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103-434: The 6-foot-2-inch (1.88 m), 250-pound (110 kg) bon vivant epitomized the "society architect". Rejecting other modern architects for "producing a characterless copybook effect", he sought to "make a building look traditional and as though it had fought its way from a small, unimportant structure to a great, rambling house that took centuries of different needs and ups and downs of wealth to accomplish. I sometimes start

206-406: A "gorgeous pink stucco palace, with arcades, wrought-iron balconies, and terra-cotta-tile roofs." There were two four-hundred-year-old doors, and chairs of the same antiquity. Hispanic tiles were everywhere. "It took the place by storm", said Singer years later. An even larger project, the 147-room mansion El Mirasol (demolished), followed in 1919. Mizner received many subsequent commissions, in what

309-427: A "love affair with the president [of Guatemala]'s daughter" is fictitious.) Although at that period he could not be open, his biographer Caroline Seebohm said "his mature sexual taste was for very young men", "pretty boys with pretensions," and he had "a series of young boys in tow" during his later years. One of these "young and handsome" men was Alex Waugh, who accompanied Mizner on buying trips and ended up manager of

412-406: A 2007 estimate ). Males had a median income of $ 59,628 versus $ 39,893 for females. The per capita income for the city was $ 31,226. About 3.1% of families and 4.3% of the population were below the poverty line , including 4.4% of those under age 18 and 2.9% of those age 65 or over. According to the city's 2011 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, the top employers in the city are: Arts Benicia

515-966: A U.S. diplomat in Spanish America. Addison, who became fluent, after some tutoring enrolled at the Instituto Nacional in Guatemala City, "where we learned that boys fought with knives and not with fists". He remained there for a year, visiting Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Honduras with his father, before returning to California in 1890 to study at the Bates School , a boarding school in San Rafael, California . His studies there ended in 1891 because of his brother Wilson's expulsion for misbehavior. He continued his studies briefly at Boone's College in Berkeley, California , with

618-483: A building, but also its interior decoration and gardens. His houses were generally one room deep to allow cross-ventilation , with kitchens located in wings to keep their heat away from living areas. Kitchens were also located downwind of the dining area. They were built with courtyards on various levels, replete with arcades and lofty galleries; rooms featured exposed rafters and vaulted ceilings; tiled pools and mosaics were said to resemble those of Pompeii (if that

721-573: A dining hall, with multiple wash stations, on a " hospital " in Vic , Spain; there is no such building in Vic. He also invented a prize fight in Australia; he had a lifelong leg injury and could not possibly box. But he said he fought the boxing champion of Australia to a draw after twenty rounds ("he was slow and ... I was fast"), and in a rematch knocked out and probably killed his opponent. He had to escape out

824-422: A fine draftsman and an artist who painted beautiful watercolors . Although he lacked formal university training, Mizner served a 3-year apprenticeship (1894–1897) in the office of San Francisco architect Willis Jefferson Polk , eventually becoming a partner. Polk was only five years older than Addison and was not committed to any architectural style. "His [Mizner's] architectural training rivaled that of many in

927-482: A fundraiser at the Everglades Club was met with protests by the college's students. The school's dean of equity and inclusion also resigned after he objected to the school's plans. The club has long been criticized for reported discrimination against Jewish and Black people. Sammy Davis Jr. was turned away at the door. According to socialite C.Z. Guest , she and her husband were temporarily suspended from

1030-532: A home without first imagining some sort of romance about it. Once I have my story, then the plans take place easily." Mizner created a version of Spanish style that was appropriate to twentieth-century Florida. The loggia room has survived as the Florida room . The changing room is now an essential. The focal point, now swimming pool with bridge or hanging basket chair, creates the necessary element of excitement. Native building materials are touted. Red tile remains

1133-534: A house with a Romanesque corner, pretend that it has fallen into disrepair and been added to in the Gothic spirit, when suddenly the great wealth of the New World has poured in and the owner had added a very rich Renaissance addition." Or as he described his own never-built castle, drawings of which were part of his promotional literature, it would be "a Spanish fortress of the twelfth century captured from its owner by

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1236-605: A lawyer, former President of the California Senate and the U. S. Minister to Central America, based in Guatemala . As a young man, he visited China in 1893, was briefly a gold miner in the Yukon (1898–99) (Canada, not Alaska). Of his seven siblings, six of them boys, he was closest to his younger brother Wilson , though his disreputable behavior caused Addison many problems. He had a macaw parrot. and kept as pets

1339-472: A member of the Carrillo family of California , a prominent Californio dynasty. The General intended that the city be named "Francisca" after his wife, but this name was dropped when the former city of "Yerba Buena" changed its name to "San Francisco," so her second given name was used instead. In his memoirs, William Tecumseh Sherman contended that Benicia was "the best natural site for a commercial city" in

1442-419: A never-built Boynton Woman's Club without fee "in an effort to make amends to the city". In 1925 Addison Mizner embarked on his most ambitious project, what he called his "culminating achievement": the creation of a fabulous resort at Boca Raton . He claimed that it would offer more than Palm Beach, and was "undoubtedly the most tremendous land development project ever launched in the state of Florida." The city

