4. During its construction over 600 workers contributed to the estate
Construction on Mar-a-Lago took nearly four years, with more than 600 workers toiling at the estate. As they worked, the laborers grew more and more awestruck by the extent of the project. The house contained 58 bedrooms, supported by 33 full bathrooms. All of the bathroom fixtures, the taps, control knobs, and towel racks, were plated with gold. Marjorie explained the extensive use of gold to be for the benefit of the servants since gold was easier to clean. The living room covered 1,800 square feet, and its ceilings towered 42 feet above the floor. It opened in 1927 after the couple had spent the equivalent of approximately $100 million to build their winter home.
In March 1927, Post and Hutton hosted a costumed dinner at their new residence, as a preliminary to that year’s Everglades Costume Ball. The latter, an annual event of the day, crowned Marjorie herself as to its Queen in 1929. She was dressed as Juliet. For 1927 though, Hutton and Post dressed as members of the Court at Versailles during the reign of Louis XVI. The events of the Palm Beach social season were covered in local newspapers of course, but they also appeared in the papers of New York, Philadelphia, Boston, and the other summer residences of the rich and famous. Descriptions of Mar a Lago compared it to the “cottages” erected in Newport, Rhode Island, and in Massachusetts’ Berkshire Hills during an earlier era. Post and Hutton did not remain in residence long each winter, only a few weeks, but a staff of servants maintained the property all the months of the year.