News

By Jane Smith
    
    The Boynton Woman’s Club received another plume for its bonnet when it was designated a Boynton Beach historic site.
    The clubhouse, already on the National Register of Historic Places since 1979, was designed by Addison Mizner. It is the scene for weddings, private celebrations and meetings.
    “We’re very happy to have the designation,” said Michele Walter, Boynton Woman’s Club president, after the City Commission passed the ordinance 5-0 in early October. “And we’d like to thank Warren Adams, historic planner, as well as the CRA and city commissioners for their support for our restoration efforts. Their cooperation and support of the CRA grant helped us in the restoration of the three doors and windows in our second-floor ballroom.”
    Adams is helping the club members apply for a state matching grant that had to be filed by Oct. 31. The state will rank the grant recipients and send that list to the Legislature. “Then it depends on whether the Legislature appropriates the money,” he said.
    If the Woman’s Club gets the grant, it would have to raise a matching amount. Adams said the group would use the value of his time for a percentage of the matching amount. The money will be used to refurbish the original windows and French doors.
    “We have 41 openings to address, this includes double French doors, some with transoms, casement windows with and without transoms and a variety of single windows and doors,” said Barbara Wineberg, the club’s fundraiser. “We are hoping it will cover them all, but we won’t know for sure until we get an architect in there to examine each one.”
    The Woman’s Club building, sitting on the east side of Federal Highway between Boynton Beach Boulevard and Woolbright Road, is the city’s grandest structure.
    The family of Maj. Nathan Smith Boynton, the city’s founder, donated $35,000 in his memory to the project.
    Famed architect Addison Mizner did his design “pro bono” because the building would cost over $50,000. It contains classic Mizner features, such as a barrel-tile roof, arched windows, turquoise trim, pecky cypress trusses on the ceiling and French doors. From the lobby on either side, two wide wooden staircases curve gracefully to the second floor, which is large enough to seat 400 people.  The building opened in the fall of 1926.
    Celebrations at Boynton Woman’s Club schedules events and shares a percentage of the fees with the club. It uses the approximate $80,000 annually to pay for various insurances and the elevator maintenance contract, said Barbara Erlichman, who handles publicity for the club.