From Palm Beach to Shangri La

By Jane S. Day

Beauty and elegance mingle with extravagance in the Palm Beach style of architect Marion Sims Wyeth, a kind of home design that takes the standard fixtures of paradise—palm trees, ebullient fountains, glistening pools and gardens, views of the sea—and mixes them with a dash of the exotic—a Moorish-style balcony or doorway, Venetian archways, fanciful courtyards in the Spanish style, and spiraling staircases in stone and iron.

Featured here are the legendary abodes of Marjorie Merriweather Post and Doris Duke—Mar-a-Lago and Shangri La, respectively—as well as the less well known but equally spectacular Hogarcito and La Claridad, to name but a few. For those unfamiliar with these dream palaces, intimate homes of repose and reflection, for the enjoyment of life and the living of it, the book serves at once as a revelation and an inspiration.