History of Palm Beach

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1820 SOUTH OCEAN | COLLADO HUECO

ADDISON MIZNER | 1926

Courtesy of the Preservation Foundation of Palm Beach

One of the most significant Palm Beach architects is Addision Mizner, whose Mediterranean Revival, Venetian-inspired architecture exists today in some of Palm Beaches’ grandest homes, as well as the Town’s buildings and its European vias and palazzos. To create the fine details and furnishings of his homes, Mizner created his own shop to mill components and furniture. These fine details, finishes and furnishings still exist today.

550 SOUTH OCEAN 

MAURICE FATIO | 1930

Courtesy of the Preservation Foundation of Palm Beach

Maurice Fatio, born in Switzerland in 1887, is another noted Palm Beach architect. Fatio opened his first office in New York, and later in Palm Beach in the 1920s. Fatio’s celebrated Italian Renaissance style blended beautifully with Palm Beach’s Mediterranean architecture, and he was quickly embraced by high society. Later in the 1930s, Fatio’s style became more modern encompassing a Georgian-inspired classicism, symmetry, and simplicity of forms in keeping with the new modern aesthetic.

105 CLARENDON 

MARION SYMS WYETH | 1926

Courtesy of the Preservation Foundation of Palm Beach

Other architects also had a significant influence on Palm Beach’s charter. Marion Syms Wyeth arrived in Palm Beach in 1919 after graduating from Princeton, where he was trained in the Beaux-Arts style. He designed houses in a variety of architectural styles, including Spanish, Mediterranean, Southern style and Modernist Contemporary.

HOWARD MAJOR

Courtesy of the Preservation Foundation of Palm Beach

Howard Major, a graduate of the Pratt Institute, arrived in Palm Beach in 1925. He was less enchanted with the Spanish style of Mizner’s architecture, and more interested in the Georgian style of the British West Indies, which he believed was better suited to Palm Beach’s tropical climate. Interestingly, Major’s first commission featured Mizneresque details, but later transformed in a tropical, classical Georgian design, which later became his signature style.

In the 1930s, Major’s style reflected the evolution to lighter more tranquil colors and more contemporary forms.

8 SOUTH LAKE TRAIL | CASA BIENVENIDA

JOHN VOLK | 1938

Courtesy of the Preservation Foundation of Palm Beach

John Volk, born in Austria, and educated at Columbia University and the Beaux-Arts Institute in New York, arrived in Palm Beach in 1926. He and his partner Gustav Maas initially embraced the Mizner style of Spanish architecture, but in later years his residences and commercial buildings reflected varying styles, including Italianate, Regency and Modernist.

HOWARD MAJOR

Courtesy of the Preservation Foundation of Palm Beach

Howard Major, a graduate of the Pratt Institute, arrived in Palm Beach in 1925. He was less enchanted with the Spanish style of Mizner’s architecture, and more interested in the Georgian style of the British West Indies, which he believed was better suited to Palm Beach’s tropical climate. Interestingly, Major’s first commission featured Mizneresque details, but later transformed in a tropical, classical Georgian design, which later became his signature style.

In the 1930s, Major’s style reflected the evolution to lighter more tranquil colors and more contemporary forms.

320 EL VEDADO 

CLARENCE MACK | 1936

Courtesy of the Preservation Foundation of Palm Beach

Clarence Mack, born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1888, studied Renaissance architecture in Europe before arriving in Florida in 1935. Mack combined his experience as a designer and a builder of chateau-style homes with the knowledge he acquired during his travels, to create grand estates in the Georgian and classical French styles.

Mack’s designs are inspired by tradition, but featured large-scaled floor plans to meet the demands of modern life. He is best known for his gran Regency style estates.