The Future Perfect Expands to Miami in a Supposedly Haunted Villa 

Amid the vibrant streets of Little Haiti, where bougainvilleas spill over porch railings and shade the neighborhood’s wood-framed bungalows, one stately villa immediately asserts itself. Designed in 1926 by Havana architect Cayetano Freira, the residence served as both consulate and private quarters for Cuban Consul Dimingo Milord and his wife, the celebrated opera singer Paula Milord. An exemplar of early 20th-century Neoclassical architecture, the white stucco villa carries rooftop balustrades, commanding columns, and richly patterned Cuban patio tiles. During its diplomatic heyday, Milord hosted artists, musicians, and intellectuals within its walls until political upheaval and economic collapse forced the consulate’s closure in 1930. Paula died two years later, yet her name still appears in plaster above the entrance. Local lore insists she was buried on the grounds, and for decades, whispers of her presence have followed the house.  

An investigative report dismissed any claims of paranormal activity years ago, but The Future Perfect founder David Alhadeff is embracing the villa’s mythology in his own way. He recently inaugurated Villa Paula as the newest outpost of Casa Perfect, his roving gallery concept that reimagines historic residences as immersive settings for collectible works. The program launched in a West Village townhouse in 2019 and later expanded to Los Angeles inside a Trousdale Estates home once owned by Elvis Presley. Miami emerged as a natural progression. “The city has an incredible confluence of culture, energy, and design history,” Alhadeff says. “I always knew that when the right space appeared, it would be immediately obvious.” 

That recognition struck the moment he crossed Villa Paula’s threshold. “It was that rare, unmistakable moment of recognition,” he recalls. “The house has a narrative presence: you feel it before you see it. Its history as the former Cuban consulate, coupled with the mythology that’s grown around it, gives the space an almost cinematic quality. I’m drawn to places that carry stories in their bones, and Villa Paula does that effortlessly.”  

Alhadeff soon acquired the roughly 2,000-square-foot villa and began restoration alongside longtime managing director Laura Young, guided by a commitment to intervene lightly. Original doors, windows, floors, and tiles remain intact, their wear treated as essential. Stained-glass windows still scatter color across Cuban encaustic tiles and aged woodwork. “These details don’t just decorate the house, they tell you who it is,” Alhadeff says. “The patina, the imperfections, even an exposed conduit are all part of Villa Paula’s heartbeat.” 

With the inaugural presentation of coveted treasures installed, that heartbeat quickens. As visitors traverse the central corridor and turn into the home’s branching rooms, charged encounters quickly reveal themselves. A cluster of blown-glass Bocci pendants washes an anthropomorphic wicker chair by Chris Wolston in shifting light. One bath hosts a saturated ceramic stool by Reinaldo Sanguino; another glows beneath an intricate Lindsey Adelman chandelier composed of 59 bulbs. Autumn Casey contributed a Tiffany-inspired lamp alongside a six-foot-tall sculpture of a woodpecker thrusting its beak through a doorway, greeting eager Miami Art Week attendees with winks of surreal humor.  

“Instead of a neutral container, you’re moving through a sequence of deeply evocative rooms, each one with its own light, palette, and emotional temperature,” Young explains. Certain works seemed to claim their settings instinctively, as though the house itself guided their placement. “The only responsible approach was to work with [the architecture’s] character rather than flatten it.” As future rotations, collaborations, and commissions unfold, that dialogue will continue to shape the program. “In many ways, Miami is teaching us how to be here,” she adds, “and that’s what makes this location so exciting.”