January 6th - Car rental, Bonnet House

This is the day we picked up a car from U-Save Rentals.  That sounds simple, right?  Well first we told the hotel we needed a shuttle to the airport to pick up a rental car.  But we knew U-Save was one of the car rental agencies that didn't have cars at the airport so we needed to be dropped off at the car rental center at the airport then walk to Stop #7 where a shuttle from the car rental agency would pick us up and take us to the car lot.  About 2 miles from the hotel, as the hotel shuttle is taking us to the Car Rental Center at the airport, we pass by a U-Save Car Rental lot.  My sister and I looked at each other and we just knew we're going to be headed back there.  But first there are others on the shuttle and they are going to a cruise ship.  After dropping them off, we get dropped off at the airport car rental center.  We call U-Save and they came to pick us up.  Yep, they took us to the lot we had seen on our drive earlier.  Since our original trip didn't include a car rental, I had my husband text me a copy of our car's insurance card to prove that I had car insurance.  Well I needed the insurance declaration sheet.  So I stepped out of line and called my husband. He came to the rescue and texted me a copy.  But the line had grown long and they only had one person doing car rentals so it took a while to get up to the front again.  The guy ahead of us was extremely disappointed in the little, bright-green Fiesta that he had been assigned.  Once I got up to the desk, I let the clerk know that that little car was quite acceptable to my sister and me.  But it was not to be.  We were assigned a Nissan Versa.  The clerk said it was parked right out front so we went out to the boring gray Versa there.... but our key wouldn't open it.  We went back in and the clerk took us on a tour of the lot before we found a car that responded to the key fob.  We ended up with the white Versa pictured above.

 

Now that we had wheels, we headed off to see the Bonnet House.  This home was designed by Frederic Bartlett (1873-1953) as a winter home and built in 1920.  The house is plantation style, built around a central courtyard.  Local materials such as Dade County pine, cypress and concrete blocks made from beach sand were used to construct the house.  The property once belonged to Hugh Taylor Birch (1848-1943), who gave over 35 acres to his daughter, Helen (1882-1925) on the occasion of her marriage to Frederic Bartlett in 1919. The newlyweds began construction of Bonnet House, eager for a winter retreat where Frederic could pursue his artwork and Helen could compose music and poetry Tragedy struck in 1925 when Helen died from breast cancer. In 1931, Frederic Barlett married Evelyn Fortune Lilly (b. 1887).  Their combined artistic talents are evident throughout Bonnet House.  

With this marriage, a renaissance occurred on the site as Frederic and Evelyn entered a prolific period of embellishing Bonnet House with the decorative elements that delight visitors to this day.  In 1983, Evelyn Fortune Bartlett gave Bonnet House to the Florida Trust for Historic Preservation. Her contribution—at the time, the largest charitable gift in Florida history—ensured that the site would be preserved for the enjoyment and education of future generations.  She spent winters at Bonnet House until 1995.  

Go to the Bonnet House website and watch the videos about the estate.  https://www.bonnethouse.org/about-all/

To you give an idea of our Fort Lauderdale travels, our hotel was located at the bottom left of this photo along St. Rd 84 where I-95 intersects I-595.  The car rental was at Andrews Ave and St. Rd 84.  We went up Andrews then east on SE 17th Causeway over the ICW.  The road turns and becomes A1A.  It's hard to see but Bonnet House is marked on the map.   The previous day's visit to the Stranahan house took us to where Hwy 1 meets Las Olas Blvd.

Double click to enlarge this map so you can see the details of the Bonnet House estate.  Hwy A1A runs along the left (east) side of the map.  Birch Street is at the bottom (north).   

This female Squirrel Monkey hangs out by the Boat House and greets visitors as they pass by. Historically squirrel monkeys were introduced into Florida in five separate populations located throughout the state.  Today only one small population of a few individuals is known to exist in the Fort Lauderdale area at the Bonnet House Museum and Gardens.  Members of this population are free-ranging and have been observed traveling to nearby Hugh Taylor Birch State Park.

Volunteers are on hand to give visitors a very short golf cart ride to the house but we walked up the hill ourselves.  We were led to a building to the east of this main entrance to the house.  That building was a gallery that contained the artworks of Evelyn and also two rooms in which visitors could watch a short introductory video about the home and its occupants.  Since the 2nd story is not open to visitors, the video contained narrated scenes from those rooms, mainly bedrooms.  

Upon entering the front door, we were greeted by the lush foliage of the courtyard. 

The covered walkway surrounding the courtyard contained pieces of artwork many of which are replicas. 

Click on the photo to enlarge it so you can see the details of the home.

