By Scott Luxor
Special to the Sun Sentinel
Jun 18, 2021 4:03 PM
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“Serendipity,” 19 N. Dixie Blvd., is a Spanish Mission Revival house in the Del-Ida Park Historic District originally built in 1925. The house is frame construction with stucco exterior, flat roof and parapets typical to the style. Before the restoration, the property contained a one-bedroom, one-bath main house and a small guest cottage (believed to be originally a garage) in the rear of the property. (Delray Preservation Trust/Courtesy)
Price Patton, president of the Delray Preservation Trust, spearheaded the effort to make sure that a variety of buildings would be informally recognized with temporary marker signs. That way, people would be able to tour the city and learn more about the history behind some of the older homes and families in the area.
Price Patton (Matt Sturgess / Contributor)
The signs that were added to the properties are not permanent, Patton said. The house just had to meet certain basic qualifications to be noted for the month of May.
“The house has to be at least 50 years old and it has to be a certain architectural style,” he said. “Then we sell these plaques at cost, and you can attach them to your house. We remove them at the end of May and then we’ll go for a whole new round for the next Preservation Month.”
The Delray Preservation Trust is trying to be as accessible as possible by using social media to highlight some of the properties that people can visit.
The home at 160 Marine Way was built in 1939. The current owner, who bought the property in 1993, is only the second owner of the property, which then consisted of two small cottages on three lots. In 1996, the owner added a 600-square-foot second-story master bedroom and bath and an open air “widow’s walk” on the top. The exterior walls of the existing two cottages were used to support and create the addition of the second floor, which is set back behind the original roofline, therefore, blending the two structures by the “bridge” upstairs. (Delray Preservation Trust/Courtesy)
The Preservation Trust encourages people to preserve — rather than tear down — historic houses. They help people walk through the labyrinthian formal process of getting their home or building as historic for permanent status.
“We support things like historic tax abatement credits,” Patton said. “That is where you can upgrade an old house in the city and the county. This means that you don’t have to pay taxes on the improved value of the property for 10 years. So it’s quite an incentive.”
At 704 N. Swinton Ave., Mediterranean Revival was introduced in the United States in the waning 19th century and peaked in popularity during the 1920s and ’30s. The style reflects the architectural influences of the Mediterranean coast: Italian, Byzantine, Moorish themes from southern Spain, and French. Applied Spanish baroque decoration is generously used around openings, balconies and cornices. Parapets, twisted columns, pediments and other classical details also are frequently used. Arches are often featured. (Delray Preservation Trust/Courtesy)
When it comes to the effort to highlight homes that have many community memories, or even historic importance, Patton said he is happy that they can help the city share and preserve their stories.
“The great thing about history is that each of these houses tells a story, and they’re a tangible reminder of that story,” he said. “That’s much better than having a house that is torn down with a plaque that says ‘A really cool house used to be here.”
One of his favorite highlights is of a historic hotel that was famously run by a Black resident decades ago.
The LaFrance Hotel, 140 NW Fourth Ave., was the only Black-owned hotel between Delray Beach and Fort Lauderdale during the turbulent segregation era in the 1950s and ’60s. Completed in 1949 by the Charles Patrick family, the 20-room hotel served as a place where Black people could stay and, importantly, a place where they could feel comfortable. A number of chauffeurs and waiters, as well as well-known entertainers (including Duke Ellington) and civil rights figures, took rooms at the LaFrance. (Delray Preservation Trust/Courtesy)
“One of the buildings we featured was the LaFrance Hotel, which is in the West Settlers Historic District and was the only hotel in the 1950s and ’60s where Black people could rent a room between Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach,” he said. “They had a lot of domestic workers stay there but a lot of entertainers stayed there as well. There’s a rumor that Duke Ellington stayed there once. Now it’s been refurbished and serves as housing for low-income seniors.”
The following is a list of the properties recognized:
- 19 N. Dixie Blvd. Del Ida Historic District. Mission. 1925
- 1110 N. Swinton Ave. Resort Cape Cod. 1936
- 704 N. Swinton Ave. Old School Square Historic Arts District. Mediterranean Revival. 1928
- 160 Marine Way. Marina Historic District. Minimal Traditional. 1940
- 120 NW Fourth Ave. Willie Franklin House. West Settlers Historic District. “Shotgun” bungalow. 1924
- 296 NE Sixth Ave. Charles Harvey Diggans, a Delray Beach Realtor, and his family were the first to live in this Sam Ogren-designed house. The Diggans family lived in it until the 1960s when they sold it to the Varga family of artists. Spanish Colonial. 1925
City Commissioner Bob Costin lived in the house at 114 NE First Ave. for 47 years with his wife. Costin’s Cottages was saved and moved from southbound Federal Highway to its current site in Old School Square Historic Arts District. It’s a rare and stunning example of Western Red Cedar Shake “Craftsman Bungalow” architectural style. It is also a prime example of adaptive reuse, a building restored and changed from single-family residential to commercial office use. It was the winner of the Pat Cayce Preservation Project of the Year in 2015. (Delray Preservation Trust/Courtesy)
- 114-114 1/2 NE First Ave. Costin Cottages. Old School Square Historic Arts District. Frame Vernacular and Craftsman bungalow. 1945
Mediterranean Revival was introduced in the United States in the waning 19th century and peaked in popularity during the 1920s and ’30s. The style at 1616 N. Swinton Ave. reflects the architectural influences of the Mediterranean coast. (Delray Preservation Trust/Courtesy)
- 1616 N. Swinton Ave. Mediterranean Revival. 1928
- 140 NW Fourth Ave. LaFrance Hotel. West Settlers District. Masonry Vernacular. 1949
- 1104 Nassau St. Nassau Historic District. Florida Vernacular. 1935
This two-story wood-frame structure was believed to have been originally tied to Old School Square campus directly across Northeast First Street. It was believed to have been a private residence for a high-ranking administrator of the school. A fully integrated two-story addition on the north side of the building more than doubled the usable size. Another fine example of adaptive reuse: saving a historic building and repurposing it for a new and adaptive use. An iconic corner property positioned between Old School Square and the campus of the Delray Beach Historical Society campus. (Delray Preservation Trust/Courtesy)
- 102 NE First St. Delivery Dudes headquarters. Old School Historic Arts District. Frame Vernacular. 1939
- 200 SE Seventh Ave. Former First Church-Christ Science. Marina Historic District. Southern Colonial. 1930
