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VERY VERSACE KEN HAYDEN
IT’S BEEN 25 YEARS SINCE GIANNI VERSACE WAS GUNNED DOWN AT HIS LAVISH OCEAN DRIVE HOME. WE TAKE A LOOK BACK AT THE VENERABLE DESIGNER’S MARK ON MIAMI.
By Kristen Desmond LeFevre
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KEN HAYDEN
Setting up Shop: Versace purchased the Amsterdam Palace for $2.95 million and the neighboring Hotel Revere for $3.7 million— eventually razing the latter to build a pool and a guest wing. Over time, he spent $32 million on renovations to Villa Casa Casuarina, converting it into a celebrated example of Italian Baroque splendor. South Beach preservationists cheered Versace as the building’s savior—and locals hailed him as an emblem of South Beach’s newly elevated status.
KEN HAYDEN KEN HAYDEN
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Meeting Miami: Gianni Versace first found himself on Ocean Drive in 1992. While in town to attend the opening of a namesake boutique in Bal Harbour (and to visit his sister, Donatella), the designer asked a cab driver to show him something “fancy and fun” about South Beach, according to The Miami Herald. The driver took him to 1116 Ocean Drive, a 1930sera Mediterranean-style mansion once known as the Villa Casa Casuarina. The property had been converted into an apartment complex called the Amsterdam Palace—and was in considerable disrepair. Legend has it that as Versace admired the bronze statue of Aphrodite that sits at the entrance, he caught a glimpse of the mansion beyond the gates and was smitten.
The Fashion Flock: Versace threw lavish events studded with celebrities like Madonna, Princess Diana, and Elton John. Soon, the fashion world followed. “All of a sudden, what was going on in L.A. moved here when Gianni came here,” Donatella told The New York Times in 2001. “All the fashion shoots were happening here. Music people, fashion people, actors—he attracted everyone here. He had that power.”
AVENTURA MAGAZINE
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