Addison Mizner's Palm Beach: 38 estates, a club and Worth Avenue

 

Mizner's home off Worth Avenue

By Jane Feehan


Addison Mizner’s (1872-1933) Palm Beach architectural legacy includes 38 estates, a club and Worth Avenue.

Invited to Palm Beach in 1918 by his friend, Paris Singer (Singer Sewing Machine), Mizner first designed the Everglades Club, originally planned as a convalescent home for wounded World War I soldiers.

The club's design, a fusion of Moorish, Renaissance, Gothic and Venetian influences appealed to Mrs. Edward Stotesbury, a wealthy Philadelphian, who commissioned Mizner to create her Palm Beach home, El Mirasol. It was his first concept for a Palm Beach home, the first of the ocean side estates known as Mizner’s Row.

Everglades Club

A few estates were demolished over the years, including El Mirasol (its archway stands at North County Road, north of Wells Road, original site). Those remaining can be identified by Terra cotta tiles, minarets, towers, archways, fountains, columns - elements of Mizner’s “Mediterranean Revival” style.

The distinctive Mizner imprint still emblazons the Everglades Club on Worth Avenue and the architect’s former residence across the street at Via Mizner. Mizner named the adjacent Via Parigi for his friend, Paris Singer. Today, both vias are popular with shoppers, diners, and visitors.

Sources:

Palm Beach Historical Society

https://pbchistory.org/

https://www.pbchistoryonline.org/

O'Sulllivan, Maureen. Palm Beach Then and Now. West Palm Beach: Lickle Publishing, 2004

Tags: Addison Mizner, Palm Beach architecture, Palm Beach history