Monday, May 23, 2011

Mar-a-Lago and Marjorie Merriweather Post

While checking out YouTube, I did a search for Marjorie Merriweather Post and found these two videos that may be of interest to y'all.  I was fortunate to work at Mar-a-Lago for ten years as the Mar-a-Lago Club's Director of Projects.  Marjorie Post when married to E. F. Hutton in the 1920s worked with architects Joseph Urban and Marion Simms Wyeth to create the famous estate on eighteen ocean-to-lake acres.  In the fly over, you can see some of the many projects in which I was involved including the tennis court complex, the beach pool and cabanas and the approval of the ballroom location and design.  You will have to click here to see the video since embedding has been disabled.

Mrs. Post also owned Hillwood, her Washington, D.C. residence, which has since become the Hillwood Museum and Gardens.  I gave a talk there two years ago about Palm Beach in the 1920s.  The museum serves as a home for her collection of Russian and French decorative arts.  It is considered a private museum but tours are available by appointment if you call ahead.  It's located in the northwestern part of the city and its position at the edge of Rock Creek Park gives the sensation that the estate has much more land associated with it than it actually does.  This video is about a flagpole found on the property that evokes images of the Sea Cloud, Mrs. Post's sailing yacht, that was built about the same time as Mar-a-Lago.  Enjoy.