Boca Rococo

Book excerpt: Addison Mizner’s Mediterranean-style mansions are much-admired Florida icons, where even today you can find many homes modeled with stucco walls and tiled roofs. In the paperback release of Boca Rococo, Caroline Seebohm’s successful biography on the flamboyant architect is more accessible now than ever as it reaches more readers interested in the man himself. Mizner had global experience from San Francisco to China during his early days, before landing in New York and eventually, South Florida. He had no formal training but did possess natural talent, establishing him as architect of the rich and famous. His designs made the city of Palm Beach one of America’s most elegant resort spots—and fed his dream of developing a “Venice-on-the-Ocean” in nearby Boca Raton. Mizner’s plans ended with the collapse of Florida’s real estate boom. He died in 1933, broken and bankrupt. With inspiration from and inclusion of never-before-seen material like floor plans and autobiographical works, and a new foreword written by the author, Seebohm gives readers a complete view of Mizner as one of the greatest architects and more flamboyant Americans.