Casa Florida: Spanish-Style Houses from Winter Park to Coral Gables

Florida’s architectural history can be traced to the Spanish colonial settlement of St. Augustine in the mid-16 century, while the state’s architectural development reached its mature stage in the 19th century. Casa Florida is an exuberant, full-color celebration of the enduring influence of Spanish architecture and design upon Florida’s resorts, private houses, and gardens.
Casa Florida explores the earliest influences of the Spanish style in the Sunshine State, its revival in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and its contemporary expression in architecture today, with a strong focus on the style’s unifying concept of fantasy and Florida’s unique tendency to inspire enraptured states of mind and spectacular built environments. Susan Sully provides colorful history and anecdotes that complement Steven Brooke’s magnificent full-color photography of the region’s signature style in examples representing the entire state and ranging from the charming to the splendid.

Susan Sully is the author of New Orleans Style, Charleston Style, and Savannah Style. A graduate of Yale University with a degree in art history, Sully lectures and writes for publications including Southern Accents, the New York Times, Art and Antiques, and House & Garden.
Steven Brooke is a Fellow of the American Academy in Rome and winner of the AIA National Institute Honor Award for photography. He is the author and photographer of Rizzoli’s Views of Rome and Views of Jerusalem and the Holy Land, and the photographer for Rizzoli’s Napa Valley Style, Savannah Style, and Seaside Style. He lives in Miami.