PALM BEACH MOROCCAN
In 1926, during the initial boom in Palm Beach, Marion Syms Wyeth built this 6,500 square foot Spanish Mediterranean home in the now-historic district locally known as the “Three Els”. Wyeth was the famed architect of Marjorie Merriweather Post’s Palm Beach home Mar-A-Lago, now owned by Donald Trump. Wyeth still is known as one of the three major historic architects of Palm Beach, along with Addison Mizner and Maurice Fatio.
Interior designer Sean Rush was brought into the property to redesign the home and grounds to echo his client’s personal sensibilities without destroying the original style of the estate. Rush, known for his sensitivity to historic properties and his “authentic” design philosophy, was enthusiastic about the project because the particular sensibility the client wanted introduced was her personal relationship with her homeland of Morocco. Based on the fact that she was born and raised in the royal palace in Rabat, he suggested a common Moorish thread to weave the introduction of Moroccan into the estate while maintaining the Spanish integrity of the home.
And so began the project...
Sean Venetian-plastered the walls in white to reflect the warm color from the courtyard and the brilliant Florida sun. The crisp wall also contrasts the original dark terracotta tile floor and marries the original bleached pecky cypress ceiling.
“From my experience in Morocco, what I celebrate in Arabesque design is the heavy saturation of color playing off the simplicity of white. Knowing that the house would evolve with dramatic accent tones, I wanted to keep the entrance visually clean, so the eye would naturally travel outside and the space would not compete with the sight lines.”
Sean found an original Addison Mizner frieze in an architectural salvage yard and had it cast for the frames of the Spanish mirrors he placed on either side of the entry. This he said, “was appropriate for the home, while reflecting the beauty of the courtyard. Plus at night when in the pool house looking back at the house, the mirrors create a lavish trompe l’oeil.”
To revitalize the space, first Sean painted the ceiling using authentic Moroccan textile designs. Once the cypress was done he went into the external panels of the ceiling with a subdued palette and a classic Moroccan design. Sean then designed the ceiling to be finished out with mahogany moulding to marry the various ceiling levels to the overall space.
