Boca Raton Old City Hall

Last updated
Boca Raton Old City Hall
Boca-old-town-hall.jpg
Old City Hall, Boca Raton
USA Florida location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location71 N. Federal Hwy.,
Boca Raton, Florida
Coordinates 26°21′3″N80°5′13″W / 26.35083°N 80.08694°W / 26.35083; -80.08694 Coordinates: 26°21′3″N80°5′13″W / 26.35083°N 80.08694°W / 26.35083; -80.08694
Area1 acre (0.40 ha)
Built1926
Built by William E. Alsmeyer
Architect Addison Mizner
Architectural styleLate 19th And 20th Century Revivals, Mediterranean Revival
NRHP reference No. 80000958 [1]
Added to NRHP16 October 1980

The Boca Raton Old City Hall (labeled as "Town Hall" on signs) is a historic site in Boca Raton, Florida, United States. It is located at 71 North Federal Highway. The former city hall now houses the Boca Raton Welcome Center and the Boca Raton History Museum. On October 16, 1980, it was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. The original design was by Addison Mizner. On April 18, 2012, the AIA's Florida Chapter placed it on its list of Florida Architecture: 100 Years. 100 Places as Boca Raton Town Hall. [2]

Contents

The building housed Boca Raton's police station, fire department, and library. The bay for the fire engine is currently (2018) the gift shop.

Boca Raton History Museum

Boca Raton History Museum, formerly the city's town hall Boca Raton FL Old City Hall museum06.jpg
Boca Raton History Museum, formerly the city's town hall

The Boca Raton History Museum is located in downtown Boca Raton, Florida. Sponsored by the Boca Raton Historical Society, whose offices and library are located there, it is also the welcome center for Boca Raton. The building it is housed in was Boca Raton's original town hall, which began as a commission in 1926 to well-known architect Addison Mizner, designated by the Boca Raton Council as town planner; some of his elegant details have been preserved, together with antiques, some of them Spanish, from his collection. (Because of Mizner's bankruptcy later that year, the building was completed by architect William E. Alsmeyer.) It also housed Boca's first fire bay (fire station), which now houses the museum's gift shop, Boca Raton's police station, and its first library. [3] A small second floor, not currently (2016) open to the public, provided housing for the fire chief. The Boca Express Train Museum, a few blocks away, is also operated by the Historical Society. [4]

Related Research Articles

Boca Raton, Florida City in Florida

Boca Raton, is the southernmost city in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. It was first incorporated on August 2, 1924, as "Bocaratone," and then incorporated as "Boca Raton" in 1925. The 2019 population estimated by the U.S. Census Bureau was 99,805. However, approximately 200,000 additional people with a Boca Raton postal address live outside of municipal boundaries, such as in West Boca Raton. As a business center, the city experiences significant daytime population increases. Boca Raton is 44 miles (71 km) north of Miami and is a principal city of the Miami metropolitan area, which had a population of 6,012,331 people as of 2015. It is known as one of the wealthiest places in South Florida.

Palm Beach, Florida Town in Florida, United States

Palm Beach is an incorporated town in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. Located on an island in east-central Palm Beach County, the town is separated from several nearby cities including West Palm Beach and Lake Worth Beach by the Intracoastal Waterway to its west, though Palm Beach borders a small section of the latter and South Palm Beach at its southern boundaries. As of 2010 census, Palm Beach had a year-round population of 8,348 and an estimated population of 8,816 in 2019, increasing by around 25,000 people between November and April.

Boca Raton Resort & Club Luxury resort and country club in Boca Raton, Florida

The Boca Raton Resort & Club, located at 501 East Camino Real, Boca Raton, Florida, is one of the premier resort destinations and private club facilities in the United States. The resort, which was founded in 1926, today comprises 1,047 hotel rooms across 337 acres. Its amenities include two 18-hole golf courses, a 50,000 sq. ft. spa, seven swimming pools, 30 tennis courts, a full-service 32-slip marina, 13 restaurants and bars, and 200,000 sq. ft. of meeting space. The property fronts both Lake Boca and the Atlantic Ocean. The resort is operated as part of Hilton's Waldorf Astoria Hotels and Resorts, and it is owned by an affiliate of MSD Partners.

Addison Mizner

Addison Cairns Mizner was an American resort architect whose Mediterranean Revival and Spanish Colonial Revival style interpretations left an indelible stamp on South Florida, where it continues to inspire architects and land developers. In the 1920s Mizner was the best-known and most-discussed living American architect. Palm Beach, Florida, which he "transformed", was his home, and most of his houses are there. He believed that architecture should also include interior and garden design, and set up Mizner Industries to have a reliable source of components. He was "an architect with a philosophy and a dream." Boca Raton, Florida, began as Mizner's project.

Mizner Park Shopping mall

Mizner Park is a lifestyle center in downtown Boca Raton, Florida.

