With just over one acre of land on South Bayshore Drive, the rambling estate of John T. Peacock, a member of Coconut Grove's founding Peacock family, this 111-year-old historic pile is on an unusually large piece of land for a property in the heart of the Grove. Overlooking Kennedy Park, and an old sheltered inlet that practically ends at its front gate, the listing is asking for a healthy $12.9 million.
When you take a spectacular piece of early modernist architecture, such as this streamlined moderne house on Pine Tree Drive by important Miami Beach architect Igor Polevitzkty, and give it some bland contemporary renovations that are supposed to "improve" it while blending in with the existing architecture, the results often leave something to be desired.
Designed by Achille Salvagni, an Italian designer and architect who has done some incredible yacht interiors but also has a flair for midcentury Italian design, this 7,400 square foot new-build in Mid-Beach was designed almost like a superyacht itself. The house has curvilinear lines and fabulous materials, creating custom elements like a kitchen that looks more like a sculptural art installation than a place to make food, and a bronze and gold grand staircase. It's also got a pool that, at 90 feet in length, spans almost the entire 111-foot width of the property itself. Originally listed for $21 million in March, it got a price cut to $19 million, according to the MLS, in May.
Chayo Frank, architect of the famously eclectic Amertec Building in Hialeah, has listed his own home, an equally bold creation in Ponce-Davis, for $14.995 million. Although the Amartec Building, a freeform concrete structure that looked like a fantastical abstraction of a sea monster, was demolished a few years ago, Frank's house, luckily, is beautifully pristine.
Ever dreamed of living in the lavish Everglades Suite in the tower of the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables? Well, that might not happen, but here's your chance to buy a penthouse that was obviously inspired by that legendary perch at the top of the Biltmore, and it's also in Coral Gables. Located at the top of the Segovia Tower, this eight bedroom, twelve bath, 8,000 square foot spread was built in the mid-90s, instead of the 1920s-era Biltmore, but it comes with all the wingdings of a lavish '90s penthouse in the sky, including a double-height living room just like the Everglades Suite, and all sorts of other interesting spaces.
Built in 1845, this classic conch house in the heart of old Key West has been through a lot. Apparently owned by one of Key West's founding families, the house is built with Dade County Pine, which can still be seen in the stair hall, living room, and master bedroom, has bright green shutters opening out to the front verandah, and is surrounded by a white picket fence. It's also got a freeform pool, and an interior decor job that is just so Martha-Stewart-comes-to-Key-West perfect it's insane.
The estate at 41 Arvida Parkway in Gables Estates is currently the most expensive listing on the market in Miami-Dade County. Located on a primo corner lot abutting Biscayne Bay and a canal, the $54.9 million property has, shall we say, a very sort of unique look to it, and has been on the market for almost a year, listed by the well-known and frankly quite preeminent, for better or worse, The Jills Zeder Group.
Designed by its owners, husband-and-wife architectural team Derek and Lisa Vander Ploeg, this 4,800 square foot Boca Raton house was inspired by the organic architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright. Although they skipped some of the more ornery aspects of Frank Lloyd Wright's designs, like how he had a habit of custom-designing everything from the building, to the furniture inside it, and even sometimes the silverware, the house still oozes with Wrightian details.
The top penthouse at the Mansions at Acqualina, part of the decadent Acqualina resort that's so popular with Russian oligarchs and their mistresses, has sold for a whopping $27 million. According to a publicist, that makes it the third most expensive condo sale in Miami-Dade County, ever.
This over-the-top technicolor wonder has everything, or at least the current owners probably think it does. They've obviously poured a lot of love into the place, a certain amount of money into it, and whatever modicum of taste they have. Located on quite a nice lot in Lighthouse Point, with canals on two sides, the house is awash in color and full of kooky nicknacks. Want a fake fireplace with painted-on flames? Check! A turquoise, lavender, and pink wrap-around deck? They've got that too. Tacky sculptures of every imaginable kind? Don't bother going to the flea market, because they're all here.