Notice the painted ceiling.  Next we entered the red doors to the studio

While the throngs of people attending the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair drove nature-loving Hugh Taylor Birch to the South Florida wilderness, the Fair’s fine art exhibits inspired Frederic Clay Bartlett to forsake his family’s hardware business and become an artist.  Frederic graduated from Munich’s prestigious Royal Academy in 1895 and returned to a prolific and prosperous career in the United States.  He worked on mural projects in conjunction with American architects such as Howard Van Doren Shaw and his easel work was acquired for the collections of several well-respected collections including: The Carnegie Institute in Pittsburgh, National Museum of American Art, The National Arts Club in New York City, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Indianapolis Museum of Art, Detroit Institute of Arts, Antioch University, Cape Ann Historical Association in Gloucester Massachusetts and Colby College in Waterville, Maine.

In addition to creating art, Frederic was also an avid art collector.  He and his wife Helen amassed a priceless collection of paintings, including Georges Seurat’s pointillist masterpiece, Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, Paul Gauguin’s Day of the Gods, and Pablo Picasso’s The Old Guitarist.  Frederic and Helen purchased these works with the specific intention of giving them to the Art Institute of Chicago, and Frederic continued to add to the collection after Helen’s untimely death.  Today, these paintings comprise the Art Institute’s Helen Birch Bartlett Memorial Collection.

But despite his true genius in collecting, Frederic often commented that his greatest artistic discovery was the innate talent possessed by his third wife, Evelyn Fortune Bartlett.  With little formal training but much encouragement from Frederic, Evelyn began painting in 1933.  For five years, she painted prolifically, and her work was featured in well-received gallery exhibits in Boston, New York, and Indianapolis. Evelyn’s works are today displayed in Bonnet House’s Carl J. Weinhardt Gallery.  This was the gallery where our tour started.

Double click on this photo so you can see the detail.  The top photo is a 1934 aerial photo of the estate.  The small building on the canal at the top is the boat house and the land at the very top is where the parking lot is now located.  Too bad the photo doesn't show the property clear out to the ocean.  The lower aerial photo is from 1988.    

I am unhappy that I didn't get a photo of the charcoal sketches that Frederick did before he had any formal training.  They were life-like.

After the studio we stepped back out to the courtyard.

The courtyard also contained an aviary.  Notice the New Orleans French Quarter-inspired balcony railing off the 2nd story. 

Continuing around the courtyard, we stepped into the Butler's Pantry.  

The door from the courtyard is to the right and the room to the left of this cabinet is the dining room. 

The open top of a dutch door let us look into the kitchen. 

1930's electric icebox

Turning our backs to the kitchen we start toward the dining through the door to the right of this cabinet. 

Cabinets built into the wall

Stepping back out to the walkway we turn to the left to the north loggia.

The entry to the veranda is blocked off by this very pretty gold gate.

Ceiling

Continuing around the courtyard, we are greeted by this evil-eyed statue. 

Stepping into the south loggia, we see another fantastic ceiling.  From here we enter the Drawing Room. 

Most of the decor, including the doors, was fashioned by the Barletts.

Frederick Bartlett, surrounded by his wife, Evelyn, his son from his first marriage and his grandchildren. 

We weren't allowed to enter the Music Room but could peek through the plexiglass. 

Next we went out the veranda where preparations were being made for the celebration of the home's 100th anniversary.  It was canopied.  Looking out over the slough, we saw this turtle enjoying the sun from his perch on a log. 

Several iguanas were also enjoying the sunshine as they lounged around the pond. 

Next we headed out to a building that housed a shell collection, the Bamboo Bar and the Orchid collection. 

The shell collection occupied cabinets built into a circular room 

The Bamboo Bar. 

The Orchid Room. 

Next we walked to the Caretaker's Cottage.  Saw this large bunch of keys hanging on the wall and thought how much digging it would take to find the key you needed.

Some of the Cottage had been made into a gift shop because what attraction isn't complete without one.

Yeap this unusually named tree actually exists 

Gumbo Limbo tree

Next we walked the path to the east of the home.  This path crossed over the slough and gave us a look at the Chickadee Bridge. 

On the other side of the slough, the land was undeveloped and in a more natural state. 

 The canopy over the veranda isn't normally there.

After our tour we exited the estate to the north and walked east to the AIA looking for food.  We stopped at McSorley's Irish Pub and sat on deck watching the traffic go by between us and Fort Lauderdale Beach. 

The most entertaining thing was the people crossing the AIA when they didn't have the right-of-way.  I wonder how many get hit every year. 

One of the many lifeguard stations along the 24-mile of beach. 

On the way back to our hotel, we stopped into a grocery store and stocked up on edibles since we had a refrigerator and microwave.    Another night we picked up chicken and baked beans at the store.