Paradise Island, Nassau, The Bahamas

Paradise Island, Nassau, The Bahamas

Spearheaded by Dr. Axel Wenner-Gren and funded by investor Huntington Hartford of the A&P Company, Paradise Island was another massive project that Volk undertook in The Bahamas. The comprehensive plan for the whole island included: Paradise Beach, Hurricane Hole (a natural harbor for yachts), Café Martinique, the Ocean Club, the hotel and a golf course. The Ocean Club was a one hundred foot-octagonal shaped building with one-story wings extending from it to provide beach amenities. Dr. Axel Wenner-Gren acquired an existing property (previously owned by Edmund Lynch of Merrill Lynch), known as the Shangri La Club, Volk provided additions and alterations. Most importantly was an old monastery recreated on the site. Missing certain components, it was erected in the form of a ruin. Volk acquired the ruins from Miami, where they were originally brought to the US from Spain by William Randolph Hearst. It’s likely this was a small portion of what Hearst acquired that eventually became the Ancient Spanish Monastery in Miami.

John L. Volk, architect

John L. Volk collection, Preservation Foundation of Palm Beach

1961

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