Addison Mizner (Hardcover)

Iconic architect Addison Mizner’s unfiltered first-person account of Palm Beach’s formative years from 1918 until 1924, entitled Addison Mizner: A Palm Beach Memoir, is an upcoming publication by the Historical Society of Palm Beach County. Focused on the period when Mizner and sewing-machine heir Paris Singer were instrumental in shaping Palm Beach into one of the world’s ultimate destinations, Mizner’s insightful narrative offers an insider’s perspective, conveyed by his candid views, Barbary Coast bluster, and drawing room wit.

While Mizner’s architectural legacy has been the subject of numerous books, this unique volume gives readers a front-row seat to Mizner’s personal relationships with his family, friends, and clients, who happened to be among the nation’s wealthiest patrons. Along with Mizner’s detailed, matter-of-fact chronicle, the Historical Society’s book includes an up-close, discerning Introduction by heiress and confidante Alice DeLamar, a Prologue and Afterword by historian and author Augustus Mayhew, an Architectural Timeline, and a History of Mizner Industries, illustrated with 100 historical photographs from the Historical Society of Palm Beach County’s extensive Addison Mizner Collection.

Augustus Mayhew is the author of two collections of essays that were originally published in the New York Social Diary, Palm Beach Daily News, Palm Beach Life magazine, Quest magazine, and Avenue magazine: Palm Beach: A Greater Grandeur (2016) and Lost in Wonderland: Reflections on Palm Beach (2012). Augustus Mayhew is a feature writer and photographer at the New York Social Diary (2006-2022). His articles and features on Addison Mizner have appeared in the Palm Beach Daily News and the New York Social Diary.

The Historical Society of Palm Beach County is the principal repository for holding, collecting and maintaining the historical materials and artifacts that document the area’s past. Since 1937, the privately-funded organization’s archival collections have been a respected destination, as much a treasure trove for local residents as researchers worldwide. These invaluable resources record civic milestones, cultural events, and the lives of the pioneers and personalities that have made the Palm Beaches like no other place in the world for the past 150 years.

The Miami Herald, Palm Beach Post, and Palm Beach Daily News photograph collections are among the Historical Society’s extensive archive of more than five million visual images. The voluminous Addison Mizner Collection contains sketches, elevation drawings, sectional details, photographs, and correspondence relating to the architect’s Palm Beach, Boca Raton, and New York commissions, as well as business records and sales brochures for Mizner Industries. In addition, the Historical Society’s inventory houses the drawings and personal papers for several of the area’s prominent 20th-century architects, including Treanor & Fatio, Byron Simonson, Howard Major, Gustav Maass, and William Manly King, among others.