Staying at the iconic Villa Casa Casuarina
A few days before the premiere of the American Crime Story: the Assassination of Gianni Versace, all eyes are on the iconic Villa Casa Casuarina, that once housed the famous designer who was killed at the front steps of the mansion.
Casa Casuarina was originally built as an apartment complex by Mayflower descendant and Standard Oil heir Alden Freeman in 1930. The property had a total of 24 apartments. Freeman lived in the top-floor-front apartment on the southeast corner. The remaining 23 apartments in the building were available for rent and to house many of Freeman’s friends that visited Miami Beach. Alden Freeman died at Casa Casuarina on December 29, 1937 following a prolonged illness. The house was then sold to Jacque Amsterdam for $100k, who continued to run the house as an apartment complex that he named the “Amsterdam Palace”.
In 1992, while on vacation with his family in Miami Beach, Gianni Versace took a walk down Ocean Drive and was immediately attracted to the house by the “Kneeling Aphrodite” statue and fell in love with the unique Spanish architecture of the property. He purchased the original house for $2.95 million and the Revere Hotel next door for $3.7 million. He also spent an astonishing $32 million on renovations and
Now a boutique hotel, The Villa Casa Casuarina offers its guests a unique experience in the trademark maximalistic style of Versace, featuring a pool lined with 24-carat gold and ten custom guest suites with king sized beds or custom double king beds and custom Italian marble oversized bathrooms, balconies or patios!