Built shortly after World War II, a house that was gut-renovated after it earned landmark protection in 2019 has sold for a recorded $15.8 million on the North End of Palm Beach.
The sellers of 244 Nightingale Trail were commercial real estate entrepreneur Stan L. Johnson and his wife, Martha Lee Johnson. They completely remodeled the contemporary-style house after buying it for a recorded $3.26 million in August 2018.
The Johnsons sold the house through an Oklahoma-registered liability company with a mailing address in Tulsa, Oklahoma. That company, in turn, is affiliated with a trust in Martha Lee Johnson’s name. Through a long-term lease arrangement, the couple had the house homesteaded as their primary residence in the latest Palm Beach County tax rolls.
The Johnsons, in turn, are building themselves a custom home on the same street.
Ashley Ford bought the house at 244 Nightingale Trail as trustee of the ASF Trust, the deed recorded May 19 shows. Ford and the trust also own a mostly vacant residential property west of Jupiter that is under contract, according to the multiple listing service.
The house the Johnsons just sold on Nightingale Trail has four bedrooms and 4,817 square feet of living space, inside and out. It stands on a lot of about three-fifths of an acre and is the fourth property west of North Lake Way. The house is about halfway between the Palm Beach Country Club and the northern tip of the island.
The house was built in 1946-47 and is likely one of the earliest — and the last remaining — house in Palm Beach designed by architects Byron Simonson and Maurice Holley, consultant Janet Murphy told the Landmarks Preservation Commission in 2019 when the house was being considered for landmark status.
At the time, Murphy described the architecture as a good example of the International Style, featuring the sort of modernist architecture that found popularity in Western Europe and later in the United States.
Simonson and Holley also designed The Colony Hotel, another landmarked Palm Beach property.
The house on Nightingale Trail, Murphy said, “was considered very modern for its time.”
The house has a rectilinear, asymmetrical design with a two-story vertical block and receding one-story horizontal sections, all covered with flat roofs, Murphy said.
Agent Gary Pohrer of Serhant handled both sides of the sale. He declined to comment about the transaction.
Stan Johnson founded, in 1985, the Stan Johnson Co., a Tulsa, Oklahoma-based real estate brokerage and advisory firm specializing in investment sales of so-called “net lease” commercial properties. His company was acquired in October 2022 by Minneapolis-based Northmarq, which provides capital-market resources to commercial real estate investors.
The Johnsons’ renovation kept the streetside facade intact but reworked the interior and revamped the pool area in the backyard. The renovations were approved by the landmarks board, which must sign off on significant changes to properties granted landmark protection.
The Johnsons’ renovation project was designed by McAlpine Tankersley Architecture in New York. Nievera Williams Design of Palm Beach drew up the new landscaping plans.
Among the changes, the renovation enlarged and expanded the galley-style kitchen and added a master bedroom suite at the rear, according to plans presented to the town.
A new lap pool replaced a swimming pool that was part of the original house’s original design. The covered loggia and poolside patios provide “an ideal setting for effortless entertaining,” according to Pohrer’s sales listing.
The house was sold with deed beach access down the street. Ownership of the house offers access to a neighborhood beachside cabana. Access to the Lake Trail along the Intracoastal Waterway is nearby.
John P. Butler, then a prominent contractor in Palm Beach County, built the house iand was its first owner. He and his family lived there for 40 years, according to property records.
The Johnsons’ new house is rising at 1186 N. Ocean Way on the corner of Nightingale Trail, five houses east of the one the couple just sold. The Johnsons paid a recorded $14 million for 1186 N. Ocean Way in August 2022 and razed a house there to accommodate their new one. Pohrer was the sole agent involved in the 2022 off-market sale and was affiliated at the time with Douglas Elliman Real Estate.
Pohrer also holds the listing for Ford and ASF Trust’s mostly vacant lot west of Jupiter at 5559 Pennock Point Road on the Loxahatchee River. Measuring nearly 2 acres with a tennis court and a cabana, the lot is priced at $14 million.
Portions of this story appeared previously in the Palm Beach Daily News.
This is a developing story. Check back for any updates.
Darrell Hofheinz is a USA TODAY Network of Florida journalist who writes about Palm Beach real estate in his “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. Help support our journalism. Subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Landmarked modern-style house sells for $15.8 million in Palm Beach
Reporting by Darrell Hofheinz, Palm Beach Daily News / Palm Beach Post
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