By Florida Weekly Staff | on August 10, 2022
Circus baron John Ringling and his wife, Mable, built Ca’ d’Zan, their Venetian Gothic palazzo, on Sarasota Bay in the 1920s. VISIT FLORIDA
WHEN YOU THINK OF HOMES in Florida, you almost immediately envision a three-bedroom, two-bath home with a garage, sprinkler system and a lanai.
But a century ago, you’d have been grateful if that house had electricity and indoor plumbing and doors and windows strong enough to keep rodents, snakes and alligators at bay — forget air conditioning.
When Henry Flagler built Whitehall, the Palm Beach mansion that now is home to the Flagler Museum, it was considered a marvel that the building had central heating — never mind the marble, the art and the architecture of an edifice that has dominated the shores of Lake Worth since 1902.
Today, we might consider it a marvel that Whitehall still stands, even while so many other contemporary buildings have disappeared.
Join us as we take a road trip through southern Florida to houses that every resident of the Sunshine State needs to see.
For each of the homes, no matter how humble or how grand, it is a miracle that they have stood the test of time and endured the ravages of development.
TOP: The Gamble Mansion was built in the 1840s in Ellenton, near Bradenton. It’s the last surviving antebellum plantation home in southern Florida. ABOVE: The Gamble Mansion is furnished to reflect the lifestyle of a prosperous planter in mid-19th century Florida.
There is no place like home — especially when that place has transitioned from a shelter for people to a home for history.
Welcome — and, careful: You just might learn something.
We start our road trip north of Sarasota in Ellenton, near Bradenton.
Forget Tara, forget Twelve Oaks. Forget anything you might have read in “Gone With the Wind.”
This 1840s plantation house is the real deal.
And the state says it is the only surviving antebellum plantation house in South Florida.
The Judah P. Benjamin Confederate Memorial at Gamble Plantation Historic State Park, as it’s formally known, was established as a sugar plantation in 1843.
Major Robert Gamble Jr.’s mansion took six years to build. Gamble apparently assembled nearly 3,500 acres, but natural disasters and a bad sugar market drove him into debt by 1856. He sold the plantation in 1859.
PHOTOS COURTESY OF FLORIDA STATE PARKS
As for the Benjamin connection?
At the end of the Civil War in 1865, the U.S. government ordered the arrest of the Confederate Cabinet members. Benjamin, the Confederate secretary of state, fled Richmond with President Jefferson Davis, but parted company with the former Confederate chief, who was captured. Benjamin is thought to have sheltered briefly at Gamble plantation before catching a ship to England, where he went on to have a successful law career.
And the Gamble Mansion? Well, it’s small compared to some of the magnificent manses that line the mighty Mississippi, but it gives you an idea of what life was like for a wealthy white planter in the years before the Civil War.
The white 10-room, two-story house was built of tabby, a form of concrete made from oyster shells, with walls nearly two feet thick.
It takes its Greek Revival style from the 18 large columns that soar 25 feet to support the roofs of the porches. Inside, it has high ceilings and is furnished to reflect the style of a successful planter of the mid-19th century.
Confederate veterans stand outside the Gamble Mansion, now known as the Judah P. Benjamin Confederate Memorial at Gamble Plantation Historic State Park, in Ellenton in the 1920s. PHOTO COURTESY OF FLORIDA MEMORY
The labor for it was not volunteer — Gamble employed over 200 enslaved people to work the plantation. Some 190 individuals were sold and sent to Louisiana when the plantation was sold in 1859.
The United Daughters of the Confederacy bought the property, and in 1925, donated the house and 16 acres of land to the state. The property remains headquarters to the Florida Division United Daughters of the Confederacy.
It’s at 3708 Patten Ave. (U.S. Highway 301), Ellenton; 941-723-4536. No entrance fee. Tours: $6 per adult, $4 per child (6 to 12 years). Visit www.floridastateparks.org and search for Gamble Mansion.
Ca’ d’Zan at The Ringling
Who needs a mansion when you can have a palazzo?
