Artist-in-residence Xavier Cortada’s studio is located in the historic Whilden-Carrier Cottage. Due to renovations in the Upper Gardens, the cottage has been relocated and is waiting to be reconnected to water and electricity.

This cottage is typical of the pioneer dwellings built by homesteaders who settled in rural Dade County during the early 1900s through 1930s. It belonged to Carl Whilden, chief foreman at Fairchild Tropical Garderns. Whilden built the cottage in 1932 on land belonging to his wife Mary Carrier. The Carriers were an early pioneer family from Quebec, Canada, that homesteaded on 20 acres of pine woodlands located near Snapper Creek and Ludlam Road. The Whildens lived in this cottage from the Depression through the early 1970s. Their property included vegetable gardens, fruit trees, tropical specimens and native species bounded by oolitic rock walls and terraces. The cottage was designated a historic site by Miami-Dade County’s Historic Preservation Board in 2000 and was relocated to Pinecrest Gardens in 2003.