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Mar-a-Lago - American Architectural Treasure, Steel-Driven into a Massive Coral Reef by Mary Hess [1]
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Date: 2022-08-23
Lightner Museum Swimming Pool, St. Augustine, Florida - Historic Image 1889
There are no real “basements” in the State of Florida, unless they are in the “sand-hills” of Tallahassee. Most of the State of Florida lies at (or below) sea level. The various “Hills of Florida” are 345 feet above sea level, and much lower, and are located primarily in the interior of Northern Florida.
Historic buildings, that were built in Florida over 100 years ago, often had a in-ground pool constructed. I have seen two of these types of historic swimming pools. One of them is in St. Augustine, Florida, in the Hotel Alcazar (Lightner Museum), built in 1888. The pool was originally fed by an artisan well. The pool is beautiful, and is currently used as a “restaurant,” the Café Alcazar. This historic building and museum is also located near the Juan Ponce de Leon “Fountain of Youth.”
There is another 100-year-old “swimming pool” in Jacksonville Florida, in the historic National Guard Armory building. I worked on “low-budget” made-for-TV movies based out of the Armory in the 1990s. One day, I watched this 100-year-old “swimming pool” flood, naturally, by the nearby, overflowing, Hogan’s Creek. That “swimming pool” in Jacksonville is probably “flooded” right now.
Palm Beach, Florida
The elevation of Palm Beach, Florida, is seven (7) feet above sea level. Surrounded by the Atlantic ocean and the Lake Worth Lagoon, Mar-a-Lago is vulnerable to hurricane surge and flooding. It would not be a secure location to store the “paper archives” of an American president.
Railroad magnate, Henry Morrison Flagler, built two enormous Gilded Age hotels in Palm Beach in the late 1800s, The Royal Poinciana Hotel, and The Breakers.
The Royal Poinciana Hotel had two teams of construction workers, one “white” worker team, and another “black” worker team. The “black” worker team camp was called “the Styx.”
The Royal Poinciana Hotel had a large saltwater swimming pool, and a golf course. In September 1903, a hurricane destroyed the railroad that serviced the entrance of the hotel.
Hotel guests were often shuttled between The Royal Poinciana Hotel and the other Flagler Hotel, The Breakers, in wicker chairs on wheels, known as “Afromobiles.”
The Breakers was destroyed, two times by fire, in the early 1900s. It was “rebuilt” and is currently a “Luxury Hotel,” tourist destination, and museum.
In 1928, a hurricane, the Okeechobee Hurricane, made landfall in Palm Beach, Florida. The massive dikes at Lake Okeechobee failed, causing the deaths of 2,500 Americans, many of whom were African-American, who worked the mud flats of the lake. This hurricane is described in the famous novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Florida writer, Zora Neale Hurston.
This deadly hurricane caused the north wing of The Royal Poinciana Hotel, in Palm Beach, to shift off of its foundation, and destroyed much of the hotel.
During The American Great Depression, the hotel was almost completely demolished.
The Gilded Age (1870-1900)
The American Gilded Age (1870-1900) was a time of great industrialization in manufacturing, and required an enormous “unskilled labor force.” Many immigrants, including some of my ancestors, arrived from Europe, “happy” to obtain work in American factories and coal mines. Many of them lived in abject poverty, while extreme wealth was concentrated in families, like those of Majorie Merriweather Post.
Large American estates, like the Biltmore Estate, in Asheville, North Carolina, were built during the Gilded Age. The Biltmore Company runs the Biltmore Estate as a tourist attraction, and “venue rental property.” The Biltmore Company, is owned and run by descendants of the Vanderbilt Family.
Mar-a-Lago was a “sign of the times.” Like the fictional “Downton Abbey,” Mar-a-Lago was also used, at one point, as a rehabilitation center for military veterans.
The Great Depression
The construction of Mar-a-Lago took place right before The Great American Depression. The Great Depression brought widespread poverty and hunger to the United States of America, when the Stock Market crashed on “Black Tuesday,” October 29, 1929.
Only the Democratic policies of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and the “economic engine” of World War II, brought an end to The Great Depression.
Economists, like Ben Bernanke, have admitted that The Federal Reserve did not do enough to end the suffering experienced by Americans living under Herbert Hoover, a Republican President, who “blamed and deported Mexicans” for some of the misery. President Herbert Hoover is ranked as one of the worst presidents in U.S. history.