That seemed to be the mindset of circus baron John Ringling and his wife, Mable, who built their Venetian Gothic fantasy of a house on Sarasota Bay, about 15 miles south of the Gamble Mansion.
In addition to building a palazzo on Sarasota Bay, John and Mable Ringling also created a large garden filled with sculptures, as well as a museum to handle their art collections.
The Ringlings, who toured Europe extensively acquiring acts and artwork, fell in love with the architecture of Venice.
They had a winter residence in Sarasota, but were inspired to create a new one in the style of such great buildings as Venice’s Ducal Palace, Ca’ d’Oro and Grunwald Hotel.
Construction of the 36,000-squarefoot house began in 1924 and wrapped just before Christmas 1926. Mable reportedly oversaw every aspect of the construction, from the mixing of the terra cotta to the glazing of the tiles.
Yet the $1.5 million Ca’ d’Zan (roughly $15.7 million today) was named “House of John” in the Venetian dialect in honor of her husband.
Poor Mable only lived three years after the completion of her palazzo, dying of Addison’s disease and complications of diabetes.
After John Ringling died in 1936, the property was bequeathed to the people of Florida, but legal battles with his creditors meant the property remained closed for a decade.
In 1946, it opened to the public, and for the next half-century, maintenance was deferred.
By the late 1990s, Ca’ d’Zan was in poor enough condition that it served as the location for Miss Havisham’s mansion in a 1996 remake of Charles Dickens tale “Great Expectations.”
The home underwent a $15 million restoration project that was completed in 2002, and rooms are staged as they appeared when the Ringlings were in residence in the Roaring ’20s, complete with clothing and accessories.
The adjoining galleries house their collection of 600 Old Master paintings — including works by Peter Paul Rubens — 2,800 objects of Greek, Roman and Cypriot antiquities Ringling acquired from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. There also is a circus museum. The adjoining Historic Asolo Theater, a critically acclaimed regional theater, also displays The Ringling’s collection of American and European studio glass.
Thomas Edison had his winter home, named Seminole Lodge, prefabricated in Maine and shipped to Fort Myers via four schooners in the 1880s. The caretaker’s house on the property reportedly is one of the oldest structures in Fort Myers. VISIT FLORIDA
If you want to visit, get there fast — Ca’ d’Zan closes for an indefinite period starting Sept. 6 for the restoration of the home’s Aeolean organ.
The Ringling is at 5401 Bay Shore Road, Sarasota. Info: 941-359-5700 or www.ringling.org.
The Edison and Ford Winter Estates
The winter homes of Thomas Edison and Henry Ford are about as far removed from the splendor of Ca d’Zan as you can get.
They are, well, just plain homey.
When Edison, the great inventor, first came to Fort Myers in 1885, the area was a wilderness. There was no rail service and any roads were rudimentary. The easiest way to get there was by boat.
Edison saw the potential of the area’s natural resources for developing new products and bought just over 13 acres of land along the Caloosahatchee. He later used carbonized bamboo fiber for the filaments in his lightbulbs, which provided a long lasting, steady light.
Vizcaya, John Deering’s estate on Biscayne Bay in Miami, looks centuries old, but was built with reinforced concrete and other early 20th century amenities. He filled the house with art and antiques collected in Europe.
Edison designed the house, dubbed Seminole Lodge, and had it prefabricated of spruce in Maine, then sent to Florida via four schooners and assembled facing the river. A colonnade later joined the main house with a guest house. The house is surrounded by a botanical garden cultivated by Edison to generate materials for his projects — he even kept bees to pollinate the plants and to provide wax for the development of waxed paper and phonographic cylinders. The swimming pool he designed in 1910 was one of the first residential pools built. His laboratory and a museum showcasing some of his automobiles and his inventions are across the street.
As for the house, it’s comfortable and filled with furnishings the Edisons used. Edison died in 1931 and Mina Edison deeded the house to the city of Fort Myers in 1947. In many ways, the house, the study and the laboratory are just as the Edisons left them. The property offers a window into another time.
