in Palm Beach, which was based on a 30-60-90 degree triangle. Some of the surviving houses have been altered almost to the point of no return (including the Royal Road home). But a few gems endure and are lovingly cared for, including a grand mid-’60s Pace Setter in the Coral Gables neighborhood of Gables Estates and a groovy 1970s residence called Woodsong in Coconut Grove, which the British design magazine Wallpaper named one of the ten best houses in the world in 2005.

The Gables Estates house, which Parker completed and moved into with his wife and children in 1965, overlooks Biscayne Bay and the Atlantic Ocean from atop a stone plinth. As with the Royal Road house, persianas open the interior spaces to sea views and breezes, but can be shut up tight against a storm. Cantilevered balconies encircle the upper levels, and a section of the plinth that is supported by stone-clad columns shades outdoor recreational space. The columns allow a view to the ocean from the lower level entry court as well as space for rising waters to pass through during tropical storms. Perhaps the most poignant example of Parker’s exceptional sensitivity to nature is the orientation of the square columns: they are angled to present less resistance to surging floodwaters.

“I had a room for every kid in that house, and we had six by then,” he says. “They all had their rooms right on the bay.” When some of his children left home, Parker sold the house to James Ryder of Ryder trucking. “But Mrs. Ryder never much liked the house,” Parker says. “It was too much for her. She sat at my dining room table, which I had built out of coral keystone and mahogany. It was a beautiful table. But she tore her stockings on it, and insisted that Jim Ryder tear it out. It took him over a week with a crew of men with jackhammers to break that table out of the structure.” Parker does not bother to conceal his satisfaction at the thought of the sweat required to demolish his creation.

After selling the Gables Estates house, Parker created a very different sort of Miami home for himself and his family. Woodsong’s three separate wings are built of Honduran mahogany inside and out and surrounded by a forest of mature palms; a teak breezeway and a long, narrow swimming lane unify the buildings. Built after the advent of