Lake Worth Beach City Limits: Next week. An exciting meeting. The structure at 431 North L Street. An item before the Historic Resource Preservation Board (HRPB).

Saturday, February 4, 2017

Next week. An exciting meeting. The structure at 431 North L Street. An item before the Historic Resource Preservation Board (HRPB).

Soon will have more information about this important historical structure here in the City of Lake Worth.

If you’re excited about things like historic preservation in Lake Worth then the HRPB meeting next week is one you should attend. The meeting is on Wednesday, February 8th, and begins at 6:00. One of the properties on the agenda is 431 North L Street, the first item on the agenda.

I wrote a blog post about this property in June 2008 you will be interested in reading. There were many other blog posts as well. 431 North L Street, in a word, is “significant”. Below are just a few excerpts from that blog post cited above written almost 9 years ago:

My introduction to this property was when it appeared on a Nuisance Abatement Board agenda. At the same meeting, we also dealt with another property at 431 N. K Street which happened to occupy the exact same location on the block immediately to the west, the southwest corner of the intersection at 5th Avenue North. Both were owned by the notorious Joe DiMauro. We heard evidence of code enforcement issues while the properties were occupied. Apparently, these two properties acted in tandem to terrorize the Mango Groves neighborhood, both through their blighted conditions and the sorts of tenants housed on both properties. I remember hearing a series of frightening tales being told by responsible residents in the vicinity that helped us in our decision making.
Based in part to our action on the Nuisance Abatement Board, the City was able to eradicate the nuisance and obtained title to both properties. The property at 431 N. L Street became the City’s responsibility in July of 2006.

[and. . .]

Depending on the source, the property has either 10 units (City) or 9 units (County) apparently all legal. However, it was originally designed as a 4 unit walk-up, you can check out the original blueprint above for the 1st floor plan. And guess who it was designed by? G. Sherman Childs.
Mr. Childs worked as an architect for Addison Mizner and did a lot of of designs for buildings in Lake Worth. He was the architect for the Municipal Auditorium that we now use as City Hall, the [former] Casino building, City Hall Annex, the Birthday Cake house, etc. Mr. and Mrs. G. S. Childs are listed as Lake Worth pioneers (that can be found in the City Hall conference room. And after World War II, Edgar Wortmann, who redesigned the Casino building and was architect for the City Library, did the work to make the original four units into eight. The other units are in the out buildings to the west of the main structure).

[images from the blog post in 2008 follow]