Vizcaya Museum and Gardens
The best old Mansion around Miami: a must see.
It's the best place for a relaxed excursion day. It's the nicest old building in South Florida and walking its Gardens and the bay view are worth the trip.
Built up by Mr. James Deering (Maine, 1859-1925) -the founder of Deering-Harvester Company- as his winter stays in mild South Florida were more and more frequent due to his anemia. He bought 180 acres of bay front land, designed and built the estate after his admired Italian villas. The planning and construction of Vizcaya lasted over a decade, from 1910 to 1922.
James Deering died on September 18 aboard the SS City of Paris ocean liner returning from France. He never saw the destruction of his beloved estate by the 1926 hurricane.
In 1935 Vizcaya is opened again by his brother Charles (James was a bachelor) as a privately owned museum. Short after the same year it's closed again due to the damage caused by yet another hurricane. in 1945, 130 Acres of the Vizcaya property are conveyed to Mercy Hospital and the by then Catholic Diocese of St. Augustine -the Our Lady of Charity Shrine, La Salle School, St. Kieran church are later built on this land. In 1945 James Deering’s heirs convey the Vizcaya Village to Dade County to support the ambience and operation of Vizcaya as a museum.
Charles had another Estate, farther South that can also be visited- Deering Estate, but it is less magnificent.