1545-464: A new Cadillac, also made him manager of the furniture factory [Jack having departed]. Later, Addison was attracted to the young painter he used on the Cosden house, Achille Angeli, 'a strikingly handsome young fellow'." Little is known about Addison Mizner's sketches and artwork prior to his architectural career; he did brag in 1893 of having sold six pictures for $ 150. His subsequent work shows him to be

1648-558: A nine-hole golf course and the landscaping of the club's 60 acres. He also built Via Mizner , an addition on Worth Avenue with eleven apartments and sixteen shops. Mizner's design for the Everglades Club was widely considered to be the biggest success of his career." It helped establish a new architectural style for Florida. In the club's first season Mizner received four architectural commissions. He went on to become America's foremost society architect of his era. Singer began his club with twenty-five charter members. Two years later,

1751-455: A number of buildings he did not build are frequently misattributed to him. Mizner Industries, copying imported antiques or photographs, manufactured beds, tables, taborets , chests, dressing tables, wardrobes, "all pieces of furniture imaginable." There were two qualities: "a superior, handcrafted line ... extremely difficult to distinguish from authentic Spanish antiques," and another "good, sturdy line with little or no hand attention." Mizner

1854-428: A precious commodity. Pastel colors prevail. Meandering streets with boutiques are today's key to a successful commercial adventure. The advantages of mixed residential and commercial use have become obvious. To get the all-important appearance of antiquity Mizner inflicted vandalism. He deliberately smudged up new rooms with burning pots of tarpaper, took penknife to woodwork and statuary, chipped tiles, used acid to rust

1957-867: A retreat in the Adirondack Mountains , later used by U. S. President Calvin Coolidge as his "Summer White House". He also designed Rock Hall in Connecticut and the main house of the Hitchcock Estate in Dutchess County, New York . In January 1918, aged 46, Mizner visited Palm Beach, Florida for his health, at the suggestion of Paris Singer , whose house guest he was. He was "prepared to die", but instead recovered. He decided to stay. The existing architecture in Palm Beach

2060-511: A series of monkeys, which often rode on his shoulder; his favorite had a headstone at his grave, identifying him as "Johnnie Brown, The Human Monkey, Died April 30, 1927". In 1932 Mizner published The Many Mizners , an autobiography covering his youth, year mining, and time in New York until the death of his mother. A second volume telling of his life in Florida was begun but never completed;

2163-571: A story about how, in 1892, Argelia Benton ( es:Argelia Benton ), the American wife of Guatemalan dictator Jose Maria Reina Barrios , invited him to build a new palace for her in Guatemala City . He was to receive a retainer of $ 25,000 in gold, but Barrios was assassinated before Mizner received any of the money. Mizner's dramatic story is not evidenced by the chronology: her residence/palace, Villa Argelia, already existed in 1892, and Barrios

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2266-463: A stronger enemy who, after taking it, adds on one wing and another, and then loses it in turn to another who builds to suit his taste". As these quotes suggest, many Mizner buildings contain styles from more than one period, but all foreign. Born in Benicia , at the time "the educational center of California", and (briefly) its state capital, he traveled as a child with his father, Lansing B. Mizner ,

2369-444: A two-thousand-room hotel modeled on 'the lines of a Spanish monastery'." He planned to exchange the design of a new Boynton City Hall for city commissioners' permission to build his hotel and club. The project (1924–1925) went aground, and Mizner abandoned it, after locals strongly opposed the relocation of Old Ocean Boulevard – a new road was built and the original road was to be destroyed – to allow beachfront lots. He designed plans for

2472-410: A wood component, which could be poured and molded. As a result, Mizner Industries sold "precast plastering", highly ornate plaster coffered ceilings and mouldings, and with woodite, besides antique-style doors, the paneling of a complete room, all at a relatively low cost. "One of the major difficulties in identifying Mizner buildings is the presence of Mizner Industries stonework on non-Mizner buildings";

2575-547: Is a community-based non-profit organization whose mission is to stimulate, educate, and nurture cultural life in Benicia primarily through the visual arts. They provide exhibitions, educational programs, and classes that support artists and engage the broader community. The organization offers dynamic year-round art exhibitions and public art openings, the Benicia Artists Open Studios event in the spring,

2678-574: Is cleaner than a man's. She changes it more often" and "Many are called but few get up". Mizner was a storyteller but not a reliable one. He invented stories, all set in foreign countries and thus in practice unverifiable. One the lack of veracity of which is documented is the tale of his visit with his father and other family members to the ruins of Copán , in Honduras . "No one knew exactly where it was", and they needed "a small army of carriers and machete wielders to cut our way in". John Lloyd Stephens

2781-577: Is documented that he visited are Seville , Granada , Toledo , and Burgos . So much as available evidence indicates, he was never in the small city of Salamanca. However, because of its prestigious and mellifluous name, Salamanca was mentioned by Mizner repeatedly. Mizner told this kind of story to his clients: in Playa Riente , its "ceiling was from the Chapter House in Toledo, Spain, and

