From Palm Beach to Shangri La The Architecture of Marion Sims Wyeth

Homes, pool houses, and gardens in paradise by the great architect Marion Sims Wyeth—progenitor of the fabled Palm Beach style and designer of Doris Duke’s legendary Hawaiian retreat, Shangri La—are featured here in the first in-depth book to consider his most alluring creations.
 

Beauty and elegance mingle with extravagance in the Palm Beach style of architect Marion Sims Wyeth, a kind of home design that takes the standard fixtures of paradise—palm trees, ebullient fountains, glistening pools and gardens, views of the sea—and mixes them with a dash of the exotic—a Moorish-style balcony or doorway, Venetian archways, fanciful courtyards in the Spanish style, and spiraling staircases in stone and iron.
 
Featured here are the legendary abodes of Marjorie Merriweather Post and Doris Duke—Mar-a-Lago and Shangri La, respectively—as well as the less well known but equally spectacular Hogarcito and La Claridad, to name but a few. For those unfamiliar with these dream palaces, intimate homes of repose and reflection, for the enjoyment of life and the living of it, the book serves at once as a revelation and an inspiration.

Jane Day is a preservation consultant and architectural historian based in Palm Beach. The Preservation Foundation of Palm Beach is a private, nonprofit membership organization dedicated to the preservation of the historic, architectural, and cultural heritage of Palm Beach, Florida. Through advocacy initiatives, educational programs, architectural resources, and cultural events, the foundation’s goal is to encourage the community to learn about and save the historic buildings that truly make Palm Beach special.