Marie Penny
Special to the Daily News
Editor s note: Each month this season, we will publish a column from the Preservation Foundation of Palm Beach featuring a landmarked property.
With its fish-scale scalloped shingles and pointed finials atop each gable, Duck’s Nest conjures up the Victorian era.
Viewed from Lake Trail, it may appear to be a charming house from the turn of the 20th century. But it also has a fascinating history, which includes weathering hurricanes, architectural styles, and the development of Palm Beach.
The house gets its name from the ducks that roosted on the extensive freshwater marsh, now filled in, which were formerly located east of the building. It’s hard to imagine, but at the time the only way to access this house was by boat via Lake Worth (now referred to as the Intracoastal Waterway).
Marie Penny
Special to the Daily News
Editor s note: Each month this season, we will publish a column from the Preservation Foundation of Palm Beach featuring a landmarked property.
Last month’s column focused on the founding of the ordinance, this month we will take a closer look at the classic example of adaptive rehabilitation: The Warden House, 200 N. Ocean Blvd., previously 112 Seminole Ave.
The Warden House was designed by Addison Mizner in 1922 for William Gray Warden, a Standard Oil partner. This Mediterranean Revival estate took up an entire oceanfront block and had a U-shaped plan centered around a patio. But by the 1970s it seemed that the house was destined for the same fate as Mizner s demolished estates El Mirasol, Playa Riente, and Casa Bendita.