How A One Percenter Once Lived in an Old-World Style Estate

While in Miami, I went on a lightning fast tour of the Vizcaya Museum and Gardens.

A photo of the estate's grotto pool.



From 1916-1925, Vizcaya, located on Biscayne Bay, was the Italian Renaissance villa of James Deering, a farm equipment manufacturing magnate.

Lavish doesn't even begin to describe it. The orchid gardens, alone, are fab.

Still the stiff, dark formality of the indoor rooms is a bit off-putting. Even surreal.

The kitchen, however, is a real bright spot. Look at the size of the woodstove in this photo gallery.

This article explains the origins of this weirdly fascinating pagan-religious mecca.