Built in the Roaring ’20s, a Mediterranean-style house on a prime Estate Section street in Palm Beach has sold for a $25.15 million, slightly more than its asking price, according to records in the multiple listing service.
Among its notable features, the four-bedroom residence at 237 El Bravo Way — designed by society architect Marion Sims Wyeth — has a floorplan said to have been patterned after artist El Greco’s house in Toledo, Spain.
Investments manger Grant Mashek and his fashion-designer wife, Allyson, had owned the house since 2009, property records show. The couple had paid a recorded $6 million for it and carried out remodeling and maintenance projects at the property, courthouse records show.
No deed had been recorded as of late in the day on May 18, so the buyer or buyers’ identity was not available in pubic records, nor could the price reported in the MLS be confirmed in an online search of Palm Beach County Courthouse documents.
The house, known as Casa del Greco, has 7,755 square feet of living space, inside and out, according to property records. It stands on the north side of the street’s lake block, four houses west of South County Road.
The lot measures nearly a half-acre and backs up to Island Road. The house stands about a mile-and-a-half north of President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club.
Agent Gary Pohrer of Serhant represented the Masheks, the MLS shows. He listed the house for sale at $25 million in early March and landed it under contract within about a week, according to the MLS. The sale closed May 8.
Handling the buyer’s side were agents Dana Koch and Paulette Koch of the Corcoran Gorup. They had acted on behalf of the sellers when the Masheks bought the house in July 2009.
Dana Koch and Pohrer declined to comment on the sale. The Masheks could not immediately be reached.
The design of the house includes a front porch set within an entrance courtyard. The exterior features include a barrel-tile roof, stucco walls and metal railings.
Pohrer’s sales listing describes the “thoughtfully designed” interiors with “expansive living spaces that flow seamlessly between indoors and out. Grand entertaining rooms are complemented by refined architectural details, while the formal dining room opens to picturesque gardens and a covered loggia.”
Other interior features include a wet bar and a kitchen with a work island.
Set amid lush landscaping, the pool has a “a tranquil lounge area, offering complete privacy and a serene escape in the heart of Palm Beach,” the listing says.
Grant Mashek is managing partner of Palm Equity LLC, a private investments management firm in West Palm Beach. He also is the son of the late John Maskek, a former chairman of the Preservation Foundation of Palm Beach.
Allyson Mashek was involved in marketing and public relations for companies in the fashion industry before the couple moved to Palm Beach from New York, according to previous reporting by the Palm Beach Daily News. Her professional resume includes launching her own handbag and fashion accessories company, Twenty Seven East.
The Masheks had the house homesteaded as their primary residence in the latest Palm Beach County tax rolls.
Wyeth designed the house as one of the original homes in the El Bravo Park neighborhood, which was spearheaded by engineer Frank Clement in the early 1920s and included neighboring El Brillo Way.
The house that just sold was designed for John Edwin Dietz, according to the Preservation Foundation.
El Bravo Way is lined with Spanish-style houses designed by influential Palm Beach architects, including Wyeth and Addison Mizner, along with residences by Volk and Maass, the firm headed by senior architect Gustav Maass and his colleague, John L. Volk.
El Bravo Way’s homes have an integrity of design that sets El Bravo Park apart from other subdivisions in town, according to architectural historians. With adjacent El Vedado Road and El Brillo Way, the neighborhood is considered by real estate observers to be among the Estate Section’s most important enclaves.
Palm Beach officials never granted the house on El Bravo Way landmark status, which would protect its streetside walls from significant changes without the approval of the Landmarks Preservation Commission.
“There was a lengthy period when owner consent was necessary for the Town Council to designate a property — thus there remain many island properties still undesignated, which is what may have happened to the El Bravo house,” the late architectural historian Donald Curl told the Palm Beach Daily News when the house changed hands in 2009.
The Masheks were represented by broker Devon Sory at Devon Sory Inc. when they bought the house from Dean P. Vlahos and Michelle Alton, records show.
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 Post: Palm Beach house, near Trump’s Mar-a-Lago, sells for $25.15 million
Reporting by Darrell Hofheinz, Palm Beach Daily News / Palm Beach Post
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