Petit Douy in Brickell

The history of the mysterious French chateau along Brickell Avenue and SE Fifteenth Road in Miami, Florida.

Cover: Petit Douy in 2020 as it was being renovated to become a restaurant

At what was once the southern edge of the city of Miami, at the corner of Fifteenth Road and Brickell Avenue, stands a unique French chateau on an oolitic limestone ridge that is one of the highest points in Miami’s southside neighborhood. The residence captured the impetuous and artistic creativity of the couple who built it. The structure is more than a grandiose architectural marvel, it was home to the Murrell family for more than fifty years.

While the house they built in 1931 provides modern day Miami residents an artifact from the days of Brickell Avenue’s gold coast era, the couple who built it left a legacy of charity and a fighting spirit for the causes they deemed important. The building is more than a reminder of Brickell’s past and will soon be brimming with life once again when it opens as Chateau Miami, the newest restaurant concept by chef Clay Conley. This is the story of Petit Douy.