Addison Mizner by Stephen Perkins & JAMES CAUGHMAN

Author:Stephen Perkins & JAMES CAUGHMAN
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781493026562
Publisher: Lyons Press

El Mirasol, 1919. Aerial photograph of El Mirasol looking east. Mizner’s 1919 approach to the design of Palm Beach residences was clearly established by his approach to El Mirasol. The spine of the house was organized along the north-south axis with the oceanfront or eastern façade providing terraces for the capture of ocean breezes, and the western loggia serving as a large patio for afternoon and evening enjoyment. Note the chimney in the northwest portion of the residence. This area was typically the service wing with kitchens and accommodations for staff. Prevailing breezes drove food and cooking odors away from the residence.

Courtesy of the Robert Yarnall Richie Collection, DeGoyler Library at Southern Methodist University.

The Stotesbury parcel at 348 North County Road on the north end, just south of the Grace estate, ran from ocean to lake. Mizner, no doubt, realized the importance of the context of this commission to his future as a Palm Beach architect, particularly as his first client was contemporaneously shared with Horace Trumbauer. It was a statement of the times that a family enjoyed the resources to plan, design, construct, and decorate two very large estates at the same time.

By 1919, Eva Stotesbury was the acknowledged bellwether of Palm Beach society, a position that eluded her in Philadelphia and was surprising because Palm Beach in the early twenties was dominated by Philadelphia families, many of whom would also become Mizner clients. Eva Stotesbury’s home was the first of four commissions received by Addison Mizner within a month of the Everglades Club opening, and the architect, keenly understanding the stakes, threw himself into the design but was probably not prepared for the sophistication of a client who was spending the 2017 equivalent of $125 million on a new estate near Philadelphia. Mizner complained that Eva was constantly changing her mind, and it was in this context that Mizner mentioned his envy for the doctor who could chloroform his patient.

Mizner preferred, and the pattern became, signing a contract and approving the concept at the end of the season to return north, thus providing him complete control over design and construction, landscaping, and furnishing. El Mirasol proceeded in this fashion, and the Stotesburys returned to Florida on Tuesday, January 29, 1920, to their new Wells Road mansion completed on the Sunday and Monday before. It is unfortunate that no architectural plans for El Mirasol have been found. From aerial photographs, however, it is evident that the mansion was generally organized the same as others in the vicinity with the largest massing on the north-south axis, with gardens and lower buildings developed east and west of the tallest massing and oriented to eastern views of the ocean, and western views of the gardens and the sunset.

In siting houses in Palm Beach, Mizner generally kept with local precedent, which was to site the house on top or near the coral ridge of the property and generally near the shore. As with most of Mizner’s houses, the orientation was for views east and west.

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