Island Follies: Romantic Homes of the Bahamas The Tropical Architecture of Henry Melich

A celebration of Henry Melich’s wonderfully whimsical and romantic island escapes, which continue to inspire the work of designers today.

Island Follies is the first book to explore the work of Henry Melich (1924–1999), a Czech-born architect who brought a beguiling form of neoclassicism to the Caribbean. While Melich built projects in the United States and England, he’s best remembered for the romantic houses he designed in sunny island retreats like Lyford Cay, Harbour Island, and Windermere Island in the Bahamas.
 
Melich created a romantic sense of escape with a softly cushioned whimsy and discrete air of tranquility. His signature motifs included faux-marbled walls, seasoned wood, colonnades, and tentlike interiors with striped ceilings. Melich’s interiors suited the playful mood of the moment documented in this book with the warm touch of Slim Aarons, who came to the Bahamas in the 1960s and 1970s to capture high-society figures in their homes. Gardens with bougainvillea-draped pergolas, ivy-clad alcoves, and palm-lined allées are just some of the features that extend the architecture into the tropical landscape and embrace the indoor-outdoor lifestyle of these houses.
 
Island Follies showcases the best of Melich’s island projects, with new photography of many previously unpublished interiors, capturing a lost world of glamour certain to inspire lovers of interior design and island retreats alike.

Alastair Gordon is an award-winning critic and author who has written regularly about architecture and design for many publications, including the New York Times, Vanity Fair, and Architectural Digest. He is cofounder and director of Gordon de Vries Studio. Chris Blackwell is the founder of Island Records.