Villa Vizcaya

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This article is about the Italian Renaissance-style estate; Villa Vizcaya

For other uses, see Villa Vizcaya (disambiguation).

Villa Vizcaya is an Italian Renaissance-style estate in Miami, Florida, United States designed by the internationally-known architect F. Burrall Hoffman.

The estate was built by James Deering, a major figure in Miami's early history and a Vice President of the International Harvester Company. It is a replica of a Venetian villa built facing Biscayne Bay, complete with sculpted gardens, which he used as a winter home from 1916 to the time of his death in 1925. In 1952, Miami-Dade County purchased the estate's buildings, then in decline, for $1 million in revenue bonds and Deering's heirs donated the estate's furnishings and art to the County.

It is now open to the public as the Vizcaya Museum and Gardens.

[edit] External Links

• Aerial close-up of Villa Vizcaya