Research Catalog

Title

Vizcaya : an American villa and its makers / Witold Rybczynski and Laurie Olin ; with photographs by Steven Brooke.

Author

Rybczynski, Witold.

Publication

Philadelphia : University of Pennsylvania Press, [2007], ©2007.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Holdings

Details

Additional Authors

• Olin, Laurie.
• Brooke, Steven.

Description

xix, 274 pages : illustrations (some color), maps; 27 cm.

Summary

"The Miami estate of Vizcaya, like its palatial contemporaries Biltmore and San Simeon, represents an achievement of the Gilded Age, when country houses and their gardens were a conspicuous measure of personal wealth and power. In Vizcaya: An American Villa and Its Makers, a celebrated architecture critic and writer and an award-winning landscape architect explore the little-known story of Vizcaya, an extraordinary national treasure. Witold Rybczynski and Laurie Olin use a rich collection of illustrations, historic photographs, and narrative to document the creation of this stunning house and landscape. Vizcaya was completed in 1916 as the winter retreat of Chicago industrialist James Deering. The cosmopolitan bachelor, who chose Miami for its warm climate, enlisted the guidance of artist Paul Chalfin, with whom he traveled throughout Italy to survey houses and gardens. With the assistance of architect F. Burrall Hoffman, Jr., and garden designer Diego Suarez, the 180-acre site on Biscayne Bay was transformed into a grand estate, complete with lagoons, canals, citrus groves, a farm village, a yacht harbor, and a 40-room Baroque mansion." "The lure of this architectural and landscape masterpiece, named for a Spanish Basque province, is undeniable. John Singer Sargent planned a short visit in 1917 but stayed for several months, producing an inspired series of watercolors, many of which are reproduced here for the first time. The book is further enriched by archival material and by the color images of noted photographer Steven Brooke, paying homage to Vizcaya as a lens through which readers learn about architecture, landscape and garden design, interior decoration, and art."--BOOK JACKET.

Series Statement

Penn studies in landscape architecture

Uniform Title

Penn studies in landscape architecture.

Subjects

• Vizcaya Museum and Gardens (Miami, Fla.) History
• Gardens > Florida > Miami

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. 257-261) and index.

ISBN

• 9780812239515
• 0812239512

OCLC

• ocm77535401
• SCSB-5307367

Owning Institutions

Columbia University Libraries