The idiosyncratic Everglades City, where the River of Grass ends at the Gulf of Mexico, is unusual for many reasons. Once the county seat, Everglades City has long survived in relative obscurity. A radio tower overtakes the town’s formal central circle, flanked by a few stately old structures. Beyond plans to restore the 1923 Bank of the Everglades, there isn’t much happening in terms of design investment for the city. But just off the Collier Avenue main drag, one recently completed cottage stands out for its sensitive, contemporary design. Architect Giorgio Antoniazzi’s new wooden home on stilts is an ode to the Everglades landscape, with its steel frame, long stretches of windows and simple form.
The Miami-based architect behind Antoniazzi Architecture became enamored with Everglades City as a teenager on a multinight fishing trip when he and his brother-in-law traveled chickee-to-chickee through Everglades National Park. “We made the trip a holiday tradition, departing from the Rod & Gun Club every year,” he says. As he wandered through town, Antoniazzi was captivated by the old buildings—city hall, the train station, the Bank of the Everglades. Laid out with a grand, old-world sensibility, “The planning of Everglades City always grabbed my attention.”
In recent years, traveling back as an architect, he was still charmed by this city in the swamp. “I was taken aback by Everglades City’s sense of place, history and culture—it is a true community and town with a colorful, long history,” he says.
In 2019, Antoniazzi noticed a lot for sale with nothing but a few abandoned pilings from previous construction. The architect saw many newer buildings in town were basic, cookie-cutter designs and not representative of the local culture and changing climate needs; he wanted to do something better. Antoniazzi took inspiration for his swamp cottage from older buildings in Everglades City, including the roof shape of the Rod & Gun Club and the board and batten siding and angled stilts of the Smallwood Store in nearby Chokoloskee. He gave into the Everglades lifestyle as he built the cabin, allowing the rhythms and soul of the place to inform the design. “Often after a long day, I would fly fish along the Tamiami Trail on my way back to Miami,” he says.
The resulting house, completed in early 2021, is a simple rectangle of golden wood elevated above the adjacent canal by thin steel pylons and cross bracing painted white. The structure stands out against its neighbors and the mangroves on the opposite shore, which abuts Big Cypress National Preserve.
Cars park underneath the elevated structure, with direct access to a utility area and large dock. A staircase leads to the main floor above. Every detail is conceived to respond to climate and place. The elevated floor plan protects the main living space against storm surges and creates a shady area beneath for storage and recreation. The shallow roof has deep eaves that provide more shade. A steep gable in blazing white pierces the roof, creating a central, vaulted space for living within. The plan is simple: a single central living space uniting the living, dining and kitchen areas, and two bedrooms, flanking each end. Every room, except the bathrooms, has a view of the canal and the mangroves beyond. Those within are, “always aware of the changing tides, weather and wildlife that may be visible from the canal-facing window wall,” Antoniazzi says.
The architect employed modern materials and techniques to respond to the sometimes unforgiving environment and effects of climate change. Pylons and cross braces stand in place of reinforced concrete to raise the house above the floodplain. The steel material allows him to see any corrosion or damage, so it can be swiftly repaired. Antoniazzi also curved the corners of the ground-floor utility room, making it more resistant to storm surges. “Most strategies implemented are passive architectural lessons taken from Floridian vernacular architecture,” he says. Traditional elements include deep eaves to provide shade, strategic home placement to take advantage of cross breezes and shade foliage, and a single-bay design with large interior spaces uninterrupted by internal supports.
Inside, a window wall spans the length of the main living space, providing views of a vast mangrove forest, keeping guests engaged in the local environment long after outdoor excursions are over. “This ever-changing view makes the Everglades a constant companion inside the home,” Antoniazzi says. The high-reaching mangroves also have a practical function, obscuring direct sunlight during early morning hours before the sun is high enough to be blocked by the eaves. The Florida sun only hits the interior directly a few hours a day.
Back inside, a tongue-and-groove Southern yellow pine accent wall rises across the 18 feet of interior living space, providing visual contrast with the other white walls adorned with photographs of the architect’s many trips through the Everglades. Opposite the window, a map of the Everglades and Ten Thousand Islands reiterates the cabin’s identity as a base camp for adventure. The vaulted ceiling stands out against the lower, 8-foot ceilings throughout the rest of the home.
Antoniazzi often brings Miami friends to share his lifelong love affair with the Everglades. He’s currently building a second home next door to gather more friends and family. “When we share the house with friends and family, our favorite thing to do is top off a morning in the outdoors with lunch at home,” he says. “[We’ll have] local, fresh stone crabs and sometimes our own fresh-caught [fish].”
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Accessories in the great room nod to local fauna, like stone crabs, white pelicans and silver kings (tarpon). In the kitchen, Antoniazzi chose black shaker cabinets to define the space. Bronze window frames closely match the tones of the natural setting and Southern yellow pine extends across the common area’s ceiling, enhancing the connection to the woodsy outdoors.
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Windows stretch across the main living areas, showcasing the mangrove forest, which marks the edge of Big Cypress National Preserve. Most rooms look out to the canal. “The framed view is living art,” the architect says.
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Photos taken during Everglades fishing trips hang above the white oak workstation. “We always have a camera on hand,” Antoniazzi says, noting his father was a fashion and environmental photographer. The photo above the solid wood spindle bed was taken on a foggy morning in Big Cypress National Preserve.
Photography by Dan Cutrona