History
Built in 1916 by Neffie S. Long on land originally owned by the Melbourne Beach Improvement Company. [5] [6] Florence Peel purchased it in 1922. [6] In 1925, it became the winter home of Walter Brown and his wife Ella Belle, who named the house "Port d'Hiver" (Port of Winter). [1] [7] The Brown's summered in Vermont. The population of Melbourne Beach in 1910 was 30 people and a water wheel power plant was installed in 1915 at the beginning of Ocean Avenue. [8] The house was sturdy with cypress shingles. [9] [10] Walter Brown served as a cavalry instructor at the Kentucky Military Institute, which had its cantonment in Eau Gallie. [10] [9] Later, Brown became a relator working at the Brown House Hotel on New Haven Avenue in downtown Melbourne. [9]
As the area developed, the house served as a hotel across from the Melbourne Beach Casino, which became a focal point for the town, and was used as the petty officers club for the Naval Air Station Melbourne during World War II. [11] [9] [12] The casino was built in 1924 on site of the town bathhouse. [13] In December 1925, at the intersection of Ocean Avenue and Atlantic Street, where the house is located, was site of the first recorded motor vehicle accident in the area as two Ford Model Ts collided. [13] [14] The intersection was also the site of the town's second stop sign and at the time, and the road (now Florida State Road A1A) turned into a sand trail two blocks to the south. [14]
The house was also a law office, frat house for Florida Institute of Technology and an antique shop. [10] [15] [12]
After four years of renovations, it reopened on December 6, 2007 as part of the Port D'Hiver Bed and Breakfast. [1] The renovations also included the old "Carriage House", which was formerly an art studio, as well as the addition of two new buildings on the property. [16] The four buildings are in the Key West style, after the Marquesa Hotel. [2] The Walter Brown House is the centerpiece of the renovated complex. [17] The pink house is one of the remaining landmarks of early Melbourne Beach. [9] [18] [19]
Nassau County is the northeasternmost county of the U.S. state of Florida. The United States Census Bureau estimates that the county's population was 101,501 on July 1, 2023, up from 90,352 at the 2020 census.
Melbourne is a city in Brevard County, Florida, United States. It is located 72 miles (116 km) southeast of Orlando and 175 miles (282 km) northwest of Miami. It had population of 84,678 at the 2020 United States Decennial Census, up from 76,068 at the 2010 census. The municipality is the second-largest in the county by both size and population. Melbourne is a principal city of the Palm Bay–Melbourne–Titusville, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area. In 1969, the city was expanded by merging with nearby Eau Gallie.
Fernandina Beach is a city in northeastern Florida and the county seat of Nassau County, Florida, United States. It is the northernmost city on Florida's Atlantic coast, situated on Amelia Island, and is one of the municipalities comprising Greater Jacksonville. The area was first inhabited by the Timucuan Indian people. Known as the "Isle of 8 Flags", Amelia Island has had the flags of the following nations flown over it: France, Spain, Great Britain, Spain (again), the Republic of East Florida (1812), the Republic of the Floridas (1817), Mexico, the Confederate States of America, and the United States.
The Breakers is a Gilded Age mansion located at 44 Ochre Point Avenue, Newport, Rhode Island, US. It was built between 1893 and 1895 as a summer residence for Cornelius Vanderbilt II, a member of the wealthy Vanderbilt family.
South Beach, also nicknamed colloquially as SoBe, is a neighborhood in Miami Beach, Florida. It is located east of Miami between Biscayne Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. The area encompasses Miami Beach south of Dade Boulevard.
Virginia Key is an 863-acre (3.49 km2) barrier island in Miami, Florida. It is located in Biscayne Bay south of Brickell and north of Key Biscayne and is accessible from the mainland via the Rickenbacker Causeway.
