A November 11 feature in Architectural Digest brought new attention to Collado Hueco, the 1924 Addison Mizner residence at 1820 South Ocean Boulevard in Palm Beach. The more consequential story is not simply the arrival of a celebrated art collection. It is how a historic ocean-to-lake estate was adapted for contemporary living without treating its original architecture as disposable.
Peter and Stephanie Seymour Brant acquired the property in 2020. The recently completed work lasted roughly three and a half to four years, depending on whether the duration is taken from the Preservation Foundation of Palm Beach or the magazine's account. The project is a completed private restoration—not a new development, a newly announced sale or a public opening.
The cover photograph is the William Gray Warden House, another Palm Beach residence designed by Mizner. It is included only as architectural context and is not Collado Hueco. Cover photo: Ebyabe / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0. The photographs throughout this article are similarly identified examples of other Mizner works; no image is represented as the Brants' home.
A 3.3-acre estate with an unusual Mizner signature
Collado Hueco occupies a 3.3-acre parcel with frontage on both the Atlantic and the Intracoastal Waterway. The Preservation Foundation's account describes more than 330 feet of ocean and Intracoastal frontage. The main house was designed by Addison Mizner for Paul Moore in 1924; a later guesthouse was designed by Palm Beach architect John L. Volk.
The Foundation's reporting identifies the original contractor as Cooper Lightbown and describes a private tunnel running from the property toward its beach. The Foundation's archival property file also records the house's history and the unusual beach connection. The tunnel is a feature of this private estate, not a public passage or visitor amenity.
The house is notable within Mizner's work for its combination of Mediterranean and Norman references. Coquina rock is used prominently along the lower walls, while half-timber detailing marks the upper portions. That mix gives the residence a more rustic, country-house character than the smoother stucco and cast-stone vocabulary often associated with Palm Beach's Mediterranean Revival landmarks.
The site itself is part of the composition. The ground falls from the ocean side toward the west, so the lake-facing rear of the house rises to three stories. The stepped massing creates a layered profile rather than a single symmetrical façade—a response to the estate's unusually deep ocean-to-lake setting.
A restoration built around keeping, not replacing
The clearest distinction in the recent project is what the team chose not to do. Rather than demolishing the house and reproducing its appearance, the restoration kept the historic walls standing, reinforced them and deepened the foundations. Architectural Digest describes the work as a reconstruction that saved the historic fabric; the Preservation Foundation's earlier account likewise emphasizes structural reinforcement and the retention of original architectural details.
The roof was removed and rebuilt. New hurricane-resistant windows were set into concrete frames, and the team reworked window and door assemblies to better seal the house. Original roof tiles and the patina of the plaster fireplace were preserved. The work also addressed the foundation and the building envelope, reflecting the demands of a coastal property expected to protect valuable art as well as its occupants.
Structural performance and the limits of the public record
The owners' stated priorities included limiting humidity and water intrusion, improving security and protecting the collection from South Florida's weather. These are not cosmetic upgrades: they affect the long-term performance of a historic house, especially one with substantial original fabric and a large collection of paintings, sculpture, furniture and couture.
The public sources reviewed do not disclose the restoration's total construction cost, a final engineering schedule or a complete property-specific certificate-of-appropriateness file. The Preservation Foundation reported that structural problems discovered during construction expanded the budget, but no verified final amount was published. This article therefore does not assign a project cost or claim that a particular insurance, flood or building-code outcome was achieved.
The art collection changed the design brief
The interiors were not planned as a neutral backdrop to be filled after construction. According to Architectural Digest, Brant gave Joseph Dirand two extensive reference binders—one devoted to artworks and another to design pieces—before the interior scheme was settled. The collection helped determine how rooms would be opened, how light would move through the house and where important works could be seen.
Dirand handled the interior architecture and decoration, working with the historic structure rather than attempting to recreate Mizner's rooms as a period set. The great room and loggia became the principal display spaces. In the great room, a monumental fireplace anchors a group of works and furniture that includes a carved-stone console by Alberto Giacometti and Andy Warhol's White Disaster (White Car Crash 19 Times). In the loggia, Jean-Michel Basquiat's Per Capita shares the room with furniture by Jean Royère and Ettore Sottsass.
The scale of the collection is substantial, but it is important to state the number correctly. Architectural Digest reports that the Brants' combined holdings and those of the Brant Foundation exceed 3,000 works. That figure describes the broader collection, not the number of artworks installed in Collado Hueco at one time.
