Why did a playful seahorse annoy James Deering?
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1. James Deering questions his colleague, Paul Chalfin.
Telegram: March 6, 1916
From: James Deering, Vizcaya’s Owner, New York
To: Paul Chalfin, Vizcaya’s Artistic Director, Miami
Always understood weathervane on house was to be caravel. It is now up and is a seahorse. Seahorses abound with only one caravel to date. You informed me glass in doors of closed loggia would be plain. They cannot be seen through and should be changed.
JD 1AM
2. Three days later, Deering sounds annoyed.
Telegram: March 9, 1916
From: James Deering, Vizcaya’s Owner, New York
To: Paul Chalfin, Vizcaya’s Artistic Director, Miami
Twenty times at least we have agreed caravel is emblem of house seahorse is incidental and secondary. Nothing else ever discussed connot understand your forgetting. In any case, think best it should be so. Have ordered making seahorses for arches in forecourt not made for present. Can transfer seahorse weathervane to boathouse. Am writing. Concrete fences like original pink fences cost dollar ninety-four per foot. Everything considered do you not think wise use same fence on new purchases? Have ordered contours made.
JD 5:05p
Who should have the final say, the owner or designer?
Deering wanted Vizcaya’s symbol to be a caravel, representing exploration and cultural exchange. Chalfin preferred the more playful seahorse inspired by Vizcaya’s waterfront location.
Who did have the final say?
Explore the 360° image of the Enclosed Loggia below and decide for yourself.
Deering built Vizcaya—a Gilded Age home of singular architecture and design in an uncommon location—as a place of retirement and respite for his pernicious anemia, which was incurable at the time. He was a lifelong bachelor with no direct descendants, and Deering left no instruction for Vizcaya in his Will or otherwise. Upon his death, the estate’s ownership transferred rapidly among family members ultimately landing with Deering’s nieces: Barbara Deering Danielson and Marion Deering McCormick.
