ICAA & Preservation Foundation Members Only

From Palm Beach to Shangri-La: The Architecture of Marion Sims Wyeth by Dr. Jane S. Day.

Celebrate the publication of the first monograph on Marion Sims Wyeth with a special cocktail reception and book signing at Southwood.

PALM BEACH, FL – To celebrate the publication of From Palm Beach to Shangri La: The Architecture of Marion Sims Wyeth, the Preservation Foundation will be hosting a cocktail reception and book signing at Southwood on Wednesday, November 3rd at 6pm. Guests will have the opportunity to meet with author Dr. Jane Day to have their monographs signed, and tour the Wyeth designed estate.

The spacious lakefront estate known as Southwood was designed by Marion Sims Wyeth in 1934. The spare-no-expense-estate was commissioned by Dr. John A. Vietor and his wife, Eleanor Woodward Vietor, a Jell-o heiress, at the cost $190,000 or about $2.4million adjusted for inflation. Wyeth incorporated Monterey and Southern Colonial details, which was a departure from the prevailing Mediterranean Revival style that was popular prior to the Depression. The home was recently restored by architect Kristin Kellogg of Smith Kellogg Architecture.

From Palm Beach to Shangri La: The Architecture of Marion Sims Wyeth will be the first in depth look at the life and work of Marion Sims Wyeth, from his family background through a Palm Beach career that lasted from 1919 to 1973. Featured here are the legendary abodes of Marjorie Merriweather Post and Doris Duke—Mar-a-Lago and Shangri La, respectively—as well as the less well known but equally spectacular Hogarcito and La Claridad, to name but a few. Wyeth’s architectural drawings and historic photographs, many of which have never been published, and new photographs of iconic structures will be featured. For those unfamiliar with these dream palaces, intimate homes of repose and reflection, for the enjoyment of life and the living of it, the book serves at once as a revelation and an inspiration.

Authored by Dr. Jane S. Day who served as the consultant to the Town of Palm Beach Landmarks Commission for twenty-one years, Day’s original research will expand upon the work of the late architectural historian Dr. Donald Curl.  The examination of Wyeth’s architecture will make use of the primary source material housed at the Robert M. Grace Library, the Jack C. Massey Architectural Archives, and the Mr. and Mrs. Paul Van der Grift Architectural Image Collection at the Preservation Foundation. The significance of Wyeth’s legacy to the community will be discussed in a forward by Palm Beach architect and former Landmarks Chairman Eugene Pandula.

This event is generously underwritten by Smith Kellogg Architecture.