Story: Experience Exotic Vizcaya Villa

From lavish flower gardens to an Italian Renaissance style villa, Vizcaya brings history to life. With amazing architecture, gardens, interiors and decorative arts, it's one of South Florida's leading attractions today. Vizcaya draws more than 200,000 visitors each year. It also is now a national historic landmark.

Located on ten acres of land overlooking Biscayne Bay just north of Coconut Grove, the spectacular mansion—Miami’s most popular visual arts museum—exudes old-world elegance with tropical new-world style. The garden, a fan-shaped reminiscent of the Villa Lante and Villa d’Este, is filled with pools, fountains, sculptures and cool shell-lined grottoes that provide relief from the hot Miami sun. A unique feature of the garden is the way in which the breakwater at the front of the house has been transformed into a royal barge made of stone.

Built in 1916, the original 180-acre site, chosen by industrialist James Deering who dreamed of creating somewhere warm and sunny to spend winters, included European inspired formal gardens squeezed in between native mangroves and hardwood trees, an informal tropical garden, and a complex on the west side of South Miami Avenue with a farm, livestock and variety of other service facilities.

At a time when Miami’s population was only about 10,000, it is said that more than 1,000 workers were employed on the Vizcaya project, many craftsmen brought to the area from Europe and the Bahamas.

Paul Chalfin, a young New York painter, supervised Vizcaya’s design for every phase of the project. Deering and Chaflin traveled throughout Europe surveying residential architecture for ideas and to obtain components that would be incorporated into the proposed home. Also involved were architect F. Burrall Hoffman and Colombian landscape architect Diego Suarez.

The building and gardens were both inspired by Italian Renaissance villas that he had visited in Italy. Most of the decorative elements and furniture were imported from Europe.

After Deering’s death in 1925, a small staff maintained the home. But in 1926, a hurricane devastated much of Miami, causing extensive damage to the home, surrounding grounds and formal gardens. Deering’s heirs attempted to operate the estate as an attraction, but another major hurricane in 1935 overwhelmed their efforts. Eventually, most of the land was sold for development.

In 1952, Miami-Dade bought the buildings. Deering's heirs donated the furniture and artwork to the county with a condition that Vizcaya be used as a public museum. The estate, now called Vizcaya Museum and Gardens, is undergoing a $50 million expansion and renovation. Plans include opening for the first time eleven historic buildings on the west side of South Miami Avenue, as well as construction of a new auditorium and exhibition galleries. Vizcaya's main house and gardens will be improved and made more accessible. Other upgrades are replacing obsolete fire safety and air conditioning elements, replacing the roof, restoration of historic interior elements, rehabilitation of historic windows and doors, and also upgrading hurricane protection systems.

Today, Vizcaya’s main house offers 34 rooms, all decorated with antique furnishings and art objects spanning 2000 years. It also houses an intervening level with more than 20 rooms that were constructed for domestic staff quarters and service functions. Plans are currently underway to open these rooms to visitors so they can better understand the diversity of people who lived and worked at Vizcaya.

Open year-around, Vizcaya is a must-see Miami locale. As you tour the estate, you'll agree that Deering made his dream come true. You can be sure your visit will be memorable and magical. The beauty is here waiting.