Marion Sims Wyeth (February 17, 1889 – February 4, 1982) was an American architect known for his range in styles such as

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

Mediterranean Revival Mediterranean Revival is an architectural style introduced in the United States, Canada, and certain other countries in the 19th century. It incorporated references from Spanish Renaissance, Spanish Colonial, Italian Renaissance, French Colonial ...

, and classical Georgian, French, and Colonial. He designed numerous mansions in

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 ...

during its gilded age. Wyeth was among a group of architects considered the “Big Five,” along with John L. Volk,

Addison Mizner Addison Cairns Mizner (December 12, 1872 – February 5, 1933) was an American architect whose Mediterranean Revival and Spanish Colonial Revival style interpretations left an indelible stamp on South Florida, where it continues to inspire archit ...

Maurice Fatio Maurice Fatio (1897–1943) was a Swiss-born American architect. Biography Maurice Fatio was born in Geneva, Switzerland on March 18, 1897. He graduated from the Polytechnical School at the University of Zurich and studied under Swiss architect ...

, and Howard Major, who defined Palm Beach style in the early twentieth century.

Biography

Wyeth was born in New York City to Florence Nightingale Sims and Dr.

John Allan Wyeth John Allan Wyeth (May 26, 1845 – May 22, 1922) was an American Confederate veteran and surgeon. Born and raised on a Southern plantation in Alabama, he served in the Confederate States Army and completed his medical studies in New York City a ...

, who founded what is today the Stuyvesant Polyclinic Hospital in 1882 (which became

Cabrini Medical Center Cabrini Medical Center of New York City was created in 1973 by a merger of two Manhattan hospitals. It closed in 2008 due to financial difficulties cited by the Berger Commission, followed by a bankruptcy filing. In January 2010, the five build ...

). His grandfather

J. Marion Sims James Marion Sims (January 25, 1813November 13, 1883) was an American physician in the field of surgery. His most famous work was the development of a surgical technique for the repair of vesicovaginal fistula, a severe complication of obstruc ...

founded the first Women's Hospital in the U.S. in 1855 (it is now part of

Mount Sinai Morningside Mount Sinai Morningside, formerly known as Mount Sinai St. Luke's, is a teaching hospital located in the Morningside Heights neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. It is affiliated with the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and the ...

Wyeth attended

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

and studied at the

École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts The Beaux-Arts de Paris is a French ''grande école'' whose primary mission is to provide high-level arts education and training. This is classical and historical School of Fine Arts in France. The art school, which is part of the Paris Science ...

in Paris, where he was awarded the Prix Jean LeClerc in 1913 and the Deuxième Prix Rougevin in 1914. Wyeth worked at

Carrère & Hastings Carrère (; oc, Carrèra) is a commune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in south-western France. See also *Communes of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department The following is a list of the 546 Communes of France, communes of the Pyré ...

. He moved to

in 1919 where he founded the firm of Wyeth and King with his business partner

Frederic Rhinelander King Frederic Rhinelander King (April 13, 1887 – March 20, 1972), was an American architect, and the co-founder with Marion Sims Wyeth of the architecture firm Wyeth and King. Early life Frederic Rhinelander King was born in 1887. He was the son of ...

. He was the first Palm Beach architect to be elected a fellow of the

American Institute of Architects The American Institute of Architects (AIA) is a professional organization for architects in the United States. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the AIA offers education, government advocacy, community redevelopment, and public outreach to su ...

. Wyeth had over 700 commissions, many of which in Palm Beach, including

Mar-a-Lago Mar-a-Lago ( from the Spanish for ''sea to lake'') is a resort and national historic landmark in Palm Beach, Florida, owned by former U.S. president Donald Trump. Trump acquired Mar-a-Lago in 1985 and referred to it as his "Winter White House" ...

(1923-1927 with

Joseph Urban Joseph Urban (May 26, 1872 – July 10, 1933) was an Austrian-American architect, illustrator, and scenic designer. Life and career Joseph Urban was born on May 26, 1872, in Vienna. He received his first architectural commission at age 19 wh ...

). Other notable commissions include the

Norton Museum of Art The Norton Museum of Art is an art museum located in West Palm Beach, Florida. Its collection includes over 8,200 works, with a concentration in European, American, and Chinese art as well as in contemporary art and photography. In 2003, it overt ...

(1941) in West Palm Beach, the Florida Governors Mansion in Tallahassee, and Shangri La,

Doris Duke Doris Duke (November 22, 1912 – October 28, 1993) was an American billionaire tobacco heiress, philanthropist, art collector, Horticulture, horticulturalist, and socialite. She was often called "the richest girl in the world". Her great wealt ...

’s house in Honolulu, Hawaii. In 1993, Wyeth's collection was donated to the

Preservation Foundation of Palm Beach The Preservation Foundation of Palm Beach is a private, nonprofit membership organization dedicated to the preservation of the historic, architectural, as well as cultural heritage of Palm Beach, Florida. Through advocacy initiatives, educatio ...

by architect Sidney Neil. The collection includes 13,000 architectural drawings and over 900 photographs.

Projects

Church of the Epiphany (Episcopal), UES Manhattan jeh

, Palm Beach, Florida *

La Claridad La Claridad was a mansion built on Golfview Road in Palm Beach, Florida in 1924 for utilities magnate Clarence H. Geist. It was designed by Palm Beach architect Marion Sims Wyeth Marion Sims Wyeth (February 17, 1889 – February 4, 1982) was an ...

, Palm Beach, Florida *

, West Palm Beach, Florida * High Point Monument, New Jersey and associated Grey Rock Inn *

Florida Governor's Mansion The Florida Governor's Mansion (also called The People's House of Florida) is a historic U.S. residence in Tallahassee, Florida and the official residence of the governor of Florida. On July 20, 2006, it was added to the U.S. National Register of ...

, Tallahassee, Florida *

Shangri La Shangri-La is a fictional place in Asia's Kunlun Mountains (昆仑山), Uses the spelling 'Kuen-Lun'. described in the 1933 novel ''Lost Horizon'' by English author James Hilton. Hilton portrays Shangri-La as a mystical, harmonious valley, gen ...

, Doris Duke's home in

Honolulu Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...

* The Church of the Epiphany on New York City's

Upper East Side The Upper East Side, sometimes abbreviated UES, is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 96th Street to the north, the East River to the east, 59th Street to the south, and Central Park/Fifth Avenue to the wes ...

* Dutch South African Village, Coral Gables, Florida

References

External links

Marion Sims Wyeth Collection o
Omeka
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wyeth, Marion Sims 1889 births 1982 deaths Architects from New York City Architects from Florida American residential architects People from Palm Beach, Florida Princeton University alumni American alumni of the École des Beaux-Arts