The Winter Club (The Post) 3-9-84An abandoned painting (above) is
adorned with pigeon feathers. Other areas
are covered with bird dung. In the main
room, which once was used bydance class-
es, thy' floor is cluttered with debris.
NORTH PALM BEACH --- The Win-
ter Club, a 57 -year-old building which
has been the center of controversy for
more than four years, is slowly dying
from neglect.
The peeling paint on the outside of
the architect Louis de Puyseger's cre-
ation at the North Palm Beach Coun-
try Club barely reflects the damage
neglect has worked on the inside.
The main room is divided in two by
an awkward wood partition. A low-
ered ceiling, installed by the village
when the building was used by the
Recreation Department has been re-
moved. Instead, the exposed cypress
ceiling beams sprout long wires that
once held the ceiling. Airconditioning
ducts are exposed. The floor is cov-
ered with debris including broken
dance records, dance magazines and
one dead pigeon.
One live pigeon in the west wing's
third floor greets a visitor by throwing
himself at a closed window, then flut-
ters past to fly downstairs. The steps
to the tower wing's four rooms and a
bath are covered with bird droppings.
A child's white tutu lies at the foot of
the stairs, also covered with pigeon
dung. The steps in west wing are cov-
ered with shredded foam used in pil-
lows or furniture cushions.
An ivylike plant is growing through
the window of the large room the vil-
lage once used as a -library.
It is hard to visualize what the Win-
ter Club looked like when Harry Kel-
sey built it in 1926 as the clubhouse for
the Palm Beach Winter Club. Or what
Sir Harry Oakes, a Canadian who
made millions in a gold rush, did when
he bought and enlarged the building
after he purchased it from Kelsey.
Oakes used it as a vacation home.
In several places, plaster has fallen
as a result of roof leaks. The village
spent $45,000 to replace the roof in
1981. Broken and cracked windows
have not been replaced; they are
boarded up with plywood. The build-
ing was condemned in 1979. It has sat
uncleaned, upswept and uncared for
since then.
In 1979, village residents voted on
whether to restore the building. The
result was a tie: 1,103-1,103.
On March 13, village residents will
vote again on whether to restore it or
demolish it.
In the meantime, it sits on the west
side of U.S.1 waiting for voters to seal
its fate.
The plain room lies empty, divided in two by an awkward plywood partition
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