Mediterranean Revival architecture

Mediterranean Revival is an architectural style introduced in the United States in the waning nineteenth century variously incorporating references from Spanish Renaissance, Spanish Colonial, Italian Renaissance, French Colonial, Beaux-Arts, Arabic Andalusian architecture, and Venetian Gothic architecture.

Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens Art center, museum, and gardens in Delray Beach, FL

The Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens is a center for Japanese arts and culture located west of Delray Beach in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. The campus includes two museum buildings, the Roji-en Japanese Gardens: Garden of the Drops of Dew, a bonsai garden, library, gift shop, and a Japanese restaurant, called the Cornell Cafe, which has been featured on the Food Network. Rotating exhibits are displayed in both buildings, and demonstrations, including tea ceremonies and classes, are held in the main building. Traditional Japanese festivals are celebrated several times a year.

Boca Express Train Museum United States historic place

The Boca Express Train Museum, operated by the Boca Raton Historical Society, is housed in a restored 1930 Florida East Coast Railway train station in Boca Raton, Florida. designed by Chester G. Henninger, built for Clarence H. Geist. It is located at 747 South Dixie Highway, off U.S. 1. On October 24, 1980, it was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.

Fred C. Aiken House United States historic place

The Fred C. Aiken House is a good example of Addison Mizner's Mediterranean-inspired architecture from 1925. This historically designated residence is Located at the corner of Paloma Avenue and Hibiscus Street, in the Old Floresta Historic District in Boca Raton, Florida.

Via Mizner United States historic place

The Via Mizner is a historic site in Palm Beach, Florida. It is located at 337–339 Worth Avenue. On April 1, 1993, it was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.

Administration Buildings (Boca Raton, Florida) United States historic place

The Administration Buildings are a historic site in Boca Raton, Florida, United States. They are located at 2 East Camino Real. On June 27, 1985, they were added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.

Lavender House United States historic place

The Lavender House is a historic home in Boca Raton, Florida, United States. It is located at 875 Alamanda Street. On February 24, 1995, it was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.

Hermann V. von Holst (1874–1955) was an American architect practicing in Chicago, Illinois, and Boca Raton, Florida, from the 1890s to the 1940s. He is best remembered for agreeing to take on the responsibility of heading up Frank Lloyd Wright's architectural practice when Wright went off to Europe with Mamah Cheney in 1909.

Harvey and Clarke was an American architectural firm formed by Henry Stephen Harvey and L. Philips Clarke in West Palm Beach, Florida, in 1921. The firm was active in South Florida for only a few years, but in that time designed a number of distinctive homes, apartments, churches, and commercial buildings. Harvey was a member of the West Palm Beach Planning Commission. Firm member Gustav Maass designed several railroad stations, and became a noted South Florida architect in his own right.

Boca Raton Public Library

The Boca Raton Public Library consist of two library facilities serving the residents of the incorporated area of Boca Raton, Florida. The City of Boca Raton, incorporated in 1925, is one of the largest and the southernmost city in Palm Beach County, Florida.

Everglades Club

The Everglades Club is a social club in Palm Beach, Florida. When its construction began in July 1918, it was to be called the Touchstone Convalescent Club, and it was intended to be a hospital for the wounded of World War I. But the war ended a few months later, and it changed into a private club.

Clarence H. Geist

Clarence Henry Geist was a financier who played an important role in the early history of Boca Raton, Florida.

Wise Guy, which had at different points the working titles The Last Resorts, Palm Beach, The Mizner Story, and Sentimental Guy, is a musical whose music and lyrics were written by Irving Berlin between 1952 and 1956. It has never been produced.

William Manly King was an architect in the United States. He is known for the buildings he designed in Florida, especially West Palm Beach. Several are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Boca Raton Historical Society and Museum

The Boca Raton Historical Society & Museum is a non-profit organization and public museum dedicated to preserve and collect history and artifacts of Boca Raton, Florida, United States, for educational and advocacy purposes. The society is known for their goal of historic designation and restoring historical structures important to the history of Boca Raton. The society offers exhibits, lectures, lessons, history tours, and educational programs to achieve their goal. Many interactive educational programs and services of the society are provided to schools, teachers, and children to help educate Florida's history. Additionally, the community provides a library of collected and preserved artifacts, photographs, newspapers, diaries, reference books, and research papers documented for educational and research purposes. The historical society has been a contributor of researching local history of Florida and Boca Raton and offers scholars, educators, university graduates and interns access to their research collection and publications, such as the Spanish Papers. The Boca Raton Historical Museum is publicly open from Monday through Friday from 10am to 4pm.

References

  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. 9 July 2010.
  2. "Florida Architecture: 100 Years. 100 Places". aiaflatop100.org.
  3. bocahistory.org http://bocahistory.org . Retrieved 22 June 2016.Missing or empty |title= (help)
  4. Gillis, Susan; Marconi, Richard A.; Murray, Debi (2015). Palm Beach County During World War II. Arcadia Publishing. p. 127. ISBN   978-1-4396-5205-3.