2884-692: Is not another of Mizner's exaggerations). Other characteristic features included loggias , colonnades , clusters of columns supporting arches , French doors , casement windows , barrel tile roofs, hearths , grand stairways and decorative ironwork . Mizner's first big commission, and the project that made him famous, was the Everglades Club , which opened in January 1919. It was a "revelation" and its architectural effect "cannot be exaggerated". Another scholar says that Mizner "revolutionized Palm Beach architecture". No one had seen anything like it:

2987-403: Is nowhere near Botafogo, which he may have mentioned because it seemed like a more elegant name ("Mouth of Fire") than Mangue " mangrove ".) Streets east of the future Seaboard Coast Line Railroad line (where an "Addison Station" was to be constructed) had Spanish personal names: Ponce de Leon , Gonzalo, Juan, Isabel, Hernando, as well as Montazuma [ sic ], and Noche Triste . To

3090-543: Is one of the largest street fairs in Northern California, this outdoor event began in 1963 with a few collectable and antique stores displaying their items on tables outside St. Paul's Church. Traditionally held on the July 3, Benicia's Fourth of July parade stretches all the way down First Street and typically includes music, dancing, floats, horses, clowns, and live entertainment. On the fourth Sunday in July,

3193-634: Is portrayed as openly homosexual in the Stephen Sondheim — John Weidman musical Road Show . Mizner described himself as a "lifelong bachelor", after "a few unsuccessful relationships with women in California and New York". One modern researcher says that "Wilson loved women sexually; Addison cherished their friendship and companionship." He tells us, in The Many Mizners , that he "fell desperately in love with Bertha Dolbeer", but

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3296-656: Is that his administration buildings (in 2017 the Addison Restaurant) was based on the house of the Spanish painter El Greco , in Toledo, Spain . As Mizner surely knew, El Greco's house was long vanished, little is known of it, and the house/museum of El Greco in Toledo , recently constructed and opened in Mizner's day (1911), made no pretense to even be in the same location as the original house. Mizner did not follow

3399-642: Is the garden of the Cathedral/former great mosque of Seville , where the Giralda is.) Similarly, he said that he traveled with his father to San José, Costa Rica , by river, which is impossible: San José is at 3,800 feet (1,200 m), and is not even close to a navigable river. He embellished it further by adding that they had missed a steamer and had to travel by dugout canoe ; there have never been dugout canoes in Costa Rica. He said that he based

3502-464: Is unknown because, according to Panill, "we don't ask." Panill admitted in 2009 that he receives inquiries about whether a member can bring a Jewish guest. "And I know that people have called me on the phone when I—in the first years, and said I have so and so guest in my house, he's the president of some big university, he's Jewish, can I bring him to the Everglades Club? I say absolutely, no problem at all. Anybody you have in your home or anybody that's

3605-614: The Benicia Marina , there are several organized events and competitions. During the summer months, there is a yacht racing competition on Thursday evenings sponsored by the Benicia Yacht Club. The Yacht Club co-sponsors the annual Jazz Cup regatta with the South Beach Yacht Club, and also sponsors a Youth Sailing Program that offers extensive training. The Benicia Unified School District operates

3708-638: The Benicia Masonic Hall , built in 1850 with lumber donated by Benicia founder Robert Semple on land donated by Alexander Riddell, was used as the County court room and offices prior to the completion of Benicia's city hall. In 1858, the county seat was moved to Fairfield . In 1853, Benicia became the third site selected to serve as the California State capital, after San Jose and nearby Vallejo , and its newly constructed city hall

3811-668: The Central Pacific Railroad rerouted the Sacramento-Oakland portion of its transcontinental line to Benicia and established a major railroad ferry across the Carquinez Strait from Benicia to Port Costa . The world's largest ferry, the Solano , later joined by the even larger Contra Costa, carried entire trains across the Carquinez Strait from Benicia to Port Costa, whence they continued on to

3914-675: The Historical Society of Palm Beach County . The first idea of Mizner about his first Florida building, now the Everglades Club , was that it should contain "a Moorish tower", a clear reference to the Alhambra , which Mizner visited and commented on. The Mediterranean Revival style Mizner introduced to South Florida was not Turkish or Italian, it was Spanish, specifically of the hottest, southern part of Spain, Andalucía ; colonial Guatemala had similar architecture. He taught workmen to make Spanish red roof tiles, appropriate for

4017-487: The Oakland Pier . On June 5, 1889, the legendary prize fight between James J. Corbett and Joe Choynski was held on a barge off the coast of Benicia. The match lasted 28 rounds, and is now commemorated by a plaque near Southampton Bay. In 1901, the world's first long-distance powerline crossing over Carquinez Strait was built. After California's wheat output dropped in the early 20th century and especially after

4120-565: The Southern Pacific (which took over the operations of the Central Pacific) opened a railroad bridge to Martinez on October 15, 1930, eliminating the ferry crossing and the Benicia station, Benicia declined until the economic boom of World War II, in which the population doubled to about 7,000 residents. A major fire on March 22, 1945, destroyed a half-block of businesses, including the nearly-century-old “old brewery”, and