Generations of schoolchildren — this writer included — remember when docents included Edison’s former lab assistants, by this time old men.
Henry and Clara Ford were friends of the Edisons and frequent visitors to the guest quarters before buying the craftsman bungalow next door in 1916.
That house, named The Mangoes, was sold to the city in 1988. It opened to the public in 1990.
The Edison and Ford Winter Estates are at 2350 McGregor Blvd., Fort Myers. Info: 239-334-7419 or www.edisonfordwinterestates.org.
From Fort Myers, we travel south along the Tamiami Trail, past Naples, and on to Miami, then head down U.S. 1 to Coconut Grove.
It was there that James Deering built his own version of a palazzo on Biscayne Bay.
Vizcaya, as it was called, for the Basque pronunciation of “Biscayne,” took eight years to complete. It is a masterpiece, combining elements of an 18th-century Italian villa, in particular the country estates of the Veneto region of northern Italy. The designers adapted traditional Mediterranean architectural elements to the subtropical climate.
A cat sits on a writing table once used by Ernest Hemingway in the author’s studio at the Ernest Hemingway Home & Museum in Key West. ROB O‘NEAL / FLORIDA KEYS NEWS BUREAU
On the surface, the building appears to be a centuries-old stucco structure.
But inside? It was cutting edge a century ago and more, with reinforced concrete walls, an electrical generator and a water filtration system, and designed for comfort, with heating and ventilation systems, two elevators, a dumbwaiter, refrigerators, an automated telephone switchboard, a central vacuum-cleaning system and a partly automated laundry room.
We can marvel at those innovations.
But the real reason people visit Vizcaya is because of what Deering, an International Harvester heir, and designer Paul Chalfin, did with the interiors and gardens.
Like the Ringlings, Deering and Chalfin traveled to Europe, where they shopped for the finest in art, antiques and tapestries.
Henry Flagler built Whitehall, now the Flagler Museum, as a wedding gift for his bride, Mary Lily Kenan Flagler, in 1902. Henry Flagler’s private Railcar No. 91 is on display in the Flagler Museum’s Flagler Kenan Pavilion, adjacent to Whitehall. DISCOVER THE PALM BEACHES
For the interiors, Chalfin tried to evoke the style of different Italian cities, so Vizcaya has rooms inspired by Milan (music room), Palermo (reception room) and Venice (the Cathay and Espagnolette bedrooms). He looked to the Renaissance for inspiration in the living and dining rooms.
Deering also was a patron of the arts who was friends with the painters John Singer Sargent and Anders Zorn — Sargent visited Vizcaya and painted watercolors of the estate, as well as a portrait of Deering.
Starting in 1923, Deering opened his gardens to the public on Sundays; he watched visitors from a balcony, curious to see who came.
He died in 1925 on a ship bound for France, and his heirs eventually sold the house and neighboring village to Miami-Dade County for a museum and gardens.
Unlike many other house-museums, the art and furnishings of Vizcaya survive intact, and you can see them just as Chalfin and Deering envisioned them. It’s magical.
Part of what made that magic possible was the Vizcaya Village, 11 buildings erected in 1916 to make Vizcaya self-sufficient, with staff quarters, a garage and workshops, barns, and greenhouses and fields that supplied fresh flowers, fruit and vegetables. The village, across South Miami Avenue from the main house, currently is under renovation, with plans for it to open sometime in the next year.
Vizcaya Museum & Gardens is at 3251 S. Miami Ave., Miami. Info: 305-250-9133 or www.vizcaya.org.
The Hemingway Home & Museum
From Miami, you can take U.S. 1 to its southernmost town, Key West.
There, you will see the house where Ernest Hemingway lived and worked during most of the 1930s.
The author and his then-wife, Pauline, bought the Whitehead Street property in 1931 for $8,000. Including the gardens, it is the largest property on the island. The pool was added in the late 1930s at a cost of $20,000.
