Vizcaya Museum and Gardens in Miami Florida

Vizcaya Museum and Gardens

The Main Entrance

James Deering a well to do man in the early 1900's longed for a unique winter home built in Miami Florida. Rather than hire a well known architect he instead hired three young men and relatively inexperienced men to create his estate. The planning and construction by the 3 men lasted from 1910 to 1922 and the end result was quite unique indeed. Modeled after an old Italian county villa Deering made many large scale purchases of European antiques and then designed the home and grounds to house them. Vizcaya has been described as "the finest private house ever built in America." 

If you are in the area it is definitely worth the trip. The landscaped gardens are beautiful and the home is so unique it is hard to believe that people lived there at one time. If visiting in the summer months I would recommend going early in the morning to try and beat the heat and humidity a little bit. For some reason when we visited it was very quite and serene. I believe we only found ourselves running into another small group or two. It made it nice to see everything and be able to take our time as we walked around. I noticed that the website for Vizcaya says no photos are allowed indoors. When I visited that was not the case so you will see some indoor pictures here. 

As we were walking the grounds I couldn't help but feel a bit of deja vu as if I had seen this place before even though this was my first visit to Miami. Toward the end of the morning I figured it out. Jim Carrey filmed part of Ace Ventura at this home. Which made me love the place all the more. Enjoy the photos. For more information on Vizcaya visit their site here.

One of the many intricate doorways.

Stained Glass Windows…. and me. :)

Entrance to the large court yard in the middle of the home.

Decorative Ceiling

Ceiling and doorway

Another indoor room. I love the ship on the ceiling.

Staircase from the top.

Front of the waterside property.

Little lizard friend. This was as close as I dared get to him. I was sure he would attack.

Another water view.

Entrance to the Gardens.

Color Entrance to the Gardens.

Those are my favorites from the trip. LOVED LOVED LOVED these pools at the end of the gardens. Maybe it was because I was hot and thirsty. They looked so refreshing. I almost wanted to dive in for a swim. More like a wade I guess. They don't look very deep.