The Bonnet House (also known as the Bartlett Estate) is a historic home in

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Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

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. It is located at 900 Birch Road. On July 5, 1984, it was added to the

U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

. It is named after the Bonnet Lily.

History

The property was originally acquired in 1895 by Hugh Taylor Birch, a successful Chicago lawyer, and given to his daughter Helen and her husband, artist

Frederic Clay Bartlett Frederic Clay Bartlett (June 1, 1873 – June 25, 1953) was an American artist and art collector known for his collection of French Post-Impressionist and modernist art. Bartlett was committed to promoting the work of fellow contemporary artists ...

, as a wedding gift in 1919. Bartlett built a plantation-style home on the property and wintered there with his wife and child from a previous marriage, Frederic Jr, until Helen died in 1925. As a memorial to his late wife Bartlett donated his extensive art collection to the

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. Bartlett was a self-taught architect, the main house is based on his interpretation of Caribbean plantation-style architecture. Bartlett then married Evelyn Fortune Lilly, ex-wife of

Eli Lilly Eli Lilly (July 8, 1838 – June 6, 1898) was an American soldier, pharmacist, chemist, and businessman who founded the Eli Lilly and Company pharmaceutical corporation. Lilly enlisted in the Union Army during the American Civil War and r ...

, and they continued to use the home as a winter residence until his death in 1953 and hers in 1997. She deeded the property in 1983 to the Florida Trust for Historic Preservation, which maintains the property as a

historic house museum A historic house museum is a house of historic significance that has been transformed into a museum. Historic furnishings may be displayed in a way that reflects their original placement and usage in a home. Historic house museums are held to a ...

called the Bonnet House Museum & Gardens. The estate was valued at $35 million, the largest single private donation in state history. In 1988 Jon Nordheimer of ''

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'' described it as "an unrivaled time capsule neatly preserved from an era earlier in the century when the wealthy elite could afford a cozy 35-acre winter hideaway in Florida."

Layout

The principal buildings include; the main house, an art studio, a music studio and a guest house. They are all of

vernacular architecture Vernacular architecture is building done outside any academic tradition, and without professional guidance. This category encompasses a wide range and variety of building types, with differing methods of construction, from around the world, bo ...

, designed by Bartlett. The estate is . It includes of beach. In April 2015, Bonnet House officials completed five years of negotiations with the city of Fort Lauderdale to designate the stretch of beachfront property in front of it private so that it can host wedding receptions and other private events there without having to get special permits from the city. There are five different ecosystems within the property; primary and secondary dunes, mangrove wetlands, a fresh water slough and a maritime forest.

Art studio

The first building completed was the art studio.

Main house

The ceiling of the drawing room in the main house is of mahogany from a large log that washed ashore in a storm. Throughout a motif of pairs reflecting an interest of Frederic and Evelyn Bartlett.

Modern times

In 1987, 6,000 visitors took the 90-minute tour of the site. Evelyn Bartlett had a pet monkey and bought 30 to 40 monkeys to live in the trees of the estate. When a local bar, LeClub, that featured monkeys closed they fled to the Bonnet House. In 2014 at least three of them still lived there. Bartlett's sister

Maie Bartlett Heard Maie Bartlett Heard (1868–1951) was an Arizona-based collector and philanthropist, who cofounded the Heard Museum of native American art. Background Born on June 11, 1868, in Chicago, to parents Adolphus C. Bartlett and Mary Pitkin. Her fathe ...

founded the

Heard Museum The Heard Museum is a private, not-for-profit museum in Phoenix, Arizona, United States, dedicated to the advancement of American Indian art. It presents the stories of American Indian people from a first-person perspective, as well as exhibitio ...

in Phoenix with her husband Dwight B. Heard. Since 2003, the Bonnet House has sought to increase revenue by serving as a filming location. It was the Finish Line for the seventh season of the hit CBS reality show ''

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''. It also was a filming location for the movie ''

Hoot Hoot may refer to: Publications * ''Hoot'' (novel), a young adult novel by Carl Hiaasen * ''Hoot'', a 1996 children's novel by Jane Hissey * ''Hoot'' (comics), a British magazine published from 1985 to 1986 * ''The Brandeis Hoot'', a student n ...

''. In May 2008, the

National Trust for Historic Preservation The National Trust for Historic Preservation is a privately funded, nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., that works in the field of historic preservation in the United States. The member-supported organization was founded in 1949 by ...

listed the building on its list of

America's Most Endangered Places America's 11 Most Endangered Places or America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places is a list of places in the United States that the National Trust for Historic Preservation considers the most endangered. It aims to inspire Americans to preserve ex ...

. The same year, the Bonnet House settled a lawsuit against a developer planning an 18-storey hotel nearby. The settlement included almost half a million dollars for landscaping to obscure the view of the new building. The proposed hotel had been controversial, many people both in favor and opposed spoke at public hearings on the subject. Also in 2008 it was featured in the book, ''Great Houses of Florida''. In 2012, the Bonnet House joined the Riverwalk Arts and Entertainment District as a cultural partner. In 2017, Patrick Shavloske was named chief executive officer.

References

External links

* * * * * *
Florida Division of Historical Resources
** ** {{authority control Art museums and galleries in Florida Historic house museums in Florida Houses in Fort Lauderdale, Florida Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Florida Museums in Fort Lauderdale, Florida National Register of Historic Places in Broward County, Florida Institutions accredited by the American Alliance of Museums Historic American Buildings Survey in Florida