4223-613: The United States Census Bureau , the city has a total area of 15.7 square miles (41 km ), of which 12.9 square miles (33 km ) are land and 2.8 square miles (7.3 km ), comprising 17.75%, are water. Benicia is located on the north side of the Carquinez Strait . The 2010 United States Census reported that Benicia had a population of 26,997. The population density was 1,717.4 inhabitants per square mile (663.1/km ). The racial makeup of Benicia

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4326-653: The Young Ladies Seminary , and was the first women's college west of the Rocky Mountains . Before moving to Oakland in 1871, it was located on West I Street, just north of First Street. From 1860 to 1861, Benicia was indirectly involved in the Pony Express . When riders missed their connection with a steamer in Sacramento , they would continue on to Benicia and cross over to Martinez via

4429-629: The census of 2000, there were 26,865 people, 10,328 households, and 7,239 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,082.6 inhabitants per square mile (804.1/km ). There were 10,547 housing units at an average density of 817.6 units per square mile (315.7 units/km ). The racial makeup of the city was 78.89% White , 9.02% of the population were Hispanic or Latino , 7.56% Asian , 4.82% Black or African American , 0.60% Native American , 0.29% Pacific Islander , 2.65% from other races , and 5.18% from two or more races. There were 10,328 households, out of which 36.7% had children under

4532-587: The tracery of the doors and windows from the Casa Lonja at Valencia." There was also a yellow carpet "reputed to have been woven by nuns for a cathedral in Granada." (There were no carpets at all, much less ones made by nuns, in Spain during the 16th and 17th centuries.) He never showed photographs or prints in books of the buildings he was allegedly imitating. A similar Hispanic tale told several times by Mizner

4635-769: The Annual Benefit Art Auction in the fall, various special projects, and quarterly art classes for adults and kids. It is located in the Benicia Arsenal at the Commanding Officer's Quarters at 1 Commandant's Lane. Gallery hours are Thursday-Sunday, 12:00-5:00 pm during exhibitions; gallery admission is free to the public. Arts in the Park is an annual summer art celebration held in Benicia City Park. The Benicia Peddler's Fair

4738-606: The Arsenal removed Benicia's traditional economic base, but allowed city leaders to create an industrial park on Arsenal land which eventually provided more revenue for the city than the Army had. The completion of the Benicia-Martinez Bridge made it possible for the city to become a suburb of San Francisco and Oakland , and suburban development in the Benicia hills began in the late 1960s. On December 20, 1968, near

4841-669: The Benicia water pumping station on Lake Herman Road, the Zodiac Killer made his debut by killing Vallejo natives David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen as they rested or " necked " in Faraday's car. Near the same area on July 4 of the following year, the killer struck again, killing Darlene Elizabeth Ferrin and injuring Michael Mageau at the Blue Rock Springs Park in Vallejo, immediately next to Benicia. Northeast of

4944-525: The Club was completed in 1919, Singer sold Mizner his interest in the factory, which prospered. In West Palm Beach , "just east of the railroad," by 1925 Mizner Industries Incorporated was making, according to its catalog, "pottery, roof and floor tile, period furniture , wicker , upholstering, repairing, antique millwork and hardware, bronze sash , wrought iron , stained and leaded glass windows, reconstructed and ornamental stone, and imitation marble." It

5047-469: The Everglades Club, he and Paris Singer purchased a small facility and began the manufacture of roof and floor tiles, with a sideline production of ironwork and furniture. The factory also made pottery; Mizner viewed pottery as something that "could be effectively used to integrate an indoor and outdoor color scheme." The factory was called "Las Manos" ("The Hands"), referring to the way products were made there: "con las manos", with our hands, by hand. After

5150-516: The Palm Beach Historical Society has the typed manuscript. Mizner died in 1933 of heart failure in Palm Beach and is buried in the family vault at Cypress Lawn Memorial Park . According to Donald Curl, author of Mizner's Florida , He was just completely outgoing and basically a really good guy. One of the things he was noted for was the kindness toward the people who worked for him and the courtesy he showed them. Some of

5253-630: The Portuguese community in Benicia celebrates the feast of the Holy Ghost , continuing a devotion established by the Queen St. Isabel of Portugal , who was noted for her care for the poor. The festival starts with a parade to St. Dominic's Church followed by Mass , followed by an auction and a dance. The Holy Ghost Parade celebrated its centennial in Benicia in 2007. Benicia is an active sailing community. In addition to individual sailing out of

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5356-768: The Seville tower. Two contemporaneous buildings in south Florida also contain towers based on the Giralda: the Freedom Tower (Miami) (1925) and the Miami Biltmore Hotel (1926), both products of the architectural company Schultze and Weaver , who in 1927 built the Boca Raton Club that Mizner could not. (The feature of the Everglades Club that is linked to the Giralda is the Patio of Oranges: that

