Like its palatial contemporaries Biltmore and San Simeon, Vizcaya represents an achievement of the Gilded Age, when country houses and their gardens were a conspicuous measure of personal wealth and power. Vizcaya: An American Villa and Its Makers, a new book by Witold Rybczynski and Laurie Olin, chronicles the development of one of America’s greatest architectural treasures.
According to the December 9th Wall Street Journal review, the book seeks to counter an ideological bias against the American Renaissance style of architecture. "Mr. Rybczcynski and Mr. Olin judge the villa as they find it today and in the context of the historical process that produced it, rather than through a filter of modernist criteria."
A recent Miami Herald article says that Rybczynski and Olin’s Vizcaya "locates the house and garden within the artistic and intellectual context of the times with wonderfully readable tales."
This week Witold Rybczynski travels to Miami, Florida to discuss the new book. He will give two public presentations featuring photographs from the book and a discussion of the architecture, landscape and garden design, interior decoration, and art that make Vizcaya a national treasure. Presentation locations and times are listed below.
Wednesday, December 13
7:00 PM
Vizcaya Museum and Gardens
3251 South Miami Avenue
Miami, FL 33129
305-250-9133
For reservations, contact learning.programs@ vizcayamuseum.org.
For more information, call 305-250-9133
Friday, December 15
8:00 PM
Books & Books, Coral Gables
265 Aragon Avenue
Coral Gables, FL
305-442-4408