Stephanie Seymour Brant's interest in historic couture also informed the project. The magazine describes clothing as part of the couple's collecting practice, not merely a wardrobe requirement. That helps explain why the house's design brief extends beyond paintings: the interiors were shaped to accommodate art, design objects, furniture and fashion as parts of one private collection.
A wider restoration team
The project was not the work of a single interior designer. The Preservation Foundation identified Patrick Segraves of SKA Architect + Planner as the restoration architect and Joseph Dirand as the architect and interior designer responsible for the new interior language. Rogers General Contracting of West Palm Beach oversaw construction, while landscape architect Madison Cox designed the grounds. The Foundation's reporting also identifies structural work and separate improvements to the John L. Volk-designed guesthouse.
That division of responsibility matters. The restoration had to reconcile the original house's materials and geometry with structural reinforcement, weather protection, modern security and a contemporary landscape. Dirand's role was to interpret Mizner's vocabulary, not to erase it or produce a literal period replica.
The Ballinger Award—and a designation-date discrepancy
Collado Hueco has received the Preservation Foundation of Palm Beach's Robert I. Ballinger Award twice, with the two recognitions separated by 30 years. The earlier award followed a restoration by A. Alfred Taubman and his wife, Judith, in 1994. The more recent recognition followed the Brants' restoration. The Foundation's January 2025 account said the award would be presented in early February; the Brant Foundation documented the recognition on February 28, 2025.
There is a small but material date inconsistency in the public record. The Preservation Foundation's archival property file and its Explore Palm Beach material describe the Town landmark designation as 1980, while the Foundation's January 2025 article gives 1990. The Town's publicly available 2025 landmark list did not return 1820 South Ocean Boulevard in its searchable text. The property is described as a landmark by the Foundation and the Brant Foundation, but the original Town designation resolution was not located in this review; the precise designation year is therefore left unresolved.
The Town's broader planning and development review guidance explains that modifications to landmarked properties are reviewed by the Landmarks Preservation Commission, while other design-review matters may go to the Architectural Commission. The Town says its historic-preservation ordinance dates to 1979 and that more than 328 landmark properties, sites and vistas are protected. That framework provides context for the restoration, but it does not substitute for the missing property-specific approval record.
What buyers and owners can take from the project
For buyers considering a historic Palm Beach estate, Collado Hueco is a reminder that architectural significance and physical performance are inseparable. Due diligence should extend beyond visible finishes to the condition of foundations, roof assemblies, windows and doors, water management, mechanical systems, security and the maintenance of original materials. A landmark designation can also affect the review path for future alterations, so buyers should confirm the current status and obtain the applicable Town records for the exact parcel.
For owners, the project illustrates the complexity of adapting a historic home for contemporary collections and lifestyles. Art protection, humidity control, hurricane resistance and security can require major interventions, even when the design objective is to preserve the original walls and defining rooms. A successful restoration may involve substantial engineering and careful sequencing that are not obvious in a finished photograph.
For the wider Palm Beach market, the estate shows why exceptional properties cannot be understood only through square footage or a conventional renovation budget. The setting, architectural authorship, historic fabric, landscape and privacy all contribute to the experience of a rare ocean-to-lake property. None of those characteristics, however, creates a public valuation or a verified transaction price; the sources reviewed do not disclose the restoration cost or a new sale.
What the photographs show—and what they do not
No rights-cleared current photograph of Collado Hueco itself was available for this publication. The Smithsonian's Archives of American Gardens catalogs historic lantern-slide images of the property, but its records state that reuse restrictions may apply and that permission may be required. Those archival images and Architectural Digest's copyrighted photographs have not been reproduced here. The images accompanying this article are separately identified photographs of other Mizner-designed Palm Beach and Boca Raton buildings, used only to illustrate the regional architectural vocabulary.
Readers can browse Tryphe's News archive, visit the Palm Beach page and read the earlier Goodman estate analysis. The Goodman story concerns a different parcel and transaction; it is not a report on Collado Hueco.
Sources and reporting notes
Primary and institutional references include the Preservation Foundation's Collado Hueco award report, its archival property-file record, the Brant Foundation's award documentation and the Town of Palm Beach's development-review guidance. The recent interior and restoration details were checked against Architectural Digest's November 11, 2026 feature.
The Smithsonian's Collado Hueco archival record was reviewed for image provenance and reuse restrictions, not used as a source of publishable photography. Creative Commons and public-domain image credits are stored with the corresponding Sanity assets and repeated in the image captions.