Italian Mediterranean Estate | Indian Creek, FL

Indian Creek Island Italian Mediterranean Estate 

The Construction of new Italian Mediterranean Estate, 16,000 square foot under air, 2-acre Miami Bayfront Residence and Gardens. Designed by The acclaimed Palm Beach Architect, Jeffrey William Smith, AIA, the world renowned Interior Designer “King of Chintz” Mario Buatta detailed finishes and furnishings, Elegant landscaping gardens by Martin L. Fox, an English Landscape and Garden Designer.

The five Bedroom, five Bath and two half Bath estate is finely detailed and furnished in classic Italian Mediterranean and features created through multi-layered layers drawing details and craftsmanship.

This is a career project of Bruce Cianci, he was the onsite project manager in charge of all aspects of construction including financial budgeting, invoicing, change orders, scheduling, supervision, and all design consultants and owner communications.

Our prayers are with Mario Buatta and Martin Lane Fox who have both passed away since the project’s completion. The opportunity to work with such talented people with always be remembered.

The Indian Creek Italian Mediterranean Estate interior features a formal front entry with entry into the 2-story vaulted living room with five round portal-tilt windows, Dining room with Chevron patterned flooring painted with California landscape scene, Butler’s Pantry, Theatre acoustically designed with seating for eight, Flower Cutting and gift-wrapping room, His and Her separate master suites, Covered Rear Terrace with seven retractable 14-foot high one-piece glass 25’ deep basement to house 7 retractable full-height single piece glass window to enclose the Rear Terrace, Four-Car Garage

Property Features

The Indian Creek Island estate property features a dock and boat slip on the bay with views of downtown Miami, stepped formal and informal landscape gardens, vanishing edge black interior fifty-foot long reflective pond pool, garden weir that starts and the front entry porta-cochere and wraps along the east property and terminating into a pond on the bayside.

Interior Finishes

The interior features include a Breakfast / Kitchen Antique French terra cotta with hardwood in-lay grid flooring; Marble throughout the ground floor main livings areas including the living room, the Butler’s Pantry and Flower Cutting Room feature hand-painted terracotta wall tiles with antique French terra-cotta flooring; blonde wood fully-paneled office, brick wood and gas fireplaces at Master suite and Living Room, and , heated master bath flooring with adjacent built-in breakfast bar,

Exterior Features

The exterior finishes include: Terraces, Loggia’s, Exterior Openings stone walks and precast surrounds including columns, bases, thresholds water-table, and spring-lines. Stone balustrades and caps, stone coins and arches. Stone roof crown with integral conferred beam and camber arches, Drives and walks utilize a flat steel borders with stone in-lay creating a crisp defined edge.

The Covered Loggia

Open to southern bay breezes but easily concealed with retractable glass windows. A separate air conditioning system can be activated cooling the space and allowing extension of living room space. The seven retractable twelve-foot-high glass panels retract into the twenty-five-foot-deep basement. The basement contains the glass, mechanical lifts, motors, and access to air conditioning ductwork.

Weir

A low dam or wall built across a body of water to raise the levels of water upstream, was used to create the connecting garden water system that links the front entry garden to the rear garden and bay. The weir, as Mr. Fox defined it, starts at the Porte Cochere in front of the hand-painted mosaic tile wall and within the landscaped drive island encompassed by a mature fig tree with long hanging root system and then falls into troughs that cross above the grade. The weir continues partially hidden through the driveway concealed by linear iron grating and along the ground stepping down multiple times to culminate in a bayfront pond.

Groin Vaulted Ceilings

A vaulted ceiling that is produced by the intersection at right angles of two-barrel vaults, creates the galley ceiling that transects and foyer and living room and connects the east and west sides of the estate. These vaults are accented by a bead detail along the intersecting barrels and terminate at the groin center and the top of the paneled pilaster column capitals.

Prior Residence Foundation

The new residence replaced an older residence that was demolished. During excavation for the new construction, the old structural pilings were encountered particularly during excavation for the basement which was built 25’ below water to house the windows and lifts for the rear covered loggia. Due to location on the bay and the high-water table in south Florida full-time 24-hour dewatering required during basement construction.

Indian Creek Island

A gated island community known for its large estate homes properties surrounding a world class 18-hole golf course. and community club house, a historical national landmark, designed by Architect Maurice Fatio, a well-known architect in the 1920’s in Palm Beach and other prominent towns during that period.