State Road A1A (SR A1A) is a major north–south Florida State Road consisting of seven separate sections running a total of 338.752 miles (545.168 km) along the Atlantic Ocean, from Key West at the southern tip of Florida, to Fernandina Beach, just south of Georgia on Amelia Island. It is the main road through most oceanfront towns. Part of SR A1A is designated the A1A Scenic and Historic Coastal Byway, a National Scenic Byway. A portion of SR A1A that passes through Volusia County is designated the Ormond Scenic Loop and Trail, a Florida Scenic Highway. It is also called the Indian River Lagoon Scenic Highway from State Road 510 at Wabasso Beach to U.S. Route 1 in Cocoa. SR A1A is famous worldwide as a center of beach culture in the United States, a scenic coastal route through most Atlantic coastal cities and beach towns, including the unique tropical coral islands of the Florida Keys. SR A1A also serves as a major thoroughfare through Miami Beach and other south Florida coastal cities.
Streamline Moderne is an international style of Art Deco architecture and design that emerged in the 1930s. Inspired by aerodynamic design, it emphasized curving forms, long horizontal lines, and sometimes nautical elements. In industrial design, it was used in railroad locomotives, telephones, toasters, buses, appliances, and other devices to give the impression of sleekness and modernity.
The Millionaires' Mile, Millionaires' Row, Billionaires Row, Golden Mile or Alpha Street are the exclusive residential neighborhoods of various cities, often along one scenic strip such as a riverside or hilltop drive, or a wide city boulevard.
Sonnenberg Gardens and Mansion State Historic Park is a 50-acre (20 ha) state park located at 151 Charlotte Street in Canandaigua, New York, at the north end of Canandaigua Lake, in the Finger Lakes region of Upstate New York. The house and gardens are open to the public every day, May through October.
Eau Gallie is a section of the city of Melbourne, Florida, located on the city's northern side. It was an independent city in Brevard County from 1860 until 1969.
Port Canaveral is a cruise, cargo, and naval port in Brevard County, Florida, United States. The port has the busiest cruise terminals in the world. In 2022, the port had over 4 million passengers passing through it during the fiscal year. Additionally, over 5.4 million tonnes of bulk cargo moves through each year.
The Community Chapel of Melbourne Beach is a historic chapel at 501 Ocean Avenue, Melbourne Beach, Florida, United States. The local residents built the chapel in 1892 & made it non-denominational, which it remains today. On May 14, 1992, it was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.
The William H. Gleason House is a historic home in Melbourne, Florida, United States. The house was built around 1884 by William Henry Gleason and his wife Sarah Griffin Gleason and is at 1736 Pineapple Avenue in the Eau Gallie neighborhood founded by the Gleasons before incorporating with Melbourne in 1969. Gleason House is an outstanding example of Queen Anne style architecture. On January 25, 1997, it was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.
The Liberty Bell Memorial Museum is located in Wells Park at 1601 Oak Street in Melbourne, Florida adjacent to Melbourne Military Memorial Park. The museum is free to enter, and is divided into two main components: The Rotunda of American History and Freedom Hall.
Isabel Roberts House is a 1908 Prairie Style house by architect Frank Lloyd Wright, located at 603 Edgewood Place in River Forest, Illinois It was built for Isabel Roberts and her widowed mother, Mary Roberts.
Frederick H. Trimble was an American architect in Central Florida from the early 1900s through the 1920s. He worked in the Colonial Revival, Spanish Colonial Revival and Prairie Style.
The Frederick K. Stearns House is a historic inn located at 8109 East Jefferson Avenue in Detroit, Michigan, directly adjacent to the Arthur M. Parker House. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.
Ryckman Park is a public park located on Ocean Avenue in Melbourne Beach, Florida on the Indian River in the historic section of town. The park is in the historic section of Melbourne Beach and contains the Town Hall, the Melbourne Beach Community Center, a playground, several gazebos and the Melbourne Beach Pier. The former Villa Marine Hotel, built in 1912, is across the street and the Community Chapel of Melbourne Beach is nearby.
Martin Luther Hampton was an architect in Florida. After studying at the Columbia University in New York he settled in 1914 in Miami. Many of his buildings are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
