The lasting legacy of architect and planner Addison Mizner on the city of Boca Raton
Editor's Note: As the city of Boca Raton celebrates its 100th anniversary of incorporation in May 1925, we look back at how it all started. This story originally ran in the Palm Beach Daily News in December 2024.
By the mid-1920s, California-born architect Addison Mizner had established what would turn out to be his lasting legacy in the town of Palm Beach, having sparked a mania for houses, mansions and other buildings influenced by the architecture of Spain, Italy and Central America, yet bearing his own distinctive and sometimes flamboyant stamp.
With his reputation established, Mizner looked south about 30 miles — to the coastal farming settlement of Boca Raton — with a vision that could only be described as grand. He would design and build a resort city from the ground up, taking his architectural cues from Venice and Moorish Spain.
As he envisioned it, homes and a luxury hotel would be connected by a grand canal — complete with gondolas and gondoliers — as well as El Camino Real, described in promotional materials as 'The Royal Highway of Boca Raton.'
It was 1925, at the height of Florida's soon-to-bust land boom, when Mizner and a group of financial backers founded Mizner Development Corp. to create that dream of a town on 1,600 acres along the Intracoastal Waterway. The city would also have 2 miles of oceanfront.
The investors in Mizner Development Corp. included Paris Singer, the Singer Sewing Machine heir, who had given Mizner his first Palm Beach commission in 1918 to design the building that became The Everglades Club.
Mizner's dream for Boca Raton would ultimately implode, smashed in 1926 by Florida's land bust driven by a frenzy of speculation as well as a devastating hurricane. By 1927, Mizner was bankrupt. By 1933, he was dead, at age 60.
But in May 1925, when Boca Raton was incorporated, the newly formed Town Council was heartily embracing Mizner's vision, which was nothing short of captivating — an Old World-style oasis that would somehow capture the excitement of the Roaring Twenties.
Mizner threw himself into the Boca Raton project with gusto. 'It is my soul, my heart, my pride to which I shall give my all," he told the Miami News at the time. "If it is not made the most beautiful place in all the world, it will not be for want of trying.'
To celebrate the city's centennial, the Boca Raton Historical Society's exhibit 'Boca Raton 1925-2025: Addison Mizner's Legacy' is running through May 30 at The Schmidt Boca Raton History Museum on Federal Highway.
The multimedia exhibit highlights Boca Raton's past century of development, beginning with Mizner's early contributions and tracing his lasting influence. On view are photographs, drawings, maps and videos, along with historic artifacts and furnishings associated with Mizner.
There are still architectural remnants of Mizner's dream standing in Boca Raton, including parts of the design for the historic City Hall building, which houses the museum, and homes in the Old Floresta and Spanish Village residential neighborhoods.
Just as important was Mizner's original hotel building, which debuted as The Ritz-Carlton Cloister but today is part of the much larger luxury resort known simply as The Boca Raton. The 1,000-room resort and private club is the main sponsor of the exhibit.
Historian Augustus Mayhew, who served as guest curator for the exhibit, told the Palm Beach Daily News the opening of the Ritz-Carlton Cloister, often referred to as The Cloister Inn, was a milestone for Mizner and his investors.
Yet by the summer of 1926, after less than a year, Mizner's experiment in urban planning came to a shocking end when high-profile board members withdrew their support, leaving Mizner in horrific financial distress.
As he researched the exhibit, Mayhew said, he was struck by the lasting effects of the project's failure on Mizner's reputation as a businessman.
'Although in later years Mizner and his brother Wilson were often caricatured as con men, fraudsters and thieves, I was surprised to discover that Mizner, Boca Raton's official city planner and major architect — the man who conceived and operated Palm Beach County's largest business during the 1920s — had very little if anything to do with money or any of the financial aspects of the Mizner Development Corporation,' said Mayhew. 'He was too focused on his T-square to ever look at the bottom line.'
The exhibit is on view 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday at the museum, 71 N. Federal Highway, through May 30. Admission is $12 for adults; and $8 for seniors 65 and older and students 5 and older. For more information, call 561-395-6766 or visit BocaHistory.org.
Darrell Hofheinz is a USA TODAY Network of Florida journalist who writes about Palm Beach real estate.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Boca Raton history: Addison Mizner's influence on 1925 incorporation
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