Old World Miami Luxury.
Where Elegance and Class Can Still be Bought and Experienced …
If we may take a moment and harken our attention back to the grand ole days, when society dressed for dinner. When custom was the man would pull out the lady’s chair, and rise in respect as she gracefully left the table. Old world manners often went hand in hand with old world luxury and the remnants of this by-gone era are plentiful and prevalent in modern day Miami.
First in evidence of this is the Biltmore Hotel, billed as Miami’s finest in luxury. One can easily believe it with a massive open-air pool bordered on one side by an old-world travertine-floored portico guarded by grand uniform-sized Greco Italian statues in white marble. One can believe that Michelangelo’s beautiful David, thinks himself blessed for his eternal vision of a half-clad roman goddess with flowing alabaster hair standing to his right.
The old-world exterior architecture that keeps one entranced in its spell is carried inside as a recurrent theme. Massive fresco-painted ballrooms with stone columns and rich, deep brocades adorn the era-setting vistas around every corner. The ten plus restaurants are uniquely themed but consistent in the era’s character. To be immersed in Miami Old World Luxury for a day, a week or a month, one need search no further.
If by chance, while on your luxurious visit back in time, you seek transportation, the free Miami Trolley network would suit you perfectly. Stepping aboard, you enter into an old European ambiance with seats made of polished wood, open, arched windows, brass railings and friendly fellow travelers. Even the waste receptacles are cast iron and shaped as old European red fire hydrants.
A Private castle located on Bayshore Lane is proof that old souls are still alive in Miami and demand luxuriously decadent, past-era surroundings. While of the modern era build (2009), you would be forgiven for assuming that this Gothic inspired, opulent masterpiece consisting of 12,000 square feet of living space with 30 foot vaulted ceilings, stone fireplaces, antique stained glass windows, French cast bronze chandeliers, Jerusalem stone floors and cast stone windows, miraculously appeared over night, having been rousted and transported on the gossamer clouds of ancestors from the Middle-Ages Renaissance of France.
True to the magnificent grandeur of the by-gone era; turn of 20th Century, Architect F. Burrall Hoffman designed Villa Vizcaya, as commissioned and built in the Tuscan Italian Renaissance style by James Deering of Deering McCormick International Harvester fortune. It is now a public museum of the same name and still showcases much of the original awe-inspiring furnishings and accoutrements of the day, lacking nothing in era luxury, opulence, and presence only afforded by the wealthiest of Miami who assumed such luxury as their standard mantel. This lavish estate includes 120-year-old formal gardens that are so unique and splendorous as to be called a national treasure.
Lastly, we must make mention for ladies, and possibly of interest to the old-fashioned gentlemen who support them, that the Modiste is still alive and exclusive in Miami. She understands that each commissioned creation is a one-of-a-kind made to order and is exclusive to her House and dare not find duplication upon another Lady’s form. Flowing, uncommon wardrobe creations requiring yards of silk and lace, adorned with natural pearls and diamonds, taking months in the planning, fitting and delivery, are most certainly reminiscent of Old-World Society. You may find her creations in various select locations in Miami frequented only by those who have a passion for, an understanding of, and an ability to pay what she asks for her privileged and especial attentions. She goes by the name of Haute Couture and to be caught up in her world is to become addicted to all she stands for … Old World Miami Luxury.
