Elizabeth Ballantine – författare

The Mill Reef Club was founded in 1947 on the Caribbean island of Antigua. The visionary American architect who championed the 1,500-acre Club was Robertson “Happy” Ward. Ward solicited interest in the Club among a who’s who of American industrialists and leading citizens, including Mellons, DuPonts, Cowles, Secretary of State Dean Acheson, and poet Archibald MacLeish. Ward encouraged members who built homes on Club property to adhere to a mid-century vernacular. Houses were positioned to catch prevailing winds for cooling purposes, and cisterns and catchments were added to collect and store rainwater.This new, full-color coffee-table book celebrates 75 years of the evolution of architecture to what former Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter terms “High WASP Modernism. A succession of nearly 300 Mill Reef house owners have reimagined Happy Ward’s original design decisions in the update and remodel of 50 private houses at the club. . The fanciful sense of whimsy, initiated by Ward, is echoed today by modern architects and designers who still bow to the founder’s conception and are today arbiters of an updated Mill Reef aesthetic. With 385 color photos and 324 pages, the book is a stunning introduction to one of the world’s most exclusive private clubs.

For more than half a century, the Mill Reef Club in Antiqua, West Indies, has been the premier private resort in the Caribbean. It began in 1946 when Robertson "Happy" Ward, a Connecticut architect, led a hearty band of adventures in search of a vacation haven free of the cras commercialization that spoiled many enterprises. On the eastern shore of the island they saw their vision of paradise: 1,300 acres of scrub brush and abandoned sugar fields overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. Without the aid of many modern conveniences such as electricity or running water, the first members of the Mill Reef Club transformed the property into a community of private homes with a hotel, clubhouse, tennis courts, and expansive golf course. A Vision of Paradise: Robertson Ward and the Mill Reef Club presents an illustrated history of their dedication to realizing their dream. It is a tale of unique experiences: the establishment of Pan Am's weekly "Mill Reef Special" flight from New York, and learning to contend with the mishaps and misadventures of this rough land—hardships that would be unheard of in their other lives. It is also a story of people, many of whom built America's great corporations, creating a diverse community devoted to forging "the good life" in a place where it always required a lot of work. But come what may, they loved it all. As poet laurete Archibald MacLeish wrote at age eighty-five when frail health finally forced him to withdraw: "You don't resign from the Mill Reef Club more than once in a lifetime and not then if you can help it."