Bali Hai, Coconut Grove, Florida

Favorite

Offered at $3,900,000

Bali Hai. The very name instantly evokes images of palmy splendor. Such wondrous, almost mythical, romance was the inspiration for the critically acclaimed Coconut Grove dreamworld bearing its name. Created by Max Strang Architecture, Bali Hai’s open-air living pavilion soars out of coral rock to embrace both surrounding forest and blue skies, basking in the breezes off Biscayne Bay. Its cherished environs, a mere 20 minutes from Miami, have long been associated with important families such as Alexander Graham Bell, who lived across the street, and explorer David Fairchild, whose prized forest of trees from Sumatra and Bali thrives nearby. Approaching the gate in the old rock walls along Little Pine, it is easy to think you are entering another realm entirely. The Edenic grounds are magnificent, unexpectedly tropical even for Coconut Grove, beset with a grotto, view-filled treehouse, and swimming pool created from the original 1900s foundation. Past the lily pond at the main entrance, massive walls of floating frames of white wood and huge glass windows and doors reach out to the private gardens. The ethereal space reveals a soaring living room with coral fireplace and hidden bar, a Zen-like dining room, a futuristic kitchen with dumbwaiter to an upper pavilion dining room, and private suites highlighted by a master haven where you can float in an antique tub and wake up to birdsong surrounded by tropical gardens. Just beyond, also entered from the foyer, you discover a whole house at the tree level, endowed with a gigantic open-air pavilion divided into zones for entertaining, dining, and sunning. Perhaps it is this setting that has attracted high fashion shoots or a famous movie that lauded it by saying: “If money were no object, you’d live in this incredibly cool house.” To be sure, Bali Hai is a cool and iconic world. Furnished.

Estate Gallery