MAR-A-LAGO
From Cereal Heiress to Winter White House
In the history of great mansions, few names have become as spoken about and covered by the media as much as Mar-a-Lago; the winter home of President Donald Trump.
In his inimitable way, Richard René Silvin will take the audience back in time, to explore this magnificent house as he describes the mansion’s construction, which began in 1924. The fortune that paid for the construction of Mar-a-Lago came from the Post Cereal empire, founded by C.W. Post in 1895. His only daughter, Marjorie Merriweather Post, inherited her father’s company and turned it into one of America’s greatest fortunes. Mrs. Post wanted to create a home that would be a unique fantasyland. To accomplish this, she hired Austrian-born architect, illustrator and famed stage set designer, Joseph Urban. In the words of the late Dina Merrill, Marjorie’s only daughter from her marriage to financier E.F. Hutton, “together they created a theatrical set.”
The presentation includes a virtual tour through the mansion, and a description of the Post family history, which imprinted in Marjorie a thrust for art, lavish living, and enormous charitable contributions. Using numerous classic pictures and videos, Silvin will bring to life the extravagant entertainment style Mrs. Post enjoyed at her favorite home for 45 years, until her death in 1973 at the age of 86
