Old photos of Mar-a-Lago captured the stunning Florida property before Donald Trump made it his base of operations.
Before the former president purchased the historic monument in 1985, it belonged to the richest woman in the United States.
Marjorie Merriweather Post gained her wealth from her father’s Post cereal fortune. She inherited the $20 million Post Cereal Company when he died in 1914. Insider business information reported.
Post spent years searching for the best location for Mar-a-Lago, which means “From Sea to Lake” in Spanish, because he wanted it to be perfectly situated between the ocean and nearby Lake Worth, according to the Mara-a-Lago website. .
The heiress had the Palm Beach property built between 1924 and 1927. She and her husband, EF Hutton, hired architect Marion Sims Wyeth to carry out the elaborate project.
A well-decorated hallway at Mar-a-Lago in 1967, owned by Marjorie Merriweather Post
The exterior of Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate photographed in 2022, 37 years after he purchased it
The property is now located at 1100 South Ocean Boulevard. But when it was first built, it was surrounded by a swamp.
Post maintained ownership of Mar-a-Lago after she and her husband divorced in 1935.
He hosted charity balls, dinners and dances at the famous estate, Business Insider reported.
The Mediterranean-style villa had 114 rooms, filled with exquisite details from countries such as Italy, Spain, France and Cuba.
It sat on about 20 acres of land.
Although Post only spent a few months a year at the property (as he also had properties in Washington, D.C. and upstate New York), each room was adorned with unique and expensive items.
An arch on the estate was made of Doric stone with pieces of seashells and fossils from Genoa, Italy.
A spiral staircase in the villa. Marion Sims Wyeth was the architect who designed the property.
“The architecture, sculpture, planning and craftsmanship that went into this magnificent property could not be duplicated today,” Mar-a-Lago’s website states.
Outside Mar-a-Lago, which Post used as his winter home, were arches made of Doric stone with pieces of seashells and fossils from Genoa, Italy.
Other exterior features and some details inside the villa were made of the same material.
As shown in photographs from 1967, the side of the house facing Lake Worth was curved in shape with stairs on each side.
The cloisters were full of well-kept plants and vegetation.
It was built to be hurricane resistant, with concrete and steel anchors holding it to a coral reef.
The hall leading guests from the main entrance was decorated with star-shaped lamps and intricate carvings and artwork by Australian sculptor Franz Barwig.
Around 36,000 Spanish tiles, some dating back to the 15th century, were displayed throughout the interior of Mar-a-Lago.
The lakefront exterior of Mar-a-Lago was designed to be curved with two staircases.
The Mediterranean-style villa was decorated with plants, trees and other greenery outside.
The luxurious living room featured a golden ceiling, alluding to the thousand-winged ceiling of the Venice Academy, according to The Palm Beach Post.
Large chandeliers and lamps illuminated the room, filled with elegant furniture and wall designs.
The black and white tiles in the dining room were taken from a Cuban castle. The room itself mirrored the dining room of Rome’s Palazzo Chigi.
Thirty people could sit and eat at the long rectangular table made of semi-precious stones.
There was an entire room dedicated to Venetian glasses, mirrors and chandlery.
Star-shaped lamps and carved walls were the distinctive features of the house’s entrance.
Plants and seating areas filled the cloisters within the curved portion of the house.
As you might imagine, Post’s bedroom and adjoining dressing rooms were nothing short of glamorous, with marble accents, a fireplace, and carved wood furniture.
In 1961, Post added a dance floor to the site to host square dancing parties. Originally from Illinois, she loved square dancing her entire life, Business Insider reported.
Mar-a-Lago was considered a national historic site in 1969.
Post died in 1973 with a fortune of $250 million, or $1.8 million today, according to Business Insider.
He left Mar-a-Lago to the U.S. government to use as a presidential residence, but the government returned the property to the Post Foundation after a decade because it was too expensive to maintain.
Some items from the original house, including the dining room table and several pieces of 18th-century French art, are now on display at Post’s Hillwood Estate in Washington, DC.
Trump was accused of misappropriating government documents after the 2022 Mar-a-Lago raid
An aerial shot of Mar-a-Lago from 2022. The estate has been converted into a club where members can enjoy amenities or host events.
Trump swooped in and bought the property in 1985. Ten years later, he opened it to the public as a members’ club where people could enjoy the beach, a pool, salon, spa and tennis courts.
It also began offering Mar-a-Lago as a venue for weddings and other extravagant events.
She tried to keep the property as similar as possible to Post’s version and restored it to how it looked when she lived there, according to Business Insider.
“It is the last remaining property in Palm Beach that still contains its buildings and grounds in a form nearly identical to its original conception,” its website states.
The ballroom was modernized and the golf course “brought back to life.”
Mar-a-Lago pool hall in 2000. Trump tried to keep the property as similar as possible to the Post’s version.
The gilded ceilings and wall details of Post’s original design could still be seen in the Mar-a-Lago living room in 2000.
Mar-a-Lago was raided by the FBI in 2022. During the raid, agents acquired hundreds of classified documents, leading to Trump being accused of mishandling government documents.
Trump’s legal team argued that the Mar-a-Lago raid was unconstitutional.
Last month, law enforcement swarmed the area for a very different reason.
A second assassination attempt was made against Trump at his West Palm Beach golf club, which is just five miles from the property.