Boca Raton's Camino Real inspired by ....

 

Camino Real entrance to
Boca Raton Resort and Club
Florida State Archives/Florida Memory 1971

In 1925 newspapers reported on the work of Mizner Development Corporation in lofty language. Words reflected the dreams - and efforts - of architect Addison Cairns Mizner (1872-1933) for a grand resort community in Boca Raton.

Part of that dream was Camino Real, a road leading to the proposed project. His inspiration for the road entrance was the Botofogo in Rio de Janiero, Brazil.

... an embryonic plan was conceived by Mr. Mizner which included the installation at Boca Raton of one of the finest boulevards in North America – “Camino Real,”
... This street is now being graded and leveled and already more than four miles of it are ready for paving. It will be shaded by thousands of royal palms, its center will be a series of lagoons.

The Mizner Development Corporation fell into bankruptcy in the fall of 1926, but not before a toned down version of Mizner’s dream, the Ritz-Carlton Cloister Inn, today’s Boca Raton Resort and Club, opened (February, 1926). It sits at the east end of the palm tree-lined Camino Real, a beautiful but subdued rendition of Mizner's original plan.

1926 Cloister Inn

Florida State Archives/Florida Memory

Sources:

Miami Tribune, Oct. 22, 1925

Miami News, Dec. 28, 1925

Miami Herald, Feb. 21, 192

Tags: Boca Raton Hotel, Boca Raton Resort and Club, Camino Real in Boca, Addison Mizner, Boca Raton history