Historic image of entrance from the Preservation Foundation of Palm Beach’s Wyeth collection. Modern day image of primary façade after restoration.
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Buttonwood, when it was the Dimick home and known as Orangerie, was a typical frame vernacular Shingle Style home with the embellishment of a Queen Anne style tower. The sprawling Buttonwood tree in the front yard gave the home its new name after it was moved from the Stotesbury property.
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COLLADO HUECO Designed by Addison Mizner with a later addition by John Volk, Collado Hueco is a splendid example of the rare ability to strike the delicate balance between architectural design and location. The owners’ goal for the house was to create “the look of centuries,” accomplished through the skillful blending of new and old in the tradition of the outstanding architecture that has made Palm Beach famous for over a century. Collado Hueco was designed for lawyer and businessman Paul Moore, the son of steel magnate W.H. “Judge” Moore of New York. Moore worked to consolidate his father’s legacy following the “Great Merger Movement” era, when corporate interests clashed with United States antitrust law to prevent industrial monopolies. The name Collado Hueco, or “hollow hill,” combines the meanings of both prominence and declivity. The home’s relationship with its hillside location is reflected in the contrast between its stucco surfaces and the natural coquina walls that seem to emerge from the earth itself. By building the house on the top of a natural ridge, Mizner preserved both ocean and lake views for the major rooms. The design includes red clay barrel tile roofs, half timbering, and other elements that recall the organic materials and simple forms used in Mediterranean villages. Collado Hueco is unusual among Mizner’s designs for its lack of applied cast stone decoration. Mizner’s indoor-outdoor style was one of his specialties. The use of patios, loggias, and enclosed courtyards creates a distinctly Floridian setting. Collado Hueco’s rehabilitation was completed over a period of three years. Floors were removed, re-milled, and refinished, and worn tiles were restored and replaced where necessary. Mizner’s original designs for the ceilings were painstakingly retraced and repainted. As an architect, the owner designed or reinterpreted many areas of the house, including the patio, east and west terraces, pool house and pavilion, French doors, and a terrace for the John Volk-designed guest house. Aside from adaptations to facilitate a modern lifestyle and the rehabilitation of Volk’s guest house, the house remains as Addison Mizner designed it nearly a century ago. Collado Hueco was designated as an historic landmark by the Town of Palm Beach in 1980.
Intricate ironwork crowns a gazebo overlooking Lake Worth.
Designed by Addison Mizner with a later addition by John Volk, Collado Hueco is a splendid example of the rare ability to strike the delicate balance between architectural design and location. The owners’ goal for the house was to create “the look of centuries,” accomplished through the skillful blending of new and old in the tradition of the outstanding architecture that has made Palm Beach famous for over a century. Collado Hueco was designed for lawyer and businessman Paul Moore, the son of steel magnate W.H. “Judge” Moore of New York. Moore worked to consolidate his father’s legacy following the “Great Merger Movement” era, when corporate interests clashed with United States antitrust law to prevent industrial monopolies. The name Collado Hueco, or “hollow hill,” combines the meanings of both prominence and declivity. The home’s relationship with its hillside location is re-
this period, as were the Palm Beach Hotel, The Vineta Hotel, The Billows, and The Brazilian Court. An early railroad-only bridge was modified to provide auto access to the island. As a result, the northern commercial area of Palm Beach exploded with development. The Fashion Beaux Arts, a lakefront shopping area erected in 1917, was said to be the earliest shopping mall in America and featured a popular rooftop movie theater. The hotel boom also provided a catalyst for entrepreneurs to create a residential infrastructure. In the early twentieth century, subdivisions were planned and interior streets began to be dotted with speculative houses, often in the then popular Bungalow style or in a Mission influenced variant of the American foursquare house. Developers provided a complete range of housing services, from auctions of raw land ready for construction, to rentals of fully furnished and staffed cottages. With the growth of the residential community, demand grew for amusements outside the hotels. Colonel E.R. Bradley opened Bradley’s Beach Club, an elegant gambling and dining establishment in 1898. In 1918, when Singer sewing machine heir Paris Singer,
with architect Addison Mizner, opened the Everglades Club, Palm Beach became captivated by Mizner’s theatrical Mediterranean Revival architecture which seemed to express the romance and opulence of the times. Singer distanced his development of the Everglades Club and Worth Avenue from Flagler’s earlier enterprises with a single depreciating remark. When asked what color he wanted to paint the club he is said to have answered, “anything but that damn yellow,” referring to Flagler’s liberal use of a color that sometimes appeared close to railroad switching engine yellow. Along with his appealing architectural designs, Mizner’s promotional talents and gregarious personality made him the architect of choice for many of Palm Beach’s great mansion builders. The vogue for extravagant mansions culminated with the construction of Mar-a-Lago for Marjorie Merriweather Post Hutton, which began in 1923. The estate occupied seventeen acres and included fifty-eight rooms. Mar-a-Lago was a collaboration between Joseph Urban and Marion Sims Wyeth, both local architects of note. By 1927, Mizner had largely transferred the focus of his attention to his ill-fated development of the city of Boca Raton. Mizner’s list of proj-
Distinctive in its high-pitched roof, this sidegabled bungalow is unusual. Most representations of the style feature low-pitched roofs and street facing gables.
OPPOSITE
LEFT A view of the living room looking toward a traditional window seat, added in the restoration, shows a simple wood window framed by the relaxed arch above the window seat and flanked by built-in bookcases.
A bay window expands the dining room, and the interior design repeats the arch motif found on the exterior. Reproductions of typical period windows were constructed with smaller lites in the top sash, forming a decorative element. The reconfiguration of the back of the house allowed the dining room to open toward the outdoor view.
BELOW LEFT
Addison Mizner
A rch ite ct o f Fantas y and R om a n c e Beth Dunlop Photography by Steven Brooke
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