Thursday, January 8, 2015

From the Shiny Sheet: "Historic Lake Worth home to host Red Cross show house"

Darrell Hofheinz, the Daily News (aka Shiny Sheet) real estate writer has this MUST READ on one of our Lake Worth architectural treasures, the "Birthday Cake Castle":
A bevy of decorators — including several from Palm Beach — is preparing to descend on a historic house in Lake Worth, the site of this spring's annual American Red Cross Designers' Show House

But first, new owner Scott Levine needs to finish up some renovations to the 1925 property, known locally as the “Birthday Cake Castle,” at 1 S. Fifth Ave., according to island interior designer Bill Kopp.

“A new master-suite addition as well as new windows are being installed,” said Kopp, who has returned as one of the general chairmen of the fundraiser.

The Red Cross will take over the property Jan. 19, when more than 15 design firms will begin to decorate rooms and landscape the exterior. The show house will open for tours beginning March 5 and close April 4, just before Easter Sunday.
This project went through the Historic Resource Preservation Board at its November meeting for the changes necessary, with the guiding principle to correct some work that was not sensitive to the historic nature of the property that have happened over time. It was clear that there was a cooperative spirit on the part of city staff to work with the applicant to make things happen to coincide with the advanced pace of the project's schedule.