The Preservation Foundation of Palm Beach will oversee the project to repair the historical Addison Mizner-designed Warden House condominium building, but warned town officials the project will take months to complete.
That’s what Aimee Sunny, director of preservation and planning for the nonprofit foundation, told the Code Enforcement Board during a Sept. 18 hearing. The board sought to determine whether the Warden House Condominium Association should be fined for the crumbling stonework and deteriorated concrete apparent at Unit No. 1 of the William Gray Warden House at 200 N. Ocean Blvd. The issue was first discussed by the board in July.
The code board unanimously voted to defer any action to impose fines on the condo group to its Oct. 16 meeting, on the condition that the association adds additional safety screening around Unit No. 1. If the association adds the screening and continues to move forward with the efforts to repair the building, the board would continue to defer the consideration of fines, members agreed.
The repairs would focus on the northeast apartment at the former 1920s-era mansion and would be led by the Warden House Condominium Association, Sunny told the board. The condo group has been in communication with the Preservation Foundation about the repairs, because of a conservation easement with the Preservation Foundation, Sunny said. That document is related to the Warden House’s designation in the National Register of Historic Places.
Signed in 1987, the easement doubles as an agreement between the Warden House Condo Association and the Preservation Foundation, giving the foundation perpetual rights as a guardian of the building’s historical architecture.
“We would be required to review and approve any plans that the condo association would have before they proceed with them,” Sunny told the board. “So, before any stone would be taken down, before any stone would be replicated or replace, we would need to issue a written approval for that.”
But Code Board member Chris Larmoyeux wanted to know whether the Preservation Foundation had a way to hold the condo association accountable, should it choose not to carry out the repairs.
Sunny said the agreement allows the Preservation Foundation to take the condo to court should it fail to follow the easement’s requirement of keeping the property in good condition. The nonprofit group also could undertake the repairs and charge the association for that project, she told the code board.
But Sunny said the association had been working diligently on the repair plans.
“We have a receptive owner. I’ve worked with various projects at the Warden House over the years,” she said. “I’ve always had good communications with the architects or the owners that were doing those projects, so I don’t anticipate that I would see something different here.”
Designed in 1922 by renowned Palm Beach architect Addison Mizner, the former mansion is considered a good example of the architect’s Mediterranean Revival style. Even after its conversion to a six-unit condo in the 1980s by the late developer and real estate investor Robert Eigelberger, the U-shaped building still features interiors with Mizner’s handcrafted tile floors, antique European stained-glass windows and intricate stonework detailing, as well other historic elements.
Sunny said the damage seen today pales in comparison to the state of the building before the Eigelbergers took ownership.
“We did go out to inspect, and frankly there are some areas that have some stone deterioration, (but) the building is not crumbling or falling apart. The building looked a lot worse in the 1980s,” she said.
Sunny said the association will soon have a stone conservator inspect the damaged stonework to see whether it can be repaired or if it will need to be replaced.
It would take about a month for the conservator to issue the association a report on the stone’s condition and repair recommendations, she said.
“But to do the actual stone restoration work takes some time,” Sunny said, noting that a similar project took about six months to complete. “But that’s the level of preservation we would expect as the easement holder and (it) would be the most appropriate for this landmarked structure.”
The town granted the building landmark protection in 1979. In 1984, the Warden House was added to the National Register of Historic Places, a preservation program overseen by the National Parks Service.
Diego Diaz Lasa is a journalist at the Palm Beach Daily News, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach him at dlasa@pbdailynews.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: Preservation Foundation of Palm Beach to oversee repairs at historic Warden House condo
Reporting by Diego Diaz Lasa, Palm Beach Daily News / Palm Beach Daily News
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