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It wasn’t the best time to visit Vizcaya, the former estate of turn-of-the-century industrialist James Deering, on Miami’s Biscayne Bay. Less than a month had passed since Hurricane Irma made landfall in South Florida. The seawater that inundated the Mediterranean Revival-style home’s lush gardens had left them ragged and browned. A battered, black jet ski sat beached, blocking a path. The cafe and the gift shop, both in the mansion’s “basement,” had taken on about 5 feet of water and were out of commission. The rococo ground-floor dining room was dim and muggy, despite the best efforts of an industrial dehumidifier…