By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2024-10-29 21:11:52 | Updated at 2024-10-30 23:28:06
1 day ago
Vintage photos of Mar-a-Lago captured the stunning Florida estate before Donald Trump famously made it his home base.
Prior to the former president buying the historic landmark in 1985, it belonged to America's richest woman.
Marjorie Merriweather Post obtained her wealth through her father's Post cereal fortune. She inherited the $20million Post Cereal Company when he died in 1914, Business Insider reported.
Post spent years looking for the best location for Mar-a-Lago, which means 'Sea to Lake' in Spanish, because she wanted it perfectly situated between the ocean and nearby Lake Worth, according to Mara-a-Lago's website.
The heiress had the Palm Beach property built between 1924 to 1927. She and her husband, E.F. Hutton, hired architect Marion Sims Wyeth to carry out the elaborate project.
A well-decorated hallway in Mar-a-Lago in 1967, owned by Marjorie Merriweather Post
Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate's exterior pictured in 2022, 37 years after he bought it
Now, the property is located at 1100 South Ocean Boulevard. But when it was first built, it was surrounded by swampland.
Post maintained ownership of Mar-a-Lago after she and her husband divorced in 1935.
She hosted charity balls, dinners and dances at the famous estate, Business Insider reported.
The Mediterranean-styled villa had 114 rooms, packed with exquisite details from countries including Italy, Spain, France and Cuba.
It sat on about 20 acres of land.
Even though Post would only spend a few months each year at the property - as she also had estates in Washington, DC and Upstate New York - each room was adorned with unique and expensive elements.
An arch on the estate was made of Dorian stone with bits of seashells and fossils from Genoa, Italy
A spiraled staircase in the villa. Marion Sims Wyeth was the architect who designed the property
'The architecture, sculpture, planning and craftsmanship that went into this magnificent estate could not be duplicated today,' Mar-a-Lago's website states.
Outside Mar-a-Lago, which Post used as her winter home, were arches made of Dorian stone with bits of seashells and fossils from Genoa, Italy.
Other exterior features and some accents inside the villa were made of the same material.
As shown in photos from 1967, the side of the house that faced Lake Worth had a curved shape with staircases on either side.
Cloisters were filled with well-kept plants and greenery.
It was built to be hurricane-resistant, with concrete and steel anchors grounding it into a coral reef.
The hall leading guests from the main entrance was decorated with star-shaped light fixtures and intricate carvings and artwork by Australian sculptor Franz Barwig.
About 36,000 Spanish tiles - some dating back to the 15th century - were featured throughout Mar-a-Lago's interior.
The outside of Mar-a-Lago facing the lake was designed to be curved with two staircases
The Mediterranean-style villa was decorated with plants, trees and other greenery on the outside
The lavish living area featured a gold ceiling, alluding to the Thousand-Wing Ceiling at the Accademia in Venice, according to The Palm Beach Post.
Large chandeliers and lamps lit the room, filled with elegant furniture and wall designs.
The dining room's black-and-white tiles were taken from a Cuban castle. The room itself mirrored the dining room in the Palazzo Chigi in Rome.
Thirty people could sit for a meal at the long rectangle table made from semi-precious stones.
There was an entire room dedicated to Venetian glasses, mirrors and chandlers.
Star-shaped light fixtures and wall carves were the distinctive features of the home's entryway
Plants and seating areas filled the cloisters within the curved portion of the house
As one could imagine, Post's bedroom and attached dressing rooms fell nothing short of glamorous, with marbled accents, a fireplace and carved-wood furniture.
In 1961, Post added a dance floor to the site to host square-dancing parties. Originally from Illinois, she loved square-dancing throughout her life, Business Insider reported.
Mar-a-Lago was deemed a National Historic site in 1969.
Post died in 1973 with a fortune of $250million - or $1.8million today, according to Business Insider.
She left Mar-a-Lago to the US government to use as a place for presidents to stay, but the government returned the property to the Post Foundation after a decade because it was too expensive to maintain.
Some items from the original home, including the dining room table and several pieces of 18th-century French artwork, are now displayed at Post's Hillwood Estate in Washington, DC.
Trump was charged with charged with mishandling government documents after Mar-a-Lago was raided in 2022
An aerial shot of Mar-a-Lago from 2022. The estate has been turned to a club where members can enjoy amenities or host events
Trump swooped in and purchased the property in 1985. Tens years later, he opened it up to the public as a members club were people could enjoy the beach, a pool, a salon, a spa and tennis courts.
He also started offering Mar-a-Lago as an event space for weddings and other extravagant events.
He tried to keep the property as similar to Post's version of it as possible and restored it to how it looked when she lived there, according to Business Insider.
'It is the last remaining Palm Beach estate still containing its buildings and land in almost identical form as its original conception,' its website states.
The ballroom was modernized and the golf course was 'brought back to life.'
Mar-a-Lago's billiard room in 2000. Trump tried to keep the property as similar to Post's version of it as he could
The golden ceilings and wall details of Post's original design were still seen in the Mar-a-Lago living room in 2000
Mar-a-Lago was raided by the FBI in 2022. During the raid, agents acquired hundred of classified documents, leading to Trump being charged with mishandling government documents.
Trump's legal team argued that the raid of Mar-a-Lago was unconstitutional.
Last month, law enforcement swarmed the area for a much different reason.
A second assassination attempt was made against Trump at his West Palm Beach golf club, which is just five miles away from the property.
