The professional career of Charles Deering

"Charles Deering (South Paris, Maine, 1852 – Miami, Florida, 1927), industrialist, philanthropist and American collector, arrived for the first time in Sitges on the year 1909 guided by Ramón Casas. Deering was captivated by the village and by Santiago Rusiñol Cau Ferrat and decided to settle there his summer residence. First he bought the old hospital St. Joan in order to remodel it and assigned the project to Miquel Utrillo.
Little by little Deering bought three more buildings that were added to the first one. The architectural complex called Maricel were on either sides of Fonollar Street, and joint them with a bridge on the same street.
The side of the sea, known as Maricel Sea was the residence of the Deering family and the other side, called Maricel Earth or Mariel Palace was designed to house the art and antiques collections that Utrillo purchased on account of Deering.
Utrillo commissioned Pere Jou I Francisco (Barcelona, 1891 – Sitges, 1964) the architectural decoration of Maricel. Jou chiselled an interesting group of capitals, gargoyles, friezes and coat of arms that share the space with old elements chosen and bought by Utrillo all over the Spain territory.
Jou dedicated this capital, placed in the palace cloisters, to the Maricel owner, Charles Deering and transformed it to a kind of biographical rough draft. There you can find mentions to his military training, to the industry as the basis of his family fortune, to his art and antiques collection fondness or the ships that took him to Europe."