Bonnet House

The property was originally acquired in 1895 by Hugh Taylor Birch, a Chicago lawyer, and given to his daughter Helen and her husband, artist Frederic Clay Bartlett, as a wedding gift in 1919. Bartlett built a plantation-style home on the property and wintered there with his wife and child from a previous marriage, Frederic Jr, until Helen died in 1925. As a memorial to his late wife Bartlett donated his extensive art collection to the Art Institute of Chicago. Bartlett then married Evelyn Fortune Lilly, ex-wife of Eli Lilly, and they continued to use the home as a winter residence until his death in 1953 and hers in 1997. The estate was valued at $35 million, the largest single private donation in state history. ==Layout==

The principal buildings include the main house, an art studio, a music studio and a guest house. It includes of beach. There are five different ecosystems within the property: primary and secondary dunes, mangrove wetlands, a fresh water slough and a maritime forest. Art studio The first building completed was the art studio. Main house The ceiling of the drawing room in the main house is of mahogany from a large log that washed ashore in a storm. A motif of pairs throughout the house reflects an interest of Frederic and Evelyn Bartlett. ==Modern times==

In 1987, 6,000 visitors took the 90-minute tour of the site. In 2014 at least three of them still lived there. Bartlett's sister Maie Bartlett Heard founded the Heard Museum in Phoenix with her husband Dwight B. Heard. Since 2003, the Bonnet House has sought to increase revenue by serving as a filming location. It also was a filming location for the movie Hoot. In May 2008, the National Trust for Historic Preservation listed the building on its list of America's Most Endangered Places. The same year, the Bonnet House settled a lawsuit against a developer planning an 18-storey hotel nearby. The settlement included almost half a million dollars for landscaping to obscure the view of the new building. The proposed hotel had been controversial, many people both in favor and opposed spoke at public hearings on the subject. Also in 2008 it was featured in the book, Great Houses of Florida. In 2012, the Bonnet House joined the Riverwalk Arts and Entertainment District as a cultural partner. In 2017, Patrick Shavloske was named chief executive officer. ==References==