Palm Beach Daily News from Palm Beach, Florida • 11

r.r ntr i An inner trefoil arch is surrounded by an ogee arch on this window from Villa Flora, a Mizner mansion built in 1923. Decorative label molding continues the Venetian Gothic theme enclosing the hand-painted murals. -ruL'' Of Lhe WAT tdil Touch Left: Addison Mizner worked his architectural magic in Palm Beach in the early 20th century. Below: Mizner's apartments and shops were built on the Moorish pattern around a courtyard cooled by a Spanish Gothic fountain. The catch basin of this fountain, in Via Mizner off Worth Avenue, is adorned with animals, foliated ornaments and grotesque figures.

Mizner portrait courtesy Preservation Foundation of Palm Beach The Everglades Club on Worth Avenue was Addison Mizner's first undertaking in Palm Beach. A feature of the original building, begun in 1918, is a bell tower with Romanesque portholes and an adjacent dormer. Both are in the Spanish mission style, as are the hipped roofs covered with clay barrel tiles in variegated shades of reddish-browns, orange reds and cafe au lait. A- JO- ddison Mizner, the flamboyant society architect, envisioned transforming the resort town of Palm Beach into a romantic Mediterranean-style enclave. He imagined terra-cotta-roofed villas and shops set among swaying palms and overlooking the turquoise Atlantic.Travelinq throughout the Mediterranean region, sketchbook in hand, Mizner developed a passion for its art and architecture.

It led him to design buildings in Palm Beach in an eclectic Spanish, Moorish, Italian and Venetian architectural style from various periods. Given the area's tropical setting and mild climate and Florida's Spanish history Mizner felt that a Mediterranean-revival style was most suitable. His factories, often using innovative techniques, produced many of the building materials needed to fulfill his fantasies: colorful roof, wall and floor tiles; intricate cast-stone and wrought-iron ornamentation; and stained and leaded glass. He also created reproductions of antique furnishings to complement his exteriors. Mizner explained his design philosophy this way: to make a building look traditional and as though it had fought its way from a small unimportant structure to a great rambling house that took centuries of different needs and ups and downs of wealth to accomplish.

I sometimes start a house with a Romanesque corner, pretend that it has fallen into disrepair and been added to in the Gothic spirit, when suddenly the great wealth of the New World has poured in and the owner has added a very rich Renaissance addition." As Frank Lloyd Wright quipped: "Many architects have imagination, but only Mizner had the courage to let his out of the cage." This corner window at Villa Flora has an ornamental railing. The Italian Renaissance balcony features a twisted colonette and elaborate cast-stone tracery of Venetian Gothic origins. The double-rounded chimney top with small tiled roof is Spanish eclectic. Mizner's addition to El Castillo gave the mansion a medieval look. The main section and tower have battlements; four bartizans front the corners.

The heavy window surrounds are also in the Gothic-revival style. 4 rfin 4r v. Of A. Far left: The entrance of Casa de Leoni features a partially paneled oak door and a Venetian Gothic arch with a low-relief sculpture of the winged lion of St. Mark, the patron saint of Venice.

The estate has a central courtyard as well as a gondola slip on Lake Worth. Left: The top portion of an Italian Renaissance window surround at the Warden Villa features a figurine as well as an urn above a broken pediment. The villa was built in 1921. STORY AND PHOTOGRAPHY BYJACEK GANCARZ.