Vizcaya weddings and have Vizcaya as your wedding venue.
Vizcaya of Miami
Vizcaya Museum and Gardens or just simply known as Vizcaya is a historic landmark in early Miami history. It was the winter resort and Spanish estate and villa of millionaire businessman Mr. James Deering. Mr. Deering was a founding member of the Deering, McCormick-International Harvester Corporation. This estate was a Spanish villa and was taken apart brick by brick and brought to America on a ship where it was reassembled on Biscayne Bay in what is the present day Coconut Grove area of Miami, Florida. Miami-Dade County took over ownership and runs Vizcaya as the Vizcaya Museum and Gardens. Vizcaya is open to the public with admission at $15. You can take the train to Villa Vizcaya as it is served by the Vizcaya Station with the Miami Metrorail. Vizcaya is the venue of many weddings, quinces, bar and bat mitzvah’s and sweet sixteen parties. Vizcaya is a wonderful place to have your wedding and pictures taken.
The Vizcaya estate is across the street from the Miami Museum of science and planetarium. I was a member of the Miami space planetarium when I was growing up in Miami while I was in elementary school. Miami spoke English in those days and was relatively crime free as I remember long ago. Vizcaya was mostly built between 1914 and 1919; this was during the First World War. The planting and construction of the large Italian style Renaissance gardens and the outer village continued well into 1923. Mr. Deering, the owner of Vizcaya, died in 1925 just shortly after the estate was completed.
The early 20th century Vizcaya estate in Miami consists of: the Italian style Renaissance gardens, native landscaping, with the historical village out buildings group. The garden landscape and architecture designs were to have Tuscan Italian Renaissance influence. Paul Chalfin was the man responsible for the design and the director the Deering winter residence spectacular style. The current estate is 50 acres of property. The current Vizcaya property totals 50 acres total with 40 acres of native woods and landscape. The gardens and the house are located on the remaining 10 acres of property.
The Vizcaya estate was originally 180 acres of Mangrove swamps and dense inland native tropical woodlands. Mr. Deering was a conservationist or an early day environmentalist so he planned the development of the Vizcaya estate on the shore of Biscayne Bay to help conserve the native Florida Miami forests. We used to have what was called Dade pine, a tree that had hard wood with what is considered a soft wood. It was very strong and Dade pine is now considered extinct. During the World War One years, building tradesmen and construction supplies were very difficult to procure in South Florida.
Vizcaya is noted for its adaption of historical European aesthetic garden and architectural traditions to South Florida's subtropical ecology. Deering used the ideals and imported French and Italian garden design layouts. Vizcaya has coral stonework with Floridian coral architectural trim and planted with sub-tropic compatible as well as native Florida xeriscape plants that thrived in the South Florida habitat and tropical climate. Philodendrons as well as Palms were not been represented in the European style gardens of Spain, Tuscany Italy or of France.
The Vizcaya estate was envisioned by Paul Chalfin, who was an art curator, painter, and interior designer and he was the project's main director. Chalfin was instrumental in the assistance and he encouraged Mr. Deering's collecting of fine art items, various antiquities, and the splendid architectural elements for the Vizcaya project. Mr. Chalfin had recommended architect F. Burrall Hoffman for the design of the structure as well as the development of the villa, the garden pavilions, and Vizcaya estate outbuilding groups.
The landscaping master plans as well as the individual garden areas were designed by the Colombian landscape designer Diego Suarez. Suarez was in training with Sir Harold Acton at the gardens of Villa La Pietra, just outside of Florence, Italy. The Deering estate's name is from the northern Spanish Vizcaya Province, which is located in the Basque region along the east Atlantic's Bay of Biscay, as estate Vizcaya is on the West Atlantic's Biscayne Bay, located just south of downtown Miami.
Mr. Deering used the Caravel, which is a type of ship style that was heavily used in the Age of Exploration as his symbol and emblem of estate Vizcaya. The ship of coral in the rear of the building is very beautiful and enduring. I have several pictures of it on the website. French, Italian and European influences mark the gardens and villa architecture of the estate Vizcaya. This is a wonder spot to have a garden wedding ceremony.
Mr. Deering dies in 1926 and the estate passes to his heirs. Vizcaya’s upkeep due to hurricanes and rising maintenance costs due to the corrosion of the salt air costs are astronomical and the heir’s began selling the estate's surrounding land as well as the outer gardens. In 1945 Deerings heirs gave large land tracts of the Vizcaya property to the Catholic Church and to Miami's Mercy Hospital. Of the original 180 acres only 50 acres were retained as the main house, the formal gardens, and the outer village were kept. In the year 1952 Miami-Dade County formally acquired the villa estate and the gardens which were in dire need of major significant restoration costing $1 million.
Deering's heirs donated the villa's furnishings and antiquities to the Miami-Dade County Museum. Vizcaya was opened to the general public in 1953 as the Dade County Art Museum In 1994. The Vizcaya estate was awarded designated National Historic Landmark status and is now protected by law. Vizcaya is located at 3251 South Miami Avenue in Coconut Grove, Miami, and is open to the public on a daily basis, except for Christmas Day. Vizcaya has been accredited by the American Association of Museums.
National Trust for Historic Preservation has designated and listed Vizcaya as one of America's Eleven Most Endangered Historic Places. This historic designation was based in part on damages from hurricanes and the damage done by sea salt in the air and tropical climatic effects. Vizcaya has been the venue of several movies.
Deerings family was involved in the development of the Cutler area of South Miami and I grew up In Cutler Ridge that was devastated by hurricane Andrew. During Vizcaya’s construction the city of Miami’s population was only about 10,000 people. Deering had employed more than 1,000 workers for the Vizcaya villa’s and garden project. This included general laborers and skilled craftsmen from the Caribbean nations as well as from Europe. About 200,000 people visit Vizcaya each year and at $15 per person for admission, the museum generates about 2-3 million for the upkeep of the house and gardens. The Miami-Dade County Commissioners officially granted governing authority to the Vizcaya Museum and Gardens Trust in 1998.
