Courtyard

A 1904 article in American Estates and Gardens described the Courtyard as “spacious enough to amply light all the rooms and passages that open upon it, and forming a most entrancing center to this magnificent home.” Carrère and Hastings followed classical tradition when they designed Whitehall around this center Courtyard. The courtyard plan took advantage of the ocean breezes, which helped to keep the house cool in the Florida climate, and the Flaglers used the space often for dinner parties. At the Courtyard’s center is a marble fountain, designed after the “Venus” fountain sculpted by Giovanni da Bologna for the Boboli Gardens in Florence.