Homes rarely change hands in Major Alley, the charming residential enclave designed in 1925 in the lake block of the street just north of Worth Avenue. The development takes its name from the late architect Howard Major, who gave Major Alley its distinctive Bahamian flair as a pioneer of British Colonial-style architecture in Palm Beach.
One of the seven residences in the development at 417 Peruvian Ave. recently changed hands privately for a recorded $9.2 million.
The buyer was a Florida limited liability company named after the property’s address. Its mailing address is in care of the Kochman & Ziska law office in West Palm Beach, the deed shows.
At the rear of Major Alley, the residence addressed as No. 6 had not had a new owner since 1999, when it sold for $725,000, property records show.
The two-bedroom home was sold by the estate of the late Katherine Boldin-Wienert, who also went by the name Katja Boldin-Wienert, according to the deed recorded Aug. 19. Born in Croatia, she died Jan. 26 at age 94. Her cousin Lillian Alper of Boca Raton sold the residence as personal representative of the estate.
The home has 1,390 square feet of living space, inside and out, according to property records.
Because the sale was private, it’s unclear if any real estate agents were involved.
Just west of Cocoanut Row, the development features interconnected houses with architectural elements common to the buildings of Nassau in the Bahamas, which inspired Major. The simple buildings of Major Alley have a distinctly Caribbean look with their white-stucco walls, louvered shutters, steep gables and roofs covered in flat white tiles.
Major frequently wrote that architecture in Nassau was far more suited to Palm Beach than the elaborately detailed Mediterranean-style buildings popularized in the 1920s by architect Addison Mizner and others.
In 1979, Major Alley became one of the first properties granted landmark status by Town Hall, a designation that generally protects a building’s exterior walls from being altered without the permission of the Landmarks Preservation Commission.
Darrell Hofheinz is a USA TODAY Network of Florida journalist who writes about Palm Beach real estate in his weekly “Beyond the Hedges” column. He welcomes tips about real estate news on the island. Email dhofheinz@pbdailynews.com, call 561-820-3831 or tweet @PBDN_Hofheinz. Subscribe today to support our journalism.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: House that hadn’t sold in 24 years brings $9.2 million in historic Palm Beach enclave
Reporting by Darrell Hofheinz, Palm Beach Daily News / Palm Beach Daily News
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