The Hemingways and their sons, Patrick and Gregory, lived in the house until 1940. It is filled with original furniture, art, European antiques and trophy mounts from Hemingway’s safaris.
Besides its literary legacy — Hemingway wrote “To Have and Have Not” and “For Whom the Bell Tolls” at the house — the property also is home to about 50 cats, many of whom are polydactyl, with an extra toe on one or more paws.
The house and gardens offer a bit of respite from Key West’s party vibe, but it’s not difficult to imagine “Papa,” as he was known, coming home after drinking at Sloppy Joe’s — he built the brick wall that lines the property. Tour guides often note that many of the bricks are crooked, suggesting he and Capt. “Sloppy” Joe Russell may have indulged during construction of the wall.
The Hemingway Home & Museum at 907 Whitehead St., Key West. Info: 305- 294-1136 or www.hemingwayhome.com.
The Henry Morrison Flagler Museum
Henry Flagler is responsible for the development of Florida as we know it.
The Standard Oil baron built his Florida East Coast Railway to Miami, and later to the Keys, and cities and towns formed along its route, and he built hotels for their visitors — The Breakers in Palm Beach is the most famous of these inns.
Flagler had homes in New York and St. Augustine, but Whitehall, in Palm Beach, is the one that received the most acclaim in its day. It also is the one that endures.
But it almost fell to the wrecking ball.
Thanks to the Standard Oil baron’s granddaughter, Jean Flagler Matthews, the house, built in 1902 as a wedding gift to Flagler’s bride, Mary Lily Kenan, endures as a testimony to his love.
The Gilded Age palace left visitors to Palm Beach awestruck — the home even had central heating.
After Flagler’s death in 1913, the house became part of the Whitehall Hotel, with an 11-story tower built behind it.
When the hotel became obsolete in 1959, it seemed the house might be demolished. But Matthews raised the money to preserve the house once the tower was demolished.
Over the decades, the museum has acquired furnishings original to the house. In more recent years, the place has been air-conditioned to stabilize conditions for the antiques and artwork on display. The museum has a noteworthy lace collection and it hosts exhibitions each season pegged to art and artifacts of the Gilded Age.
You also can see a bit of Flagler’s railroad legacy.
The mogul’s private Railcar No. 91 is on display in the museum’s Flagler Kenan Pavilion. The car, built in 1886 for Flagler’s personal use, was acquired by the museum in 1959. Beginning in 1967, the interior and exterior of Railcar No. 91 car was restored to its 1912 appearance, when Flagler used it to travel along the Over-Sea Railroad to celebrate the completion of the FEC Railway from St. Augustine to Key West.
Come September, the museum will offer musical performances on select Sundays on Flagler’s 1902 J. H. & C. S. Odell & Co. organ in the music room and the 1901 Steinway and Sons model B art case piano in the drawing room. Sounds like a fine way to spend a Sunday. During season, the Flagler offers high tea in its Café des Beaux-Arts, and the museum has a really great store, perfect for gift shopping.
It’s at One Whitehall Way, Palm Beach. Info: 561-655-2833 or www.flaglermuseum.us.
Other historic houses worth a visit
The Blanchard House Museum — The house, built in 1925 for fisherman Joseph Blanchard and his wife, Minnie, is a craftsman bungalow used as a museum dedicated to sharing the history, culture, and contributions of African-Americans in the settlement and development of Charlotte County and Southwest Florida. The museum is closed for summer; it will reopen in October. It’s at 406 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Punta Gorda. Info: 941- 575-7518 or www.blanchardhousemuseum.org.
Burroughs Home & Gardens — This Fort Myers landmark, built in 1901, was home to the family of Nelson and Adeline Burroughs. The Georgian Revival mansion, situated on the Caloosahatchee River, hosted many of the great society parties of its day. It’s now primarily a venue for weddings, but the restored home, with its early 20th century furnishings, is open for tours. It’s at 2505 First St., Fort Myers. Info: www.burroughshome.com.
