This rare mural at Vizcaya is ‘dying.’ A $750,000 grant will bring it back to life

A delicate, rare mural of shimmering water, glimmering shells, swirling fish and friendly turtles decorates the grotto at Vizcaya, one of Miami’s most picturesque historic sites. But it’s in a sea of trouble.

Above it, a layer of corroding metal. Below it, a swimming pool. Surrounding it, weather so humid it clings to your skin. And the artist made it out of water-soluble materials. The result? A 107-year-old artwork hanging on for dear life.

“The mural is dying. The mural is actively deteriorating,” said Davina Kuh Jakobi, the lead conservator at Vizcaya Museum and Gardens, the Coconut Grove waterfront landmark estate. “Somehow it’s still living, but it’s actively disappearing.”

But not all hope is lost. Vizcaya received $750,000 from the National Park Service’s Save America’s Treasures grant program to conserve the ceiling mural and restore it — as much as possible — to its former glory. National Park Services announced last week it was awarding $25.7 million in grants to fund 59 projects, including the Vizcaya swimming pool, grotto and mural.

“The Save America’s Treasures program began 25 years ago and continues to enable communities across the United States to preserve and conserve their nationally significant historic properties and collections,” said National Park Service Director Chuck Sams in a statement. “It’s fitting to celebrate this milestone anniversary through a wide range of projects that help to pass the full history of America and its people down to future generations.”

Vizcaya was built by wealthy businessman James Deering from 1914 to 1922 as a winter home. The elaborate, Mediterranean-inspired property includes lush gardens, antique furniture dating back to Pompeii and a grotto, which is visible today next to the museum’s cafe.

Deering enlisted artist Robert Winthrop Chanler to design and paint an immersive mural for the grotto’s ceiling. When the sunlight hits just right, the water reflects off the mural, creating the illusion of swimming under the sea. The mural in the grotto is just one of three publicly available Chanler murals in existence, Kuh Jakobi said.

“It’s an American treasure,” Kuh Jakobi said. “It’s so difficult to understand it through pictures, but when you’re in that space, it’s breathtaking.”

But, Kuh Jakobi said, Chanler used materials like plaster of Paris and water-soluble paint, which are “not particularly suited, not just to Florida, but to literally being above a swimming pool.”

Why would he do that? Chanler was “a little bit temperamental” and liked to use the materials he was accustomed to. Just a year or two after the mural was completed in 1917, it already began to deteriorate.

The fact that the mural still exists despite Miami’s intense climate is nothing short of a miracle. During one hurricane, the storm surge flooded the entire grotto up to the ceiling, where branches scratched the mural. A panel in the grotto was badly damaged from a hurricane and had to be removed. The constant threat is the humidity, which is noticeably more intense in the grotto compared to the rest of the property. Staff set up a couple of small fans in the space to help with air circulation.

Saving the mural has been an uphill battle for the last 100 years, and there have been some past efforts to preserve it, Kuh Jakobi said. The two-year NPS grant will go toward getting the grotto and mural as beautiful and historically accurate as possible. But the process is not so simple.

In accordance with the grant, Vizcaya pledged a match of $750,000 to deal with the first part of the project. Starting in January, the conservation team needs to deal with the corroding substructure underneath the living room floor that’s above the grotto. They’ll remove all of the objects from the room, remove the terrazzo floor panels, repair the corroding metal slab and put everything back in the room.

Then, in the grotto, they’ll re-attach the panel. And finally, there’s the tedious process of repairing and restoring the ceiling mural. While standing in the grotto, Kuh Jakobi pointed out a section of the ceiling conservators recently did a successful test run on. The difference is striking: the shades of blue are rich and vibrant and the marine life pop. Soon the rest of the mural will be just as lifelike.

It’ll take a team of four about seven months to finish the ceiling, Kuh Jakobi said. Vizcaya intends to finish the entire process by July 31, 2026, she said.

Preserving a place like Vizcaya is a constant “battle with nature,” Kuh Jakobi said. While it’s a shame visitors won’t be able to see the living room or swimming pool for a period of time, she said projects like these are necessary to make sure future generations can enjoy Miami’s cultural heritage.

“All that work will be worth it in the end,” she said. “Preserving these features will be worth it in the end.”

This story was produced with financial support from individuals and Berkowitz Contemporary Foundation in partnership with Journalism Funding Partners, as part of an independent journalism fellowship program. The Miami Herald maintains full editorial control of this work.

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