Boca Raton

Boca Raton (literally 'the mouth of the rat'), twenty miles north of Fort Lauderdale, is noteworthy mostly for its abundance of Mediterranean Revival architecture. This style, prevalent here since the 1920s, has been kept alive in the downtown area by strict building codes. This all goes back to Addison Mizner, the 'Aladdin of architects', who swept into Boca Raton on the tide ofthe Florida property boom in 1925, buying up 1600 acres of farmland. Mizner's vision of gondola-filled canals, luxury hotels, and even a great cathedralnever came to fruition, but the few public building he completed left an incredible mark.