5459-539: The Solano Hotel, with flames briefly threatening the old state capitol, now a historical landmark. A roof fire was quickly extinguished and the structure was not badly damaged. Losses were estimated at $ 125,000. Two developments in the early 1960s would completely change Benicia: The closing of the Benicia Arsenal in 1960–64, and the completion of the Benicia–Martinez Bridge in 1962. The closing of

5562-434: The age of 18 living in them, 5,668 (53.0%) were opposite-sex married couples living together, 1,271 (11.9%) had a female householder with no husband present, 480 (4.5%) had a male householder with no wife present. There were 584 (5.5%) unmarried opposite-sex partnerships , and 102 (1.0%) same-sex married couples or partnerships . 2,628 households (24.6%) were made up of individuals, and 893 (8.4%) had someone living alone who

5665-418: The age of 18 living with them, 54.2% were married couples living together, 11.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 29.9% were non-families. 23.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 6.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.60 and the average family size was 3.10. In the city, the population was spread out, with 27.1% under

5768-435: The age of 18, 6.5% from 18 to 24, 28.3% from 25 to 44, 28.8% from 45 to 64, and 9.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females, there were 94.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.1 males. The median income for a household in the city was $ 67,617, and the median income for a family was $ 77,974 (these figures had risen to $ 84,025 and $ 102,889 respectively as of

5871-621: The antiques and reproduction furniture store for Mizner Industries. When Waugh sent recollections of Mizner to biographer Alva Johnston , they were "quite unprintable". Another was Horace Chase, his "wild, thoroughly-likeable" nephew, for two years the manager of the "virtually inoperable pottery factory, 'Las Manos' ['The Hands']", which he bought from Paris Singer . "Jack Roy was a memorable young man whom Addison made manager of his furniture factory despite his having no experience whatsoever in management or any familiarity with artisanship ... Addison met Jerry Girandolle in New York and, after giving him

5974-603: The architect declared: Benicia, California Benicia ( / b ə ˈ n iː ʃ ə / bə- NEE -shə , Spanish: [beˈnisja] ) is a city in Solano County, California , located on the north bank of the Carquinez Strait in the North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area . It served as the capital of California for nearly thirteen months from 1853 to 1854. The population

6077-418: The architecture of Spain itself and drew somewhat on my knowledge of Spanish tropical America. In one of his advertisements: Spanish Art in Boca Raton homes adds a special charm to these dwellings, in a land of tropical beauty where the softness of the South makes life easy. He also assembled an excellent library on Spanish and Spanish Colonial architecture, which has survived and is now administered by

6180-416: The back door with his share of the gate, head for the harbor, and board a ship whose gangplank was conveniently just being drawn up. One wonders what to make of his claim that he was "as good a bricklayer as any man I ever had. I can plaster as well as any plasterer I have seen. I am a fairly good carpenter, a better than ordinary electrician. I know how to wipe a joint in plumbing." Similarly, "I had to go into

6283-426: The church in Toledo who, Addison pointed out, got several things wrong," and that "he even straightened out our host, the Duke of Alba !" (The Duke of Alba, one of the richest men in Spain, visited Palm Beach in 1926.) In 1926 he went on a similar visit, abbreviated by the financial crisis. Mizner has been described as "an early influential gay man in South Florida ", "the gay father of South Florida architecture." He

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6386-456: The city's public schools. Due to the railroad bridge opening in 1930, Benicia has no rail transit, but offers bus transportation through SolTrans and SolanoExpress , which service the Benicia Park and Ride, where connections are available to the Walnut Creek BART station. The Benicia–Martinez Bridge provides an automobile and rail link over Carquinez Strait, as well as bicycle and pedestrian lanes which opened in August 2009. Two blocks from

6489-537: The climate. A scholar states that Mizner's mature style was "founded upon the architecture of sixteenth and seventeenth-century Spain", although the Alhambra is older and Guatemala was primarily the workmanlike eighteenth- and nineteenth-century architecture of the south of Spain. Like a colonial Spanish architect would have, in many cases he worked without paper plans. Many of Mizner's projects have Spanish names: El Mirasol, El Solano, La Ronda (discussed below), and others. In his never-realized plan for Boca Raton, between

6592-486: The club after they brought Jewish guests— Estée Lauder and her husband—to a party there in 1972. Joseph Kennedy , father of the slain president, resigned his membership in the early '60s "to avoid scrutiny for belonging to a club known for excluding African-American and Jewish people." As of 2014, there has never been an African-American member. According to 2009 president William Panill, no African-American has ever applied. The Club now has Jewish members, but how many

6695-487: The corporation quietly bought up two miles (3.2 km) of ocean-front property with an overall total of over 1,600 acres (650 ha). On April 15, 1925, the syndicate announced this large development, labeled the "Venice of the Atlantic", which would feature a thousand-room hotel, two golf courses, a polo field, parks, and miles of paved and landscaped streets which included a 160-foot-wide (49 m) grand boulevard called El Camino Real. In an address before 100 salespeople,

