green algae, are slowly being reclaimed by nature. During a tropical storm or on an unusually blustery day, the structure still protects the estate from getting battered by a rough chop. But in its heyday during the early 1920s, the barge also served as a magnificent party venue.
Alexander Stirling Calder, father of the famed 20th-century modern artist, sculpted the 158-foot breakwater adorned with mermaids, tritons, and Egyptian obelisks. During the barge’s formative stage, portraitist John Singer Sargent visited Vizcaya and depicted Calder at work. It’s said that when Deering deemed the mermaids’ breasts on the front of the “ship” to be “too generous,” it was Sargent who suggested they be resized to the more modest proportions seen today.
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