Tour historic Palm Beach homes, destinations through award-winning video series
The Preservation Foundation of Palm Beach has produced 18 videos spotlighting landmarked homes and buildings in town.
When the coronavirus pandemic shut down life as most Americans knew it in March 2020, the Preservation Foundation of Palm Beach did what many other nonprofit organizations did. It hunkered down and canceled or modified the format of its in-person events.
But within a couple of months, the organization regrouped as its leaders realized there were other ways to carry out its mission of raising awareness about the importance of preserving Palm Beach’s past while providing educational programs about the island’s rich and varied architectural history.
The result was the organization’s “Landmarks Discovered” series of online videos. It was a first-of-its-kind initiative launched in July 2020 to offer an insider’s peek at Palm Beach buildings granted protection by the town’s Landmarks Preservation Commission.
Past, present and future:Palm Beach Life: Preservation Foundation looks ahead as it marks anniversary
Eighteen videos are available on the foundation’s YouTube channel and through its website. The programs offer filmed tours with commentary of some of Palm Beach’s notable public and commercial landmarks, from Town Hall and The Colony to Worth Avenue’s Via Mizner and Via Parigi, along with privately owned houses not typically open to public view. The programs also feature rarely seen architectural drawings and historic photographs.
The videos are produced monthly, with the latest installment coming just in time for the back-to-school season: It focuses on the history of Palm Beach Day Academy.
The homes featured in the series include Duck’s Nest, the second-oldest house in Palm Beach, at 303 Maddock Way; Hogarcito, the first house built on Golfview Road; and a whimsical nautical Art Deco-style home at 1221 N. Lake Way.
As the town grappled with the initial effects of the coronavirus pandemic, the videos not only provided a way to connect to Preservation Foundation members, but they also caught the attention of other local residents and those in other states, said Amanda Skier, president and chief executive officer.
“Everyone loves seeing inside homes and are interested in how people live,” Skier said. “That has an appeal.”
The series also has also earned praise from professionals in the historic preservation community. In July, the series won an award for outstanding achievement in preservation, education and media from the Florida Trust for Historic Preservation.
Skier suspected there would be a ready audience for educational videos focused on Palm Beach architecture. She had seen firsthand the popularity of the organization’s annual walking tours of historic destinations in town.
“We knew from the success of our walking tours, which we’ve done since 1980, as well as our other presentations that our community loves to learn more about our landmarks and their histories.
“So we thought that exploring those buildings would be a vehicle for us to talk about preservation in a modern way, to share out collections (of historical and architectural archives) and to provide education on popular architectural styles and what they represented.”
Skier credits Kent Anderson, co-owner of Kilo Content in West Palm Beach, for proposing the series and shooting the videos. The son of Inger and the late Harry Loy Anderson Jr., he grew up in Palm Beach, where he still lives.
“I know the mansions. I’ve been in some of them, and I’ve driven past them my whole life, but, while working on this project, I gained a new-found respect about what makes Palm Beach so charming,” Anderson said.
He also learned more about the town’s earliest architects.
“I knew about Addison Mizner, but (through the video series), I learned about [Marion Sims] Wyeth and other architects,” he said.
The process also was informative for Skier, who appears in the videos with co-host Katie Jacob, the foundation’s director of programming.
“I always visited landmarked properties, but this gave me the time to study them in detail,” Skier said. “I feel like the series has honed my eye. I have a greater understanding of the work of each architect who worked in town and a greater appreciation for their talent.”
Exploring Marjorie Merriweather Post's first Palm Beach home
As an example, she mentions Hogarcito, the first house built for Palm Beach cereal heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post and completed in 1921 on Golfview Road. The house predated Post’s much more elaborate mansion, Mar-a-Lago, which today houses The Mar-a-Lago Club, home to former President Donald Trump.
“So many people are familiar with Marjorie Meriweather Post, but few people realize that she had a house in Palm Beach before Mar-a-Lago, and that was Hogarcito, which was designed by Marion Sims Wyeth. He entered into the development of Golfview Road with E.F. Hutton, Post’s husband at the time,” Skier said.
“Marjorie wanted to control the development because she wanted the right ‘young marrieds’ buying on the street,” she added.
Wyeth, she adds, was the original architect for Mar-a-Lago before Joseph Urban — known his designs for Broadway sets as well as buildings — took over and “made it over the top.”
Adds Anderson: “The whole Golfview home — I had no idea. I knew who Marjorie was because of Mar-a-Lago, but Hogarcito flies under the radar, and it’s spectacular.”
Homeowner describes her role as ‘a curator’ of landmarked home
Likewise, a mansion at 252 El Bravo Way, designed in 1929 by the architectural firm of John L. Volk and Gustav Maass, also has a noteworthy history featured in its video, Skier said, which showcases the meticulous restoration and renovation carried out by owners Frances and Jeff Fisher.
“It’s important for us to tell the stories of the women who have been significant figures in the history of the island, and the estate’s current owner, Frances Fisher, has done so much research on the original owner, Gracia Leath, who went through a great tragedy.
“Frances discovered that Gracia lost her husband, Arthur, and their only child during the 1918 flu epidemic,” Skier said.
By the time the El Bravo Way house was built, she had wed her second husband, Charles Hall, although the couple eventually split up. But Gracia Leath had waged a legal fight that allowed her to maintain ownership of the house.
“She had to get special permission from Florida’s governor,” Skier said. “Gracia was an independent woman during a time when women had specific gender rules.”
In the video, France Fisher discusses not just her home’s architectural history but the importance of stewardship to preserve historic properties for future generations.
“There’s something fairly magical about the opportunity to became a curator of a historic home and property,” Fisher said during the program. “And in many ways, it’s carrying the past forward, which is such an exciting opportunity for someone who loves history.”
Video shows how preservation projects can address flooding risks
The restoration of a house at 181 Clarendon Avenue is also featured in the series. The project was overseen by architect Gene Pandula, a former chairman of the Landmarks board, and is example of how older buildings in flood plains can meet the challenges of rising seas, Skier said.
“It’s a great example of how a building can be adapted in response to climate change. It demystifies elevating properties and what is involved,” Skier said. “There’s a lot of misconceptions — people think it means putting the building on stilts — but there are different ways it can be addressed, by adding stairs or making changes to the grading surrounding the building, for example.”
With the success of the series, Skier and her team plan to continue adding new videos. “We don’t have an end time,” she said. “It’s now part of our operating budget.
“When we first started, Kent told us that in a few years we will have documented all of our landmarked properties. He didn’t realize that there are over 350, so it will take us a while.”
*
The “Landmarks Discovered” videos can be viewed by searching “Preservation Foundation of Palm Beach” at YouTube.com; or by visiting PalmBeachPreservation.org and clicking on the “Interact” tab at the top of the home page.