Maurice Fatio (1897–1943) was a

Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina *Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses *Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internation ...

-born

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

architect.

Biography

Maurice Fatio was born in Geneva, Switzerland on March 18, 1897. He graduated from the Polytechnical School at the

University of Zurich The University of Zürich (UZH, german: Universität Zürich) is a public research university located in the city of Zürich, Switzerland. It is the largest university in Switzerland, with its 28,000 enrolled students. It was founded in 1833 f ...

and studied under Swiss architect

Karl Moser Karl Moser (August 10, 1860 – February 28, 1936) was an architect from Switzerland. Between 1887 and 1915 he worked together with Robert Curjel in Karlsruhe, setting up the architecture firm Curjel and Moser. Some of their works are: ...

. In 1920, he came to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, where he first worked for society architect

Harrie T. Lindeberg Harrie Thomas Lindeberg (1879 – January 10, 1959) was an American architect, best known for designing country houses in the United States. Among academic eclectic architects Lindeberg found a niche as "the American Edwin Lutyens, Lutyens" by wo ...

. He soon branched out on his own in partnership with William A. Treanor who was twenty years his senior. In May 1923, the 26-year-old Fatio was voted the most popular architect in New York. He moved to

Palm Beach, Florida Palm Beach is an incorporated town in Palm Beach County, Florida. Located on a barrier island in east-central Palm Beach County, the town is separated from several nearby cities including West Palm Beach and Lake Worth Beach by the Intracoas ...

in 1925 and opened an office there In Palm Beach, he began designing harmonious Mediterranean-style houses and eventually branched out into everything from Georgian to contemporary. In 1929, he married Eleanor Chase (1901-1944), a prominent Palm Beach society girl and novelist, in New York City. Fatio had two children with Chase, Alexandra (1932-2015) and Maurice Pierre "Petey"(1930-1961). Maurice Fatio died in 1943 of lung cancer. His wife died the next year.

James H. Clark James Henry Clark (born March 23, 1944) is an American entrepreneur and computer scientist. He founded several notable Silicon Valley technology companies, including Silicon Graphics, Netscape, myCFO, and Healtheon. His research work in comput ...

bought the 40,000 square foot ''Il Palmetto'' in 1999. In December 2010 ''Casa Alva'' sold for $27.5 M.

Notable buildings

* Residence of David Rockefeller. 146 East 65th Street, New York City. 1924. * '' Buenos Recuerdos'' . Palm Beach. 1927. Henry G. Barkhausen. *

Ribault Inn Club The Ribault Club is an historic building on Fort George Island near Jacksonville, Florida. It is now home to the Fort George Island Visitor Center. The building was designed in a Colonial Revival architecture style and is credited to Maurice Fat ...

, 1928

Fort George Island A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

* First National Bank of Palm Beach. 1928. * ''Casa Della Porta''. 195 Via Del Mar, Palm Beach. 1928. Mr. & Mrs. William J. McAneeny. * Clubhouse - Indian Creek Country Club.

Miami Beach Miami Beach is a coastal resort city in Miami-Dade County, Florida. It was incorporated on March 26, 1915. The municipality is located on natural and man-made barrier islands between the Atlantic Ocean and Biscayne Bay, the latter of which sep ...

. 1929. * '' Casa Eleda''. South Ocean Blvd., Palm Beach. 1929.

Mortimer L. Schiff Mortimer Loeb Schiff (June 5, 1877 – June 4, 1931), sometimes Mortimer Leo Schiff, was an American banker and notable early Boy Scouts of America (BSA) leader. His son, John Mortimer Schiff, was also involved with the BSA. He was also the fath ...

. * ''Il Palmetto''
1520 South Ocean Blvd., Palm Beach
1930.

Joseph E. Widener Joseph Early Widener (August 19, 1871 – October 26, 1943) was a wealthy American art collector who was a founding benefactor of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. A major figure in thoroughbred horse racing, he was head of New ...

. * '' Eastover''. 1100 South Ocean Boulevard, Manalapan, Florida. 1930. Mr. & Mrs. Harold S. Vanderbilt. On the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. * ''Villa Today''. Palm Beach. 1932. Mrs. Audrey Berdeau. * ''Casa Alva''. Manalapan, FL. 1935. Colonel & Mrs. Jacques Balsan. * Brazilian Court Hotel. Palm Beach. 1936. South wing added by Fatio. *

Society of the Four Arts The Society of the Four Arts is a non-profit charity organization that was founded in 1936. Its campus on the Intracoastal Waterway in Palm Beach is home to the Esther B. O’Keeffe Gallery Building, which includes the Esther B. O’Keeffe Art Gal ...

, Library. Palm Beach. 1936. * Crespi Estate. Dallas, Texas. 1939. Pio & Florence Crespi. * ''Four Winds''. Palm Beach. Mr. & Mrs. Edward F. Hutton. * ''Manana Point''. Palm Beach. Mr. & Mrs Grover Loening. * '' Villa Oheka''. Palm Beach. Mr. & Mrs. Otto H. Kahn. * ''Alva Base''. Fisher Island, Miami Beach. Mr. & Mrs. William K. Vanderbilt, Jr.Mockler 2010 p. 196. * '' Dickinson House''. 1240 Cocoanut Road, Boca Raton. On the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.

References

;Notes ;Bibliography * Egan, Eric. ''Recent Florida Work by Treanor & Fatio, 1928-1937.'' Honor's thesis, Brown University, 1989. * Fatio, Alexandra. ''Maurice Fatio: Architect''. A. Fatio, 1992. . * Johnson, Shirley. ''Palm Beach Houses''. New York: Rizzoli, 1991. . * McIver, Stuart. ''Yesterday's Palm Beach''. Miami: E. A. Seemann, 1976. * Mockler, Kim. ''Maurice Fatio: Palm Beach Architect''. New York: Acanthus Press, 2010. . * Pryor, Hubert. ''Eleanor of Palm Beach''. Philadelphia: Xlibris, 2002. . * Reed, Henry Hope. ''The Golden City''. New York: W. W. Norton, 1971. . * Seebohm, Carolyn. ''Boca Rococo: How Addison Mizner Invented Florida's Gold Coast''. New York: Clarkson Potter, 2001. . * Treanor & Fatio. ''Recent Florida Work by Treanor & Fatio Architects''. Palm Beach: Davies Publishing Co., 1932. * Treanor & Fatio. ''Recent Florida Work by Treanor & Fatio Architects''. Palm Beach: Davies Publishing Co., 1938. Second edition. {{DEFAULTSORT:Fatio, Maurice 1897 births 1943 deaths Architects from Geneva People from Palm Beach, Florida University of Zurich alumni Swiss emigrants to the United States Architects from Florida Mediterranean Revival architects