Enter your email GO

SOCIAL DIARY PARTY PICTURES DIARY FEATURES CALENDAR ARCHIVES NYSD BEAUTY Type name or keyword SEARCH

Friday, November 1, 2013

Palm Beach Social Diary

Everglades Club, original façade. Pen and ink sketch. The Palm Beach Post, 1919. This sketch of the
Everglades Club's original façade became a familiar sight at the top of The Post's social page.

Remaking History:
Paris Singer & the Everglades Club, 1918-1932
By Augustus Mayhew

No matter how thorough Palm Beach’s past was documented, filtering fact
from fiction can prove a daunting task to anyone interested in exploring the
resort’s hybrid genre of reality. Time and again, social historians must rely on
revised memoirs, third wives, feuds, after-dinner speakers, hearsay, and
deadline items dashed off by Cholly Knickerbocker rather than vetted
scientific research articles found in peer-reviewed journals. Palm Beach’s
gilded altered state is an uncommon escape from reality where bigger-than-
life characters in super-sized settings have been more likely the focus of
Hollywood’s screwball comedies rather than scholarly chronicles. Among
them, there is probably no more elusive subject than Paris Singer and no
greater social and architectural defining moment than the building of the
Everglades Club. Topics so extensively written about, that it is generally
assumed everything about them has already been reported.

For the most part, because Paris Singer died unexpectedly at a relatively
young age, various recollections of his life are the secondary subject matter of
other people’s biographies, inclined to portray him either as an impulsive
martinet or a well-mannered autocrat. These characterizations resulted in a
romanticized version of events, whether recalling his relationship with the
mercurial Isadora Duncan or recounting his last hurrah on Palm Beach.

Having amassed a fortune much

greater than his sizeable
inheritance, Singer was consumed
by euphoria from Florida’s Land
Boom of the 1920s. Ultimately,
Paris Singer may have been the
man who “ … made Palm Beach
beautiful,” introduced the work of
architect Addison Mizner, built
the Everglades Club, and began
the transformation