Mound House — Situated atop a shell mound created by the Calusa tribe, the Mound House offers a look at millennia of history on Estero Island. Built in 1906 as the William H. Case House, it’s the oldest standing structure on Estero Island. It has been restored with the furnishings and finishes that reflect its heyday of 1921. The house serves as a multilevel museum, showcasing Calusa artifacts and interactive exhibits, as well as 19th and 20th century life in the fishing village that has become Fort Myers Beach. It’s at 451 Connecticut St., Fort Myers Beach. Info: 239-765-0865 or www.moundhouse.org.
Historic Palm Cottage — The oldest house in Naples, Palm Cottage was built to endure, with construction of tabby mortar — a concrete of sand, shells and water. The two-story house was built by one of Naples’ founding residents, Walter N. Haldeman, and boasts 3,500 square feet of artwork, furnishings and tools. The cottage is under the aegis of the Naples Historical Society. Be sure to tour the adjoining Norris Gardens. Each Christmas season, the cottage is decorated for the holidays. It’s at 137 12th Ave. S., Naples. Info: 239-261-8164 or www.napleshistoricalsociety.org.
Bonnet House Museum & Gardens — This was a home to artists. Now it’s a home to art. In 1920, Frederic Clay Bartlett created Bonnet House on oceanfront land given to him and his second wife, Helen Louise Birch, by her father, Hugh Taylor Birch (there’s a beach named for him), a prominent Chicago attorney, real estate investor and naturalist. Helen died of breast cancer in 1925 and Bartlett married Evelyn Fortune Lilly in 1931. She spent winters at Bonnet House until 1995. As an aside, Bartlett and his first wife collected such paintings as Georges Seurat’s pointillist masterpiece, “Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte,” Paul Gauguin’s “Day of the Gods” and Pablo Picasso’s “The Old Guitarist.” You can see those works at the Art Institute of Chicago as part of the Helen Birch Bartlett Memorial Collection. Bonnet House is at 900 N. Birch Road, Fort Lauderdale. Info: 954-563-5393 or www.bonnethouse.org.
The Historic Stranahan House Museum — Frank Stranahan, credited as Fort Lauderdale’s founding father, built this two-story wood frame house on the New River in 1901. It’s Broward County’s oldest surviving building, and has served as a trading post, post office, community gathering, as well as a home to the Stranahans. It was restored by the Fort Lauderdale Historical Society and the Fort Lauderdale Board of Realtors and opened to the public as a historic house museum in 1984. It’s at 335 SE Sixth Ave., downtown Fort Lauderdale. Info: 954-524-4736 or www.stranahanhouse.org.
The Cason Cottage — If you’re in Delray Beach, you’ll enjoy seeing this 1924 vernacular frame house. Since 1989, the Delray Beach Historical Society has operated the structure as a house museum to help interpret the city’s history from 1915 to 1935. It’s furnished to reflect life in the early years of the 20th century. A bit of history: Its builder, the Rev. J.R. Cason, was the founder of Florida’s first orphanage, at Enterprise, in Volusia County, north of Orlando. The current exhibition at the cottage is “Delray Beach: WWII Homefront.” It’s at 5 NE First St., Delray Beach. Info: 561-274-9578 or www.delraybeachhistory.org.
Spady Cultural Heritage Museum — This house museum is dedicated to discovering, collecting and sharing the African-American history and heritage of Palm Beach County.
The two-story Mission Revival house was built around 1925-26 for Solomon D. Spady, a prominent Black educator and community leader in Delray Beach. It’s at 170 NW Fifth Ave., Delray Beach. Info: 561-279-8883 or www.spadymarketplace.org.
The DuBois Pioneer Home — Built in 1898 by the DuBois family, the shingle style house stands atop an ancient midden near Jupiter Inlet. The home is furnished as it was a century ago, with clothing and other items of the time. It’s at DuBois Park, 19075 DuBois Road, Jupiter. Info: 561-966-6609 or www.discover. pbcgov.org. ¦
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