6798-445: The desired effect of age; thus " pecky " cypress , weak and worthless for structural elements, suddenly became the mahogany paneling of Palm Beach. In Boynton Beach, Florida , between Palm Beach and the future Boca Raton, Mizner's first vision of a "comprehensive ocean city" was a mile-long resort. "Mizner Mile, situated on [what is today (2018)] Old Ocean Boulevard, was to include a club, polo fields, houses designed by Mizner, and

6901-406: The ferry. One of the earliest companies in California, the Pacific Mail Steamship Company , established a major shipyard in Benicia in the 19th century. The prolific shipbuilder Matthew Turner formed the Matthew Turner Shipyard at Benicia in 1883. Benicia became an important wheat storage and shipping site. It was also the site of the United States Army 's Benicia Arsenal . On December 1, 1879,

7004-419: The first time; after that, he visited Europe every year. After relocating to Florida, these visits occurred during the "off" season. In 1924, Mizner went on a buying trip to Spain, scouring antique shops, buying "furiously" thousands of items: wrought iron, tapestries, furniture, grillwork, and whole staircases. He was accompanied by one of his clients, Eleanor Cosden, who is reported to have recalled "the guide in

7107-419: The hope of passing the entrance examination for the University of California (presently the University of California, Berkeley ). Either he never presented himself for the examination, or he failed it. In any event, that was the end of his formal education. In his own words: I have based my design largely on the old architecture of Spain — with important modifications and to meet Florida conditions. I studied

7210-417: The iron, made wormholes with an icepick, cracked a mantle with a sledgehammer , all creating what he called "the kiss of the centuries." He hired inexperienced help to lay roof tiles awry, and once had men in hobnailed boots walk up and down a stairway before the cement set to get the effect of centuries of wear. One of his original contributions to architecture was the discovery that worm-eaten cypress gave

7313-399: The love did not last long, as she "had fallen out of a window at the Waldorf-Astoria and had been instantly killed". At the same time, when he was living in San Francisco, he had "an emotional relationship with a young man, Jack Baird". He described a buying trip to Europe with Margaret "Peggy" Thayer, "a wicked little devil", as "the happiest two months of my life". (His story that he had had

7416-606: The main downtown district, the Benicia Marina is a full-service marina, offering a fuel dock, pump-out station, launch ramp, general store, laundry, restrooms and showers. Benicia has one sister city. Everglades Club The Everglades Club is a social club in Palm Beach, Florida . When its construction began in July 1918, it was to be called the Touchstone Convalescent Club , and it

7519-494: The membership was closed at 500 members. Eliza Osgood Vanderbilt Webb (1860–1936) was one of its earliest female members. Businessman Jack C. Massey was a member. An additional nine holes were added to the golf course in 1930. By 1999, the club's initiation fees were reportedly around $ 35,000. As of 2022, the club deliberately does not have a website. Cellphones are prohibited on the property. In 2023, Connecticut College president Katherine Bergeron's decision to host

7622-696: The nursery business and build a tree-moving machine. What fun it was teaching men how to stucco, teaching others how to cure pip in chickens, clearing jungles, killing land crabs, catching alligators. It was all like a game." He returned to Guatemala for a few months in 1904. His original plan, never implemented, was to buy coffee to sell in the U.S. (This turned later into a nonexistent coffee plantation that he bought.) Instead, realizing how many antiquities were available for modest amounts, especially in Guatemala's abandoned former capital Antigua , he began collecting Hispanic antiquities. He purchased an old monastery –

7725-418: The other architects of this era were almost the reverse; they saw the other architects as their employees, and they should have nothing to do with the design other than putting it on paper. Mizner was not that way. When the bust began in Florida, he actually helped some of the young architects get established elsewhere. The vast majority of Mizner's employees developed an affection for and allegiance to him: "It

7828-432: The photograph: Ébano, Feraz, Grúa, Haz, Ídolo, Jasmine, Kay, Labio, Malvis, Nao, Orear, Prado, Quevedo, Rocinante, and Salerno. The different types of pottery produced by Mizner Industries each had the name of a Spanish city. In 1903 Mizner provided illustrations for The Limerick Up to Date Book of Ethel Watts Mumford (San Francisco: Paul Elder). It says something about Mizner that he would illustrate this poem: There

7931-465: The present Palmetto Park Road and Hillsboro Boulevard, the main street, El Camino Real, has a Spanish name, though, in another of his fanciful stories, he claimed it was inspired by Rio de Janeiro 's Botafogo neighborhood. (What Mizner's commissioned painting on the cover of his first (1925) brochure does resemble in Rio de Janeiro, is the pt:Canal do Mangue , which runs down the middle of a wide street, but

8034-469: The profession of his day." In 1904 he relocated to New York City, and then to nearby Port Washington , Long Island . During his first five years in New York, Mizner never built a house. The commissions he did receive were for interior design, which in two cases were the interior of yachts , and in designing gardens. Eventually he designed numerous country houses across Long Island and the region. In 1907, he and William Massarene designed White Pine Camp ,

