Island Follies is the first book to explore the work of Henry Melich (1924-1999), a Czech-born architect who brought a beguiling form of neoclassicism to the Caribbean. While Melich built projects in the United States and England, he s best remembered for the romantic follies he designed in the 1960s and 1970s in sunny island retreats like Lyford Cay, Harbour Island, and Windermere Island in the Bahamas. Melich created a romantic sense of escape with a softly cushioned whimsy and discrete sense of tranquillity. His signature motifs included faux marbled walls, seasoned wood, colonnades and tent-like interiors with striped ceilings that suited the playful mood of the moment, documented in Island Follies with the warm touch of Slim Aarons and with new photography of many previously unpublished interiors. Gardens with Bougainvillea-draped pergolas, ivy-clad alcoves, palm-lined allees are just some of the other features that extended the architecture into the tropical landscape. Island Follies showcases more than forty of Melich s island projects, capturing a lost world of glamor and faded glory certain to inspire lovers of interior design and island retreats alike.
