Vizcaya Museum and Gardens, Mediterranean Revival estate in Coconut Grove, Miami, United States
Vizcaya Museum and Gardens is a former winter estate on Biscayne Bay in Coconut Grove, Miami. Its three-story cream-colored stone and stucco villa has a central block with three arched openings under blue-and-yellow striped awnings, a balustraded balcony, and two square towers with red-tiled hipped roofs. The 50-acre property includes Italian Renaissance gardens, native woodland, and a village outbuildings compound.
James Deering began building Vizcaya in 1912 and occupied it from Christmas Day 1916; the villa was completed by 1922 at a cost of $15 million. After Deering died in 1925, his nieces inherited the estate and later sold land. Miami-Dade County bought the remaining 50 acres in 1952, and the property opened to the public in 1953 as the Dade County Art Museum.
The name derives from the Spanish Basque Country and signals the European models that the owner admired. The interiors display furniture and wall panels from Italian palaces that were dismantled and shipped to Florida.
The 50-acre estate includes the villa, formal gardens and native woodland, so plan separate time for the house and the grounds. The main gardens lie between the villa and Biscayne Bay, with the historic village compound to the west. The property is served by the Vizcaya Station of the Miami Metrorail.
The stone structure in the water offshore served as a breakwater and also provided a sitting area overlooking the open bay. Repairs after Hurricane Andrew in 1992 took several years and saved many endangered items from the collection.
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