Almost fifteen years ago, the Rosemary Beach Land Company and President Patrick Bienvenue had a vision they wanted to share with the world….a vision of community, neighborhood and convenience. With help from planning pioneers Andres Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, also known as DPZ, the husband-and-wife team that brought international prominence to Seaside, this team set out to form a master plan for development. Inspired by other classic beach towns their vision became a reality and in 1995 Rosemary Beach was born.

Located on 107 acres along the white beaches of the Gulf of Mexico, Rosemary Beach incorporates architectural influences from around the world and throughout the centuries. The Town Hall evokes a Dutch Colonial influence. The “pocket parks” pay homage to medieval Prague. The parapet wall on the Coquina Pool harkens the designs of Spain and Morocco and the boardwalks could easily be found in Maine. But look beyond the breathtaking design and you’ll see that architecture was only part of Rosemary Beach’s master plan. The design team was looking to recreate more than just beautiful architecture. Their desire was to create a town that captured values of long ago, when neighbors knew each other and could walk to stores instead of driving to the mall. They wanted to replace grid-locked, urban sprawl with workable neighborhoods filled with shops, restaurants, galleries and a variety of housing options.  This vision of a new type of town encouraged pedestrian traffic, community interaction and interdependence among neighbors while relying on strict urban codes and regulations to ensure architectural harmony. 

While their vision may not seem revolutionary today, now that New Urbanism has proved viable thanks to developments like Kentlands and Stapleton, it was quite unconventional for the time. For decades, people had been leaving the city for the dream of a picture-perfect life in suburbia. Three bedroom ranch houses, strip malls and miles of interstate and bypasses were all that many Americans knew. Fortunately, there were architects, planners and developers who knew it could be different, and better, and they led the way in the planning movement now known as New Urbanism. Simply put, the proponents of New Urbanism wanted to re-invent “old urbanism”. They wanted to reform real estate development and urban planning so people could enjoy a better quality of life.

With their vision defined, the team set about formulating Rosemary Beach’s master plan. The first design charrette, which is another term for a brainstorming session, was held in 1995. Seaside Town Architect, Richard Gibbs, was an important member of this session not only because he would later serve as Rosemary Beach’s Town Architect but because a carriage house he’d designed in Seaside would become the prototype for Rosemary Beach’s architecture. A small, guest house combined with enclosed, off-street parking in the same footprint would become the very essence of Rosemary Beach architecture.

Another critical concept to emerge from this design charrette was that Rosemary Beach’s architecture should be based on the European colonial architecture of the West Indies. Not only did the charrette team want to move away from Seaside’s “Florida cracker” architecture so as not to be a “second Seaside", they wanted to tie in to the rich history and style of two other nearby southern cities, St. Augustine and New Orleans. Both places had non-Anglo roots and were tied politically and historically to the Caribbean so West Indies architecture seemed an ideal choice.

West Indies colonial architecture features European building types that have been adapted for warm, tropical weather. Details like shuttered windows and doorways to keep air circulating, steep roofs to shed rainwater and big porches are just a few of the characteristics of West Indies colonial architecture. The primary element, though, is that West Indies architecture is usually raised up on a masonry base to elevate the first floor so residents can catch cool, ocean breezes.

At the next charrette in 1997, the team focused on the expansion of Rosemary Beach, the result of newly acquired land on the north side of Hwy. 30-A, the highway that bisects the town.  While everyone was excited to grow the community it certainly created planning challenges, the main one being that Walton County required a 100-foot right of way along Hwy 30-A. This presented problems for the urban scale of the town, which was based on a classic European relationship between the height of the buildings and the width of the street…..a scale of 1:1. For example, if the street is 25 feet wide, then the proper height of the buildings lining the street would average 25 feet high. It’s this attention to scale that helps achieve an urban streetscape as opposed to a suburban one.

