Vizcaya Museum and Gardens

Vizcaya mansion facing Biscayne Bay

After another cruise ending in Miami, we decided to stay an extra night before flying home to explore some more of the city. We asked the front desk at the hotel if they had any suggestions on what to see or do in the area, and they gave us a printed list of ideas (a great tip, if you’re not sure what’s nearby!). On the list I saw the Vizcaya Museums and Gardens, and having briefly heard of it before, I decided it would be fun for us to check it out.

We hired an Uber driver to take us out to the museum, which is located in the Coconut Grove neighborhood, one mile south of Miami on Biscayne Bay. The drive up to the mansion was through a lush, green canopy of trees, quite a contrast from the grey and glass buildings and of Miami that we came from. The driver dropped us off at the top of the driveway to the mansion where we paid for our tickets ($25 for adults), and then we walked a short distance to the entrance of the mansion.

First a little history:

The Vizcaya mansion and gardens is the former villa and winter home of James Deering of the Deering-McCormick International Harvester fortune. They were built between 1914 and 1922 for $15 million. The mansion itself was influenced by Venito and Tuscan Italian Renaissance, designed in the Mediterranean Revival architectural style with Baroque elements.

The original property consisted of 180 acres, which included sprawling lagoon gardens, as well as a working farm and village on what is now known as Miami Avenue. After Deering’s death in 1925, his family began to sell off the surrounding land parcels and outer gardens of the property over the next decade due to increasing maintenance costs and hurricanes. Only 50 acres of the main house, the gardens, and the village remain. In 1952 the property was acquired by Miami-Dade county and designated as a National Historic Landmark.

You may remember seeing glimpses of the outside of the mansion in movies like Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, Any Given Sunday, Bad Boys II, and scenes from Days of our Lives were filmed here. During our visit, we stumbled across what looked like a very dramatic telenovela balcony scene being filmed!

When you visit Vizcaya, you can take a guided tour of the mansion or the gardens for $5 each. You can also download an app which has self-guided tours where you can learn about points of interest in the house, and the significance of the plants and sculptures in the garden. On Sundays free tours are offered as part of the weekly Vizcaya Farmers Market.

The Vizcaya mansion has 70 rooms lavishly decorated with antiques and furniture from the 15th to the 19th century. Each room has opulent features, such as large chandeliers, gilded wall frames, and ornate fireplaces.

John Deering's bedroom

One of the cool things about the mansion is that it featured a lot of the newest technology from the 1920s, such as doorbells, a dumbwaiter, a central vacuum system, a partially-automated laundry room, and a rotary-dial phone. In fact, Vizcaya’s telephone system was the first in Miami-Dade County!

Telephone room

Each room has it’s own distinct personality. Among them we saw:

• A room dedicated just for flower arranging

• Rooms for men and women to change and freshen up in after their long train rides to the property

• A private telephone room

• A music room

• A hidden doorway from a study that looked like a bookshelf

• A full-sized pipe organ hidden within the walls

• A unique indoor/outdoor pool with an elaborate ceiling mural done by American muralist Robert Winthrop Chanler that reportedly, Deering himself never even used!

Music room

Asian-themed breakfast room

Surrounding the house is the magnificent 10 acres of formal gardens. These gardens were designed by landscape architect, Diego Suarez, and were inspired by the formal French and Italian gardens of the 1400s through the 1700s. The overall landscape of the design was conceived as a series of rooms with sweeping views of Biscayne Bay. The entire garden area is filled with fantasy gardens with different themes. Among those we saw were:

• The rose garden

• The theatre garden

• The labyrinth garden

• Grottos

• The statuary walk

• The waterfall

• The orchidarium

Italian Renaissance Gardens

Casino waterfall

Coral and stone work in one of the grottos

Deering also protected an area of the mangrove shoreline on the property, which shelters the gardens today. During our visit, we could see areas along the bay where the mangroves have started to take over, crowding over crumbling statues that would have been part of the yard.

One of the most interesting features of the property is the stone barge in the Bay, which looks like a floating ship. James Deering and his guests would row out to the barge in a small boat to have parties or sit in the sun and enjoy the view of the Bay. Unfortunately, Hurricane Irma did some major damage to the barge in 2017, and visitors could not go out to it at the time we visited. The barge, boat landing, and nearby tea house are currently undergoing extensive renovations to restore them to their former glory. Looking out at the barge from the mansion, you can just imagine the lavish sunset parties Deering hosted there in the 1920s, with lights strung up, champagne flowing, and laughter in the air.

One side of the barge in the Bay

Another interesting thing we learned is Vizcaya is a popular place for adolescents to take pictures for their quinceaneras and can often be seen posing for photographers on any day of the week. We saw at least two groups on our visit.

If you’re a fan of 1920s architecture and nostalgia like I am, then you will definitely love touring the Vizcaya Museum and Gardens. And, if you are staying the night in Miami, be sure to pick one of the beautiful historic hotels in South Beach and take a stroll along the famous Ocean Drive, which is an Art Deco-lovers dream!

For tickets and more information, click here.