From Palm Beach to Shangri La

Homes, pool houses, and gardens in paradise
by the great architect Marion Sims Wyeth—
progenitor of the fabled Palm Beach style and
designer of Doris Duke’s legendary Hawaiian
retreat, Shangri La—are featured here in the
first in-depth book to consider his most alluring
creations.
Beauty and elegance mingle with extravagance in the
Palm Beach style of architect Marion Sims Wyeth, a
kind of home design that takes the standard fixtures of
paradise—palm trees, ebullient fountains, glistening
pools and gardens, views of the sea—and mixes them
with a dash of the exotic—a Moorish-style balcony
or doorway, Venetian archways, fanciful courtyards
in the Spanish style, and spiraling staircases in stone
and iron.
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. 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.