Theme: The Legacy

Vizcaya After Deering

DEERING’S DEATH

Deering passed away with no direct descendants, and left no instruction for Vizcaya in his Will or otherwise.

1925 — The estate’s ownership transferred rapidly among family members ultimately landing with Deering’s nieces: Barbara Deering Danielson and Marion Deering McCormick.

1926 — The Great Miami hurricane caused extensive damage to Miami area including Vizcaya.

FROM PRIVATE HOME TO PUBLIC MUSEUM

Barbara and Marion, along with their spouses, initiated the process to realize Vizcaya as a public museum.

1930s — Barbara and Marion invited Vizcaya’s original Artistic Director Paul Chalfin back to prepare the estate in hopes of opening Vizcaya as a museum. But after two hurricanes (1926 and 1935), the effort was too difficult and expensive to achieve.

1951 — Miami-Dade County purchased the house and gardens; the Deering family donated the art collection, furnishings, decorative objects and garden sculpture.

1953 — Vizcaya opened as a public museum.

1955 — The Deering family conveyed the Vizcaya Village—a cluster of buildings across South Miami Avenue that housed staff, machine shops and domestic farm functions—to the county.

A black and white photo of people standing in front of a gate.

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.

FOR THE COMMUNITY

1982— The first Italian Renaissance Festival is held at Vizcaya, in association with the Renaissance Historical Society of Florida. This annual event took place on the estate on the third weekend of March annually until 2003.

1984— The first White Party is held at Vizcaya to raise money for the Health Crisis Network that provides social services counseling and financial help to people with HIV/AIDS. The event is held annually at Vizcaya until 2010.

NATIONAL HISTORIC LANDMARK

1986 — Vizcaya was accredited by the American Alliance of Museums.

1994 — Vizcaya achieved National Historic Landmark status.

2000-PRESENT

2006— Vizcaya’s Contemporary Arts Program (CAP) is initiated, with a project titled ORGAN by Miami-based artist Gustavo Matamoros.

2012— A new skylight is installed in the Courtyard, which screens for heat and UV, helping to protect the house’s interior and Vizcaya’s visitors from the elements.

2016— Plan to reunite the Two Sides of the Vizcaya Property and Restore the Village as an Educational Resource for Our Community is developed.

2016— Vizcaya celebrates its centennial on December 25, 2016 100 years after James Deering first moved into the Estate.

2017— Hurricane Irma strikes South Florida as a Category 5 hurricane, causing wreckage in Miami and Vizcaya.

And here we are… — Once a private home and now a public museum, Vizcaya preserves cultural and environmental resources to engage people in connecting with the past, understanding the present and shaping the future.

Visit Vizcaya’s website https://vizcaya.org/ to learn more about visiting, engaging, and the archives and collections.