Maurice Fatio

Maurice Fatio
Born	1897 Geneva
Died	1943
Nationality	Swiss
Occupation	Architect
Buildings	Casa Alva Eastover

Maurice Fatio (1897–1943) was a Swiss-born American architect.

Maurice Fatio was born in Geneva, Switzerland on March 18th 1897. He graduated from the Polytechnical School at the University of Zurich and studied under Swiss architect Karl Moser.

In 1920, he came to New York City where he first worked for society architect Harrie T. Lindeberg. He soon branched out on his own in partnership with William A. Treanor who was twenty years his senior. In May 1923, the twenty-six-year-old Fatio was voted the most popular architect in New York.

He moved to Palm Beach, Florida in 1925 and opened an office there In Palm Beach, he began designing harmonious Mediterranean-style houses and eventually branched out into everything from Georgian to contemporary. In 1929, he married Eleanor Chase, a prominent Palm Beach society girl and novelist, in New York City. Chase had earlier been the girl friend of Wilson Mizner.

His houses were so well known during his lifetime that composer-lyricist Cole Porter was inspired to write brightly in the late 1930s: I want to live on Maurice Fatio's patio... Fatio had two children with Eleanor, Alexandra (1932-2015) and Maurice Pierre "Petey"(1930-1961). Maurice Fatio died young in his forties of lung cancer. His wife, Eleanor (1901–1944), died the next year.

James H. Clark bought the 40,000 square foot Il Palmetto in 1999. In December 2010 Casa Alva sold for $27.5 M. That is a record as the second most expensive property that ever sold in Palm Beach County. The most expensive is Eastover which sold in July 1999 for $29.8 M to William Hearst.

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