The coordinators of repair work on the historical Addison Mizner-designer Warden House condominium building in Palm Beach have completed a preliminary review of the building’s stone facade, but still need to complete a plan for the project.
That was the testimony given by Kaitlyn Silverberg, an attorney for the Warden House Condominium Association, during an Oct. 16 Code Enforcement Board fine-consideration hearing, which focused on crumbling stonework and deteriorated concrete apparent at Unit No. 1 of the oceanfront William Gray Warden House at 200 N. Ocean Blvd.
Silverberg said a preliminary report from conservation expert, Caroline Dickensheets of Miami-based RLA Conservation Art + Architecture will be completed by the end of the month. The condo association commissioned the report.
The code board unanimously voted to defer any action to impose fines on the condo association for the deterioration to its Dec. 18 meeting. Alternate commissioners Angel Arroyo and John Cohen voted in place of Chair Martin Klein and Commissioner John McGowan, both of whom were absent from the meeting.
It marks the third deferral the project has received since code-violations tied to the condition of the building’s exterior were first reviewed by the board in July.
For a project to repair a historic building, the study is on track for a notably quick turnaround, said Aimee Sunny, director of planning and preservation for the Preservation Foundation of Palm Beach.
“Typically, the report that we need to be able to approve the scope of work on this building takes around 90 days,” she said.
Warden House was designated a municipal landmark in 1979, a distinction that protects its exterior from significant alteration without Town Hall’s permission.
Dickensheets, Sunny said, is not only reviewing what areas require work, but also which pieces of stonework can be repaired and saved, as “some of the stone is so special and impossible to recreate, that it actually needs a conservator team to come out and do the restoration.”
The Warden House condominium, 200 N. Ocean Blvd. in Palm Beach, can be seen beyond a wall facing the ocean on July 24.
Although Dickensheets surveyed the entire building, work will most likely focus on the exterior of the northeast apartment, Unit No. 1, at the former 1920s-era mansion, Sunny said.
Sunny noted that these actions were in line with the repair process required under conservation easement between the condo association and The Preservation Foundation. That document is tied to the Warden House’s designation in the National Register of Historic Places.
Signed in 1987, the easement serves as an agreement between the two groups and gives the foundation perpetual rights as guardian of the Warden House’s historical architecture.
Thanks to the easement, the Preservation Foundation has the right to oversee all repair projects targeting the building’s exterior. Any plans to repair the building must receive written approval from the foundation, Sunny told the code board.
Th six-unit condominium was once a single-family mansion built in 1922 to a design by Mizner, whose work is considered iconic in Palm Beach. The mansion was converted 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.
Considering the scope of the work required to repair the historic building, most code board members said they were comfortable with the two-month deferral.
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: Palm Beach delays fines against historic condo for two months