Extreme income inequality, and widespread drought in the Western Plains, contributed greatly to The Great Depression of the 1930s.
Mar-a-Lago
Mar-a-Lago was constructed, using steel pilings and reinforced concrete, to anchor it to the ancient coral reef, upon which it stands.
Mar-a-Lago took years to build from 1924-1927. Marjorie Merriweather Post, the American heiress to “Postum Cereal Company,” also known as “Post Cereal,” was responsible for, and was deeply involved in the construction of Mar-a-Lago, during the American “Gilded Age,” which lasted into the 1920s, The Roarin’ 20s.
The architect of the Mediterranean-style villa Mar-a-Lago was Marion Sims Wyeth, a graduate of Princeton and the Ecole des Beaux Arts, in Paris, France.
The interior designer was Joseph Urban, a designer of “magical sculptures” made from plaster casts. Joseph Urban, was an Austrian-American “scenic designer,” and a “fairy-tale” illustrator. The stage lighting gel Roscolux Urban Blue #81, is named for him. I know this color well, and have “touched it” many times, having worked in professional theatre lighting. It is an exquisite deep-sea blue color, the same color of the Atlantic ocean, offshore.
Mar-a-Lago has “fossil-laden” limestone arches, Italian marble, and multi-colored stonework, and antique Spanish tiles.
There is a “great arched window” facing the Atlantic Ocean. The single piece of glass for the window was made in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, was transported via locomotive, having to avoid “tunnels and low bridges,” because it was so large. It shattered, while being “put in place,” (oops!), and another giant glass window was ordered from Pittsburgh.
Mar-a-Lago has three (3) “basements,” which are probably at, or near “sea level.” It also has three (3) “fallout shelters,” constructed in case of nuclear bomb attack. Perhaps Donald Trump would be the only survivor of such an unthinkable and horrific attack.
The basements at the Mar-a-Lago Estate “would be” used primarily by “The Staff.” The “basements” house a boiler room, which generally is staffed by an engineer.
Other items in the 3 basements are a walk-in cooler, electrical transformer, electrical supply room, tool storage and workshop. There is a paint room. Large amounts of paint are probably required for building maintenance, in order to prevent salt air and rain erosion of the mansion. Also located in these basement spaces is storage for soap, toilet paper, and dry goods. Basement #3 has furniture storage, and a stairway to the “Butler’s Pantry.”
Legacy
An exquisite work of art, Mar-a-Lago was intended by Marjorie Merriwether Post to be owned by the United States government in 1973. She “gave” Mar-a-Lago to the National Park Service. However, due the high cost of maintenance of this American fortress, made, especially Republican politicians, balk at the “price” of preserving this historic landmark, for all American citizens to enjoy.
In 1981, a Republican Senate, and the Ronald Reagan Administration, “returned” Mar-a-Lago to the Estate of Marjorie Merriweather Post. The Estate had no intention of “owning” Mar-a-Lago anymore, and it was bought at a “fire-sale” price, by Donald John Trump, for $10 million. Donald Trump had already bought oceanfront property around the Estate, and threatened to “block the ocean view.”
American politicians, like Florida Senator Rick Scott, are insanely wealthy, just like a Gilded Age multi-millionaire. Probably no American politician is as tight-fisted, and penny-pinching, as Rick Scott. His wealth is now estimated at $300,000,000.00, and some change.
After watching Republican politicians “stand by,” while many Florida historic landmarks crumbled to the ground during my lifetime, it is time for a change. It is time to invest in American history, and architecture.
It is estimated that 30 billionaires live in Palm Beach, Florida. The “tiny” Montana town where Republican politician Elizabeth “Liz” Cheney lives, has the highest “income-per-capita” in the United States, with its “billionaires.”
While millions of Americans have literally “no representation” in the unbalanced “Stone Age” American Senate, these Gilded Era politicians, like Florida’s Rick Scott, and Addison Mitchell “Mitch” McConnell, the Third, have to be shown the door. American Democracy depends on it.
It is time to invest in places like Mar-a-Lago for all American citizens, not just Gilded Age politicians, like Rick Scott, and Donald Trump.
Sources: Wikipedia; Lightner Museum; MAR-A-LAGO HABS NO. FLA-195
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