The result of assembling all these materials and more was unlike anything Palm Beach had ever seen before. “In the hands of the Viennese-born Urban, the Spanish Mediterranean Revival architecture—popularized by [Addison] Mizner and featuring barrel vaulted roofs, loggias, fountains, tiles, metalwork, and arcades—is pulled and pushed into almost Jugendstil confections,” writes John Stuart for the Society of Architectural Historians Archipedia, referencing a German artistic movement that started in the 1890s.
One of the estate’s most notable features is a 75-foot-tall tile-roofed tower and observation deck, but the two-story central family quarters were intentionally designed to keep the main house from looking too massive. A rectangular facade faces the ocean, and on the other side, a crescent-shaped arc lined with double cloisters overlooks Lake Worth, with a patio paved with surf-polished stones.