8137-525: The region. In February 1848, first word of gold found at Sutter's Mill was leaked at a Benicia Tavern, thus starting the California Gold Rush . Benicia became a way station on the way to the Sierras. In March 1850, Benicia became one of the first incorporated cities in California , a month after Sacramento . Benicia was the original county seat of Solano County . The lower floor of

8240-581: The somber architectural style of Castile, where Toledo was, and a similarity between the two buildings is difficult to see. Similarly, he invented the connection between the tower of the Cloister Inn, which is vaguely Spanish, with the Giralda tower of the Cathedral of Seville. The San Francisco Ferry Building (1892) — a project of his mentor Polk (see below) — does have a tower that clearly resembles

8343-455: The town's residential areas an oil refinery was built and completed in 1969 by Humble Oil (later Exxon Corporation ). The refinery was later bought by Valero Energy Corporation , a San Antonio -based oil company, in 2000. Between 1970 and 1995, the population of Benicia grew steadily at a rate of about 1,000 people per year, and the city changed from a poor, blue-collar town of 7,000 to a white-collar bedroom suburb of 27,000. According to

8446-530: The west they were to have the names of small Spanish cities: Tarragona , Cordoba , Toledo , Alcante ( [ sic ], for Alicante ), Burgos , Palencia , Lucena , the palace/monastery Escorial , and even small towns: Monreal (name of several towns), Munera . In the planned Spanish Village neighborhood ("Mizner Plat 11"), projected streets had Spanish names: the main Alvarado Road, and crossing it, fanciful names, not all of which are visible in

8549-629: The whole building. "The reason I wanted it was that eight of the side chapels of the church were intact and in each stood, thirty feet high, carved wood altars with heavy gilding." He also returned with a book of sketches of the architectural features of Antigua. This was a turning point in his decision to become an architect. Relocating to New York in 1904, he filled his apartment with his Guatemala purchases: rich velvet and damask vestments , ornate carved church paneling, reliquaries , gilded candlesticks, and other rare ornaments. He made "good money" selling them to visitors. In 1905, Mizner visited Spain for

8652-545: The wooden shingle-style resort architecture imported from the Northeast. As a result of Mizner, "Palm Beach was transformed.". Mizner "designed with the wealthy in mind"; people "began building private residences on a grand scale." As a result in large part of Mizner, "by 1925 Palm Beach had established itself as the resort community of the United States." Mizner's concept of architect was that he did not just design

8755-705: The wounded. It was during World War I when only war-related buildings could be built. Construction began in July. (The site at the west end of Worth Avenue formerly contained Alligator Joe's, a tourist attraction. ) By November 1918 seven residential villas and a medical center had been built on the north side of Worth Avenue, across from the main building. Singer purchased laboratory and surgical equipment and fittings for an operating room . Singer sent out as many as 300,000 invitations to eligible Army and Navy officers, who had to be screened and had to be able to pay their own room and board. However, World War I had ended, and most former soldiers wanted to go home. The hospital

8858-565: Was "the only other white man to set foot on the temple steps in three hundred and seventy years". However, at least six other white men visited and wrote about Copán in the 19th century, not counting the expeditions of the Peabody Museum of Harvard University . His well-informed father, the U.S. ambassador, surely knew about some of these visitors. Mizner also omitted embarrassing information: he said his father retired as ambassador because "father's health broke down", when in fact his father

8961-484: Was 19,568 (72.5%) White , 1,510 (5.6%) African American , 135 (0.5%) Native American , 2,989 (11.1%) Asian , 102 (0.4%) Pacific Islander , 895 (3.3%) from other races , and 1,798 (6.7%) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 3,248 persons (12.0%). The Census reported that 99.9% of the population lived in households and 0.1% lived in non-institutionalized group quarters. There were 10,686 households, out of which 3,617 (33.8%) had children under

9064-516: Was 27,131 at the 2020 United States Census . Benicia is just east of Vallejo and across the strait from Martinez . The City of Benicia was founded on May 19, 1847, by Dr. Robert Semple , Thomas O. Larkin , and Comandante General Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo , on land donated to them by General Vallejo in December 1846. It was named for the General's wife, Francisca Benicia Carillo de Vallejo ,

9167-487: Was 42.9 years. For every 100 females, there were 92.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 88.9 males. There were 11,306 housing units at an average density of 719.2 units per square mile (277.7 units/km ), of which 70.5% were owner-occupied and 29.5% were occupied by renters. The homeowner vacancy rate was 2.0%; the rental vacancy rate was 6.1%. 72.2% of the population lived in owner-occupied housing units and 27.7% lived in rental housing units. As of

9270-417: Was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.52. There were 7,419 families (69.4% of all households); the average family size was 3.02. The population was spread out, with 6,317 people (23.4%) under the age of 18, 1,923 people (7.1%) aged 18 to 24, 6,087 people (22.5%) aged 25 to 44, 9,303 people (34.5%) aged 45 to 64, and 3,367 people (12.5%) who were 65 years of age or older. The median age

9373-618: Was California's capitol from February 11, 1853, to February 25, 1854. Soon after, the legislature was moved to the courthouse in Sacramento, which has remained the State capital ever since. The restored capitol is part of the Benicia Capitol State Historic Park , and is the only building remaining of the State's pre-Sacramento capitols. The original campus of Mills College was founded in Benicia in 1852 as

