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 Internati ...
-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
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 ...
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 most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...
, 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 Lutyens" by working in a vari ...
. 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 Intraco ...
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 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
Indian or Indians may refer to:
Peoples South Asia
* Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor
** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country
* South Asia ...
.
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 s ...
. 1929.
* ''
Casa Eleda''. South Ocean Blvd., Palm Beach. 1929.
Mortimer L. Schiff.
* ''Il Palmetto''
1520 South Ocean Blvd., Palm Beach 1930.
Joseph E. Widener.
* ''
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, 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