By Mary Hladky
The historic Singing Pines Children’s Museum building will move to Meadows Park despite pleas by museum lovers to keep it at its current location near Boca Raton City Hall.
The City Council unanimously voted on Aug. 27 to reverse a decision by the city’s Historic Preservation Board that the museum should remain at 498 Crawford Blvd.
City officials early this year decided to relocate it to make way for a new building administration and code enforcement building. The Boca Raton Historical Society had no objections.
But some who cherish the museum took to social media to press the city to change course, and the preservation board sided with them at a July 18 meeting.
Among the board’s reasons were that the city should not “shove it into a park that nobody uses,” according to minutes of the meeting. Members also said that the city should incorporate the building into its plans to overhaul its government campus and surrounding areas by creating a transit-oriented community.
But city staff pushed back. When the city designated the building as historic in 1988, it was not because of its location. The current site is not the original one.
It is historic because of its architectural design, association with the city’s pioneer era and its history as the home of significant citizens. Moving the building changes none of that, staff concluded.
With little discussion, council members overruled the board.
The Singing Pines house was built in 1913 or 1914 at 301 SE First Ave. It is the second-oldest home in the city that still exists. It was built by William Myrick on property purchased from Henry Flagler’s Model Land Co.
The museum opened in 1979, but closed in 2019 as operational costs increased. The COVID-19 pandemic stalled efforts to reopen it.
No date has been set for the move to Meadows Park, located at 1300 NW Eighth St., near Boca Raton Middle School.
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