HAVE YOU EVER WONDERED…

What it would cost for a condo on the corner of Worth Avenue and South Ocean Blvd in Palm Beach, with fabulous ocean views?

 A 4 bedroom, 4 ½ bath 3^rd floor corner unit of 4130 living sq ft just sold for $5,000,000.  There are 5 floors with 20 units in the oceanfront doorman building.  Built in 1974, the unit went on the market last March for $7,500,000 and was off the market for three months during this period.  HOA is $12,243/quarter.

 

 Amenities include a pool and fitness area.  Pets are allowed.  This condo is Kirkland House.

THE LITTLE RED SCHOOLHOUSE

Pioneer Day at the Little Red Schoolhouse in Palm Beach is tentatively scheduled for Tuesday, January 15, 2011 from 1-3 pm.  Check with the Preservation Foundation at  561-832-0731. It is now home to a program of Palm Beach’s living history taking children back in time for a mini-day in a one-room school of the 1890’s, home to The Preservation Foundation of Palm Beach.

The Little Red Schoolhouse is in Phipps Ocean Park in Palm Beach, 2185 South Ocean Drive in Palm Beach.  Refurbished in 1960 by the Gardeners Society of Palm Beach and the Town of Palm Beach, it remained unused until 1990 when it became part of the pioneer education program.  Education in America’s one-room schoolhouses stressed discipline, moral values and “the 3 R’s.”  Visiting students today participate in a spelling bee, trace Spencerian script and recite from Tom Sawyer, Little Women, The Ancient Mariner and McGuffey’s Readers.  Period artifacts are also part of the pioneer educational experience.

Starting with seven students in 1886, there were 35 students by the 1880’s.  The schoolhouse was located about a mile north of the Royal Poinciana Bridge on Lake Trail in Palm Beach.  Children arrived by boat, bicycle or on foot from Lake Worth families and were all taught together in one room.  The school ceased operation in 1901 and became a tool shed on the John S. Phipps property, falling into decline and deterioration in future years.  

Preserving past educational history and its artifacts is so important to the school children of today.  There are interesting positive lessons to learn from the past.

CRAFTSMAN-STYLE HOME LOVINGLY RECREATED

Orlando's Lake Lawsona Historic District, which includes about 500 buildings, has homes dating from 1905-1930, the Craftsman Period.  This is one of the oldest neighborhoods in Orlando. Home styles are Mediterranean, Bungalow style, Minimal Traditional and Colonial, Mediterranean, Mission, Neoclassical and Tudor revivals. However, one 3800 sq ft home is brand new.

Planning to remodel the old house that sat on the lot, 6 blocks east of downtown's Lake Eola, a couple who loved the Craftsman style found that it could not be saved, so drew up plans to replace it.  The lot is narrow, but deep.  A 2-car garage is behind the house.  Note that the foyer has the stained glass panel over the front door, a papered ceiling and 1930's style fixture.

Working with two architects from nearby Winter Park, the home includes two large guest suites, master suite, wood-paneled study and spacious, open upstairs.  The front porch is deep and has angled pillars, a gently sloping roof with wide eaves and exposed beams, and a porte-cochere over the driveway.

Inside, artistic stone, tile and stained-glass elements are included.  All fixtures are 1930's style designs.  There are white oak floors.

The large kitchen opens to a coffered ceiling dining room and family room with tiled fireplace.  The back porch, shaded by trees, has a summer kitchen.  

Details were approved by the Orlando Historical Review Board so that this house was in keeping with the neighborhood and style. The panel above which is on the back porch was from the original house.