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Pioneer Builder Annoyed That Historic Mansion Is Decaying (WD) Dec. 28, 1978 - Jan. 2, 1979I "t\ TET? C L l' � �r d Annoyed hat . ......} ,.: .inl Is Decaying dom of senior citizens),"It's a daxr,.n In (this article), the 86 -year old By ® former Kelsey exectiti "-Mlls about the shame that it (the mansion) has been let go to hell. And before I die, I would Like � Ch anch au��hor ofis opening of the Palm Beach Winter. series of Our Town articles about his to record the fact the Oakes had practi- origins of the Oakes Manson, North memories, .this fine senior citizen also Cally nothing to do with it." d K ii,, Cit (now Lake dis la ed a strong sense of irritation So here is Part II of Branch's mein - Palm. Beach, an e s y Y P Y Park), was born Oct. 22, 1892 at Otis- that the beautiful old (but decaying) oirs: ville, Mich., about. 18 miles from the mansion has not been properly main- by Charles A. Branch cit of Flirt. tained, and is now called the "Oakes y I spent most of 1925 in Melbourne, _ - YJ; 11 S h 1 1910 Mansion" Branch said (with the free - Page 14 - WeekDay Dec. 28, 1978 - Jan. 2, 1979 He graduated Flint ig c oo , Continued page i4 and took his engineering studies at Ohio Northern University.In this week's anti- ��� -- -- ___-- • � �� I i�'`or� er .wamen r written for me, he highlights his � tsMan. sio�, sDecay �le g early association with General Motors, �ltltrjadreu� fYc�j�t7�rge l and how he carne to Florida first to Melbourne then to this area in August 1.926 to work for real estate developer Harry S. Kelsey, founder of Kelsey City (Lake Park). Branch was made Kelsey's vice president of his East Coast Finance Corp. In Part I, published last week, Branch explained how a well-known Paris, France, architect designed the mansion now known as the "Sir Harry Oakes Mansion" attached to the North Palm Beach Country Club, but which was built by Kelsey to be the Palm Beach Winter Club. )North Palm did not exist in the roaring twenties. Fla. with the Houghton -Eliot Company, directing and designing the construc- tion of Melbourne .Heights. Elliot had been an auditor, (in 1916) for the Flint, Mich. firm of realtors of games F. Woich, (The Welch Company) had been appointed by General Motors, Inc. to hatidle the sales of a new building pro- JeQ4 made necessary by increased G.M. production of Buick and Chevrolet. `That was the time I had an en- gineering and surveying office at Flint and was doing most of the work for the Welch Company and General Motors. G. [. Vice President C.S. Mott's only question had been, "How soon can you bd: 10,000 houses?" �er W. W. I was over (1 918), Welch s ha�tu'one into his own real estate busi- .:::...... ness,� and Welch's auditor, Elliott, had golf -1. :. to Melbourne, Florida for some real estate speculation. Meanwhile, a Mr. Charles Burr, who had been working with us, came to Florida and joined Mr. Kelsey as an assistant in his East Coast Finance Corp. "By 1926 I had completed Mr. Elli- ott's work at Melbourne (where I had come from Flint). I received a call from Mr. Burr requesting that KI come and talk to Mr. Kelsey (in West Palm Beach/Lake Park. (Kelsey City) about becoming a vice president of his ' East Coast Finance Corp. and be the general manager of all his holdings. "On Nov. 5, I moved my family from Melbourne, Fla. to a home furnished for me by the ECFC in Kelsey City." (Mr. Branch then outlined some of his earliest administrative chores.) Opening Of The Winter Club "On Jan. 5, 1927, Mr. Kelsey was able to open the Club House and Golf Course of the Palm Beach Winter Club for the first time. (Thus, there is established to date when the Oakes Mansion -- as we now call it — and its golf course was opened. As stated in Part I of this series, its architect was Louis DePuyseger, of Paris, France, and its general contractors were the Arnold brothers, Herman and J.Y. -- G.B.) - 01, "A summer (golf) professional from Winenkee, Ill., was hired to be the Winter Club's winter golf professional. A Miss Flaconer, who operated a lunch +club in Kelsey City, was placed in charge of the dining room. "We (the Kelsey organization) had bought a bus which operated between the Palm Beach hotels and the new Winter Clubhouse. "Our opening was blessed by the old Palm Beach winter society, among them the Phipps, Harrimans, Woolworths, Bosches, et al. The records of this (club) opening were.lost in the 1928 hurricane, but (the event) was covered by the news media of West Palm Beach and Palm Beach... "Many of. the (Palm Beach) winter visitors, unwelcome on Palm Beach gold courses, came to the Palm Beach winter Club during the next few years. (Though Mr. Branch did not put it into precise words, among those not welcome at places such as the Everglades Club in Palm Beach, includ. ed those outside the .ranks of the "Old Guard" and Jewish visitors. — G.B.) Winter Club's Social Life "I remember when Al Jolson Ben Burney and his wife, and many people in show business attended our (Winter Club) fairways, along with their many friends. As many golf professionals came to Florida each winter, we had many tournaments at the Winter Club and the (adjacent) Kelsey City golf. course. In fact, the Kelsey City course ,was written up in Golf's Red Book as being one of the best nine 'hole courses of that year. (The Kelsey City course was located approximately where the Twin City Mall has been built, with. some of its fairways — as explained by Mr. Branch in Part I — also built where the North Palm Beach library and elementary school are located today. --- G.B.) "The Winter Club had many lockers in its basement, a fine dining room that could be used for leancing, good meals, but only three bedrooms in the south wing of the (club's) tower. The -picture most shown today of the Palm Beath Winter Club when it was first opened to the public, was taken on Jan. 18, 1927 and shows Mrs. Charles Burr and daughter, and Mr. and Mrs. Charles Branch and son, Merrill, in front of the west side of the clubhouse. "Although the dining room was closed during the summer, the golf course was kept open for any visitors from Palm Beach. It was a struggle to meet the costs of keeping -the course in fair shape during the summer and fall. However, on March 26, 1927, Mr. Kelsey was honored on his 39th birth- day with a golf tournament and dinner at the club." (To Be Continued.)