To overcome the design issues created by this required right of way, the team created East and West Long Green Parks to run the length of the town. So what started as a challenge actually became a beautiful focal point, giving this section of Hwy 30-A a much grander feel and giving the community large parks to gather and play!

At the end of this second charrette, most of the elements for the master plan were in place and Rosemary Beach was ready to move from concept to creation. The developer invited people to “Come Build A Town”….and they did! Photographs from the Bahamas, Jamaica, Cuba, New Orleans and St. Augustine were hung in the sales office to show potential lot purchasers the places that had inspired Rosemary Beach. Not only did this help sell lots that, at the time, were just small plots of Florida scrub, it helped create excitement and it helped share the vision with new owners.

The first structure to be built in town was a carriage house. In fact, most of the early buildings were carriage houses. As a townscape of small carriage houses and a few main houses began to emerge, the development team focused on paving streets and landscaping the public spaces.

Rosemary Beach’s public spaces….the greens, walkovers, parks, squares and plazas, combined with their careful arrangement to private homes, is the essence of Rosemary Beach . To keep things connected, neighborhoods are woven together by a network of pedestrian lanes, footpaths and boardwalks.  Secret pathways lead to the center of town, tennis courts, swimming pools and the beach.  Rosemary Beach was designed to be a walking town and the pedestrian scale ensures that everything is within no more than a five minute stroll. And with a town as unique as Rosemary, walking is the perfect way to experience its beauty, much of which is found in the native landscape.

Native landscape, such as sea oats and lupine, are a critical part of the dunes at Rosemary Beach. Rosemary Beach made a commitment to protect the environment by not building beyond the coastal construction control line, or buffer zone, landward of the beach. In keeping with that commitment, nine dune walkovers have been built for beach access. These walkovers protect the fragile dune system and help prevent erosion and washout during storms.

Away from the beach, the natural topography of Rosemary Beach is the same as when the town began. Regulations require that if any landscape is destroyed during construction it must be replaced with native scrub such as sand oaks, saw palmettos or wild rosemary (the plant after which the town was named).  So even though the community is densely developed, the native landscape is prevalent and is a very important part of the look and feel of the town.

But Rosemary’s native plants affect more than just how the landscape looks, they actually serve as the color palette for the town’s buildings. The use of color in Rosemary is carefully considered. The architectural code requires that wood siding be stained rather than painted. The earthy stains that are used echo the serene shades of the native landscape ….amber, ochre, sage and forest green.

Another key to the harmonious feel of Rosemary Beach are the roadways. Tey were laid to conform to the natural contours of the land.  Also, developers used permeable concrete for pavement which allows water to filter through to the sand below, thereby eliminating the need for unsightly storm water drains or holding ponds.

To preserve the vision and unique character of Rosemary, the town planners and architects created guidelines for the placement, design and construction of all homes and buildings.  The resulting town plan is an intricate patchwork of different house types and custom homes built to suit a wide range of individual tastes.  There are 12 basic house types including live/work buildings, beach houses, courtyard houses, townhouses, flats and carriage houses. The different homes types establish the character of each neighborhood and ensure the integrity of the Town Plan. Every home in Rosemary Beach is architecturally unique and is custom designed and built to reflect each owner’s tastes, needs and lifestyle.

Yet, there’s still a definite cohesiveness that ties it all together thanks, in part, to a strict urban code that helps ensure architectural integrity. The use of authentic construction materials and techniques not only helps create this architectural harmony, they actually work better for the buildings in this coastal environment.  Homes which face pedestrian boardwalks are finished with wood siding, cedar shingle or stucco with metal or shingle-shake roofing.  Rich colors in subtle, natural shades differentiate the houses but blend the town.  Deep eaves provide shade from the afternoon sun.  High ceilings draw breezes through houses. Gardens, fountain-filled courtyards and porches become outdoor rooms. Currently, Rosemary Beach has over 650 completed dwellings and when fully built out will have more than 800.