Overview

Hype:

The Vizcaya Museum and Gardens, previously known as Villa Vizcaya, is the former villa and estate of businessman James Deering, of the Deering McCormick-International Harvester fortune, on Biscayne Bay in the present-day Coconut Grove neighborhood of Miami, Florida. The early 20th-century Vizcaya estate also includes extensive Italian Renaissance gardens, native woodland landscape, and a historic village outbuildings compound.

The landscape and architecture were influenced by Veneto and Tuscan Italian Renaissance models and designed in the Mediterranean Revival architecture style, with Baroque elements. Miami-Dade County now owns the Vizcaya property, as the Vizcaya Museum and Gardens, which is open to the public.

The estate is now known officially as the Vizcaya Museum and Gardens. The estate is a total of 50 acres, of which 10 acres contain the Italian Renaissance formal gardens, and 40 acres are circulation and the native hammock. This beautiful landscape is packed with unique decor and tons of history. There are tons of nooks and crannies to explore, making it a great place to spend hours discovering all its wonders.

The villa's museum contains more than seventy rooms of distinctive architectural interiors decorated with numerous antiques, with an emphasis on 15th through early 19th-century European decorative art and furnishings. Amongst the furnishings are ceramics, the originals of which were shipped from England in 1912 but sank along with the Titanic. Luckily, Deering had taken out insurance and had them replaced.

Vizcaya was built with an open-air courtyard and extensive gardens on Biscayne Bay. As such, the estate has been subject to environmental and hurricane damage, the latter notably in 1926, 1992, and 2005. Miami-Dade County has granted money ($50 million) for the restoration and preservation of Vizcaya. These funds have been matched by grants from FEMA, Save America's Treasures, and numerous other funders. Plans include restoration of the villa and gardens, and adaptation of the historic village compound for exhibition and educational facilities; however, additional funds are required for this. The completed first phase of the project included rebuilding of the museum's cafe and shop (in historic recreation areas of the building adjacent to the pool), renovation of the North and South Gate Lodges that flank South Miami Avenue, and rebuilding of the David A. Klein Orchidarium in a plan that generally uses historic precedent. At the same time, Vizcaya has completed the first half of a major conservation program of its outdoor sculpture collections. With a consulting landscape architect, Vizcaya has also finished a comprehensive cultural landscape report, which will be a vital tool in the ongoing restoration of the formal gardens.

The Great Miami Hurricane of 1926 devastated the greater Miami area including Vizcaya. The estate's historic rose garden was destroyed after saltwater seeped in, decimating the roses and preventing growth thereafter. Vizcaya's horticultural team partnered with the Tropical Rose Society of Miami to help bring some roses back to Vizcaya's gardens 100 years later. However, the historic rose garden, now known as the fountain garden, has not been returned to its former glory. One of Vizcaya's outdoor restoration project challenges included the estate's swimming pool grotto, built in 1916. The pool is only one of two public places in the world to feature a surviving mural by Robert Winthrop Chanler, a prominent American artist. The ceiling mural was designed in 1916, depicting an underwater fantasy scene filled with creatures and marine life. Shells are embedded into the plaster mural of the scene.

In 1992 and 2005, the swimming grotto was submerged during hurricanes. The combination of floods and Miami's climate have led to preservation challenges and are a priority to the museum. The State of Florida and the Division of Emergency Management's Hurricane Loss Mitigation Program provided Vizcaya with a grant of $194,000 to help prevent future damage to the historic estate.

In 2008 the National Trust for Historic Preservation listed Vizcaya as one of America's Eleven Most Endangered Historic Places. As noted by the National Trust's website, Vizcaya's inclusion on this list was based on the threat of proposed highrise development on neighboring property. Specifically, the National Trust stated: "Unless development is blocked or an intervention occurs, this cultural landscape will be permanently damaged by the construction of three high-rise condominium towers within Vizcaya's historic viewshed." The proposed highrises were blocked by two court rulings and, in 2010, the City of Miami included viewshed protection for historic properties such as Vizcaya in its new zoning code, Miami 21.

Other types of events are hosted by the museum to collect funds for its preservation. For example, every Halloween, Vizcaya organizes a costume party, where people from all around Florida attend in costume.

Vizcaya participates in Baynanza, Biscayne Bay Cleanup Day, an annual community event to clean up the most important ecological system in South Florida. During the event, Vizcaya encourages participants to capture Biscayne Bay's beauty with a photography contest. The event usually takes place on Earth Day.

Time:

Fees: Admission

Recommended Ages:

	0-3
	4-11
	12-19
	20-49
	50-69
	70+

Recommended Months to Visit:

Jan

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Dec

Links: https://vizcaya.org/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vizcaya_Museum_and_Gardens

Location

Closest City or Region: Miami, Florida

Coordinates: 25.744387, -80.210475

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Brochure

April 8, 2024 Trip Report

By Jeremy Dye

Trip Members

Jeremy Dye, Tara Dye, Madilyn Dye,

Story

Monday was our last day in Florida. We did some urban activities in the Miami area. We first went to the Vizcaya Mansion and marveled at the architecture and grounds. It was reminiscent of some of the chateaus we saw in France except that almost all the stonework was made from coral.

Pictures