Inside Vizcaya, Miami's Gilded Age mansion

Vizcaya was built between 1914 and 1922 by James Deering as a winter home less than 10 minutes from downtown Miami. The 45,000-square-foot main house has 54 rooms, many open to the public, and the museum estimates the estate cost $26 million to build — more than $800 million in today’s dollars — while Florida International University puts its value at over $1 billion.

Miami-Dade County bought the property in 1962 for $1 million, and it now operates as a museum and gardens. Interior designer Paul Chalfin shaped Vizcaya around Italian Renaissance ideas adapted to South Florida’s subtropical climate, filling the rooms with furniture, artworks, and artifacts purchased in Europe.

Construction employed an estimated 1,000 workers, many Black immigrants from the Bahamas, and the estate includes the 12-acre Vizcaya Village with 11 architecturally significant buildings that supported a farm-to-table operation.

United States, Miami

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