Jane W. Smith, who died at 107 on Feb. 14, left behind a legacy of community service and a reputation for hosting lively gatherings at her longtime lakefront home in Palm Beach.
Her estate just sold that Modernist-style house — built in 1940 at 350 Island Road — for a recorded $35 million.
The rear of the house offers dramatic water views straight down the Intracoastal Waterway as well as vistas of the nearby cove that backs up to properties in the Estate Section neighborhood.
A trust named after the property’s address was on the buyer’s side of the sale recorded June 29. Real estate attorney Maura Ziska of West Palm Beach-based Kochman & Ziska serves as the trust’s trustee. Because of privacy rules governing trusts, no other information about anyone directly connected to the trust was immediately available in public records.
Smith was considered one of Palm Beach County’s oldest residents. She had owned the house on Island Road since 1964, according to a report prepared for a town board.
The house is ripe for renovation, but whether the buyer will carry out a remodeling project or demolish the residence is unclear.
The house is near the west end of Island Road, the street that connects Everglades Island to the rest of Palm Beach. The property is on the southeast corner of Tarpon Way, near the bridge to Everglades Island.
Measuring about three-quarters of an acre, the pie-shaped lot fans toward the property’s 107 feet of frontage on the Intracoastal Waterway. On the opposite side of the house, windows offer views of the Everglades Club’s golf course to the north.
The eight-bedroom, two-story house has 6,729 square feet of living space, inside and out. The architecture has Modernist- and Art Deco-style elements, including a projecting “eyebrow” overhang over the front door, a flat roof and curved walls and balconies.
The original plans were drawn up by Treanor and Fatio, the firm of Maurice Fatio, and the design often is most frequently attributed to the noted architect.
Renovation projects in the mid 1950s added a swimming pool, pool pavilion and guest room while enlarging the lakefront loggia, according to building records and the report prepared in 2012 when the house was being considered for landmark status.
Smith made alterations to the house shortly after she bought it, creating a study from the original staff quarters in the garage.
The Landmarks Preservation Commission ultimately decided not to grant landmark protection to the house. Smith had objected to the designation, in part because the house had been substantially altered over the years.
In 2009, Smith told architectural historian Augustus Mayhew how she got her first good look at the house when her real estate agent drove her to the property.
“My Realtor, Alex Obolensky, told me I wasn’t going to like it. He sat in the car and smoked,” she told Mayhew, who interviewed her for a story about Everglades Island. “I walked in; I walked out and told him to get me this house right now. He couldn’t believe it. I’ve been here ever since. I know then it was my house.”
In the just-recorded sale, agents Todd and Frances Peter of Sotheby’s International Realty represented Smith’s estate. Their listing went active in the multiple listing service March 5 with a price of $41 million, which later dropped to $39.5 million. The house was under contract by the end of May, the MLS shows.
Clifton Dixon Teagle, Walter Clark Teagle IV, Janet Teagle Graham, Serena Baylis Keith and Alexander Teagle Keith signed the deed to sell the house.
Agent Crista Ryan of Tina Fanjul Associates acted on behalf of the buyer.
Todd Peter and Ryan declined to comment about the sale.
The Peters’ sales listing mentioned the possibility of a buyer building anew on the property. “The lot’s size, frontage and premier location present an exceptional opportunity to build a new waterfront estate in one of Palm Beach’s most desirable residential areas,” the listing said.
Smith outlived her three husbands — Walter C. Teagle, Jr., Robert Boggs and Page W. Smith. Her obituary described her as a passionate sportswoman who fished and hunted, traveling widely “in pursuit of adventure, friendship and discovery.”
She began her professional life as a sales associate and buyer for a clothing store and built a career in retail before devoting herself to caring for her family and serving her community. She was board member of multiple charitable organizations.
She also maintained a summer residence in Newport, Rhode Island.
A consummate hostess, she often entertained at the house on Island Road, where the floorplan includes a large room for parties along with formal living and dining rooms. The kitchen has a butler’s pantry.
Among the last parties at the house was a celebration of her 107th birthday in June 2025. According to the Palm Beach Daily News’ coverage of that gathering, Smith wore a “slim-fit silver dress and a birthday tiara (and) received her guests seated in a comfortable chair, one hand holding a three-olive martini and the other free to shake hands or signal for a refill.”
The sale of Smith’s house is the third property to sell within the last three months in the immediate neighborhood, but none of the buyers appears to be linked. In late March, the family of the late businessman George A. Cohon sold a vacant lakefront corner lot — measuring about a half-acre and adjacent to the Smith house — on Tarpon Way for a recorded $27.25 million. Agents Liza Pulitzer and Whitney McGurk of Brown Harris Stevens represented that lot’s buyer, a limited liability company named Could Be 81 LLC.
In May, the Cohon family sold a lakefront house at 614 Tarpon Way, across the street from the vacant lot, for a recorded $37.1 million. On the buyer’s side of that house, agent Fern Fodiman of Sotheby’s International Realty acted on behalf of Elland Properties LLC.
Agent Suzanne Frisbie of the Corcoran Group was the listing agent for both the former Cohon properties.
The house where Smith lived for more than 60 years was built for Theodore De Long Buhl, whose wife, Anastasia Ziegfeld Buhl, was the sister of theater impresario Florence Ziegfeld, the landmarks report said. The Buhls divided their time between Palm Beach and Grosse Pointe Farms in Michigan. Theodore Buhl co-founded Park-Davis Pharmaceuticals, which later became part of Pfizer. His father was Henry Buhl, who once served as mayor of Detroit.
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 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. Help support our journalism. Subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: Longtime home of late Jane W. Smith sells for $35M in Palm Beach
Reporting by Darrell Hofheinz, Palm Beach Daily News / Palm Beach Daily News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Darrell Hofheinz, Palm Beach Daily News | USA TODAY Network