9476-573: Was a pleasure working for Mizner", one remarked. Addison accompanied his father when the latter travelled to Guatemala in August 1889 to begin his duties there. His first stop, aged 15, on the boat to Guatemala was Mazatlán , Mexico. This was Addison's first direct contact with the Hispanic world, which he described as "the greatest day of my life". His father Lansing Mizner spoke fluent Spanish, as did his paternal step-grandfather, James Semple , also

9579-511: Was a young person of Tottenhem, Whose manners, Good Lord! she'd forgotten them. When she went to the vicar's, She took off her knickers Because she said she was hot in them. In 1902, with Oliver Herford and Ethel Watts Mumford, he published an annual illustrated The Complete Cynic. Being Bunches of Wisdom Culled from the Calendars of Oliver Herford, Ethel Watts Mumford, Addison Mizner . This produced such sayings as: "A woman's mind

9682-403: Was anything but a follower of styles. He would improvise a building's design as he went; he was someone who "would take a lot of liberties", who "let his imagination run riot". In the end, Mizner would create a pink-walled, red-tiled, wrought iron-gated world of unreal luxury. Developers loved the Mizner style because it gave their brand-new developments an air of established, Old World elegance. It

9785-492: Was assassinated in 1898. Much later, Addison said several times that he enrolled "at some point during this time" in the University of Salamanca , in Spain, though the only known detail about his studies there, if they existed, is that he did not receive a degree. There is no confirmation that he ever studied there (and Salamanca 's isolation makes it an unlikely choice for a foreign student). The only cities in Spain that it

9888-436: Was dismissed by Secretary of State James G. Blaine after a diplomatic incident. It was on this journey that he received his first monkey, named Deuteronomy , who drowned, on the return voyage from Nicaragua to Guatemala, after she was hit on the head with a trombone ( n.b. ) and fell overboard. As he told it in a totally fictitious tale, he laid out the town of Dawson Creek, British Columbia , with no tape measure. He told

9991-440: Was imitated in new developments in the Florida peninsula. "It is style," said Donald Curl. "As an architect, he introduced Mediterranean revival, or Spanish revival, or whatever you wanted to call it. He made it not only popular but fashionable. Mizner was someone who was willing to take a lot of liberties and design buildings that were good for the climate and the lifestyle of the people who were his clients." "I never begin to design

10094-785: Was incorporated in 1924 and immediately appointed him city planner. Boca Raton's original City Hall , which currently houses the city's Welcome Center and the Boca Raton History Museum , began as his project, though because of the bankruptcy of Mizner Industries he did not complete it, and it is more modest than he planned. He began by forming the Mizner Development Corporation, a syndicate of prominent investors including Rodman Wanamaker , Paris Singer , Irving Berlin , William Kissam Vanderbilt II , Elizabeth Arden , Jesse Livermore , Clarence H. Geist , and T. Coleman du Pont as chairman. In March

10197-504: Was intended to be a hospital for the wounded of World War I . But the war ended a few months later, and it changed into a private club. The Club has no sign, website, or Wi-Fi . Cell phones are prohibited. Paris Singer and his good friend, the architect Addison Mizner , were visiting Palm Beach in the spring of 1918. Singer decided to build a hospital with Mizner as the architect. Singer had already built three hospitals in France for

10300-473: Was one of the largest manufacturing companies in Palm Beach County. Mizner lacked the talent for making conventional plans and specifications. Everything was done off-the-cuff. Plans for one house were drawn in the sand on the beach. He was a pioneer in developing artificial or cast stone, a combination of coquina shell, lime , and a cement mixture. He also used "woodite", a composite material with

10403-538: Was reinvisioned as a private club; the medical equipment was donated to a hospital in West Palm Beach . There was a main building, eight separate villas, tennis courts, a parking garage across the street, and a yacht basin. The club opened on 25 January 1919. Paris Singer was the President of the club and he decided who could become a member. For its second season in 1920, Mizner supervised the construction of

10506-431: Was the most successful part of his career. From 1919 to 1924 he designed about thirty-eight houses in Palm Beach. His clients were wealthy and socially prominent: Gurnee Munn , John Shaffer Phipps , Barclay Harding Warburton II , Anthony Joseph Drexel Biddle Jr. , Edward Shearson , Rodman Wanamaker , Paul Moore Sr. , and Eva Stotesbury among them. For them, he created "a Mediterranean village". To make materials for

10609-654: Was wooden – Flagler's two hotels, the Royal Poinciana and The Breakers (burned 1925), were wooden — and in a style better suited for colder weather, Mizner tells us. Familiar from Guatemala with Hispanic warm climate architecture, he chose it as a style more appropriate for South Florida . His Mediterranean Revival designs won the attention and patronage of wealthy clients, who preferred to build their own individual ocean-front mansions. Constructed of stone, tile, and stucco, his buildings were better suited to Florida's semi-tropical climate (and threat of hurricanes) than

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