Central Florida Culture: designs for the good life

The Orlando area has a world-class design museum, while Bok Tower sings to the sunshine state

Hungry for some aesthetic action? In Orlando’s upmarket Winter Park suburb you can find a unique cultural experience.

The Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art has a magnificent collection of art nouveau design. The museum celebrates Louis Comfort Tiffany, a visionary designer whose work brought fine art into the home. (On Friday between 4pm and 8pm, admission to this world of beauty and brilliance is free.)

For a different view of the world, try the new Museum of Illusions in Icon Park on International Drive. Exhibits such as the Bouchette chair, where one person can appear in miniature relative to another, take your mind into a different dimension.

Close by, go back to the future at the Orlando Auto Museum in Dezerland at 5232 International Drive. Dezerland is the creation of billionaire property developer and car connoisseur Michael Dezer. He has a collection of around 2,000 vehicles including many that appeared in films such as Back to the Future (though the De Lorean on display is a replica). There’s an entire area dedicated to James Bond, including the Aston Martin DB5 from the 1964 film Goldfinger.

About an hour south of Orlando you’ll find what looks like a mirage rising above the mid-Florida Ridge. Now, while the 150-mile long sand ridge is not quite a rival for the Alps or Himalayas, it stands out from the rest of the Florida peninsula. One of its highest points: Iron Mountain – almost 300 feet above the Gulf and Atlantic shores, and location for one of central Florida’s most spectacular sights.

Bok Tower is the creation of Edward W Bok, a Dutch immigrant who made a gorgeous garden with a thousand varieties of plants. But he didn’t stop there – he added a dramatic marble edifice that soars a further 205 feet. It is visible for many miles around. And, crucially, audible, thanks to the dozens of bells cast in the English town of Loughborough and installed in the tower as a carillon.

On many days, there are live carillon concerts by Bok Tower’s own award-winning musician, Geert De Hollander.

When Edward Bok was a young lad, his grandmother advised him: “Make the world a bit better or more beautiful because you’ve lived in it.” He did both.

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