Overlooking Rhode Island Sound, it was intended as a summer home for the George D. Widener family of Philadelphia.

The building and landscaping were still being designed when George Widener and his son Harry died aboard the RMS Titanic.

It also features a 10,000-bottle wine cellar with a 20-ft (6 m) stone basin for icing up to 200 bottles of champagne at once.

[3] The design of Miramar was copied from the Boullée/Lacroix east wing of the Élysée Palace in Paris.

The property features includes a 6,000-square-foot (560 m2) carriage house and gardens with a bronze fountain designed by French sculptor Henri-Léon Gréber, father of the landscape designer.