Lila Vanderbilt Webb's Miradero / Window On An Era

By Robert W. Ganger

Book Overview

Book by Ganger, Robert W. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0976424207
• ISBN13: 9780976424208
• Release Date: January 2005
• Publisher: Historical Society of Palm Bea
• Length: 184 Pages
• Weight: 2.00 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Gilded Age Detail

The author is to be commended for his approach to the subject. It was not only biographical, but gave great historical perspective both to the gilded age and to the subject's entire family. An absolute pleasure to read and savor!!! How I wish he would write more books on this age!

Lila Vanderbilt Webb's Miradero, Window on an Era

Robert Ganger has recreated a fascinating window on the life of Lila Vanderbilt Webb, one of the richest women in the country. In this intriguing biography, you follow her through the Gilded Age growing up in New York City, her move to Vermont and building Shelburne Farms (100 rooms) to life in Palm Beach and finally Gulfstream, Fl. As the book and marvelous photographs reveal she had "the blessing and curses of wealth and power" yet she was a remarkable Victorian women who dervived strength from adversity. By age 71 she was deaf, and above all had money problems. Her husband's illness had made him addicted to morphine. As a widow, in 1931 she decides to build Miradero on the undeveloped oceanfront in Gulfstream, Fl.(15 miles S. of Palm Beach). The house, a fine example of Depression era Mediterranean Revival Design, was designed and built by her in 18 months and is one of the four oldest houses today. The book is a fascinating read and the photos of early Florida to the present are a rare glimpse of Fl history. I enjoyed every page.

A Wonderful Read of a Classic American Story

Heartily recommended. Miradero reveals the inner strength of a Vanderbilt heiress whose mythically grand lifestyle was shattered by her husband's morphine addiction. Her ability to shed her Victorian upbringing to take control of her life makes for a timeless story. Author Robert Ganger's "window" on Lila Vanderbilt Webb's life is intriguing. He lives in Miradero, a historic home near Palm Beach that Mrs. Webb designed when she was elderly, deaf, and almost broke. A good read for Vanderbilt buffs, and anyone interested in Palm Beach in its heyday. Richly illustrated, too. The photos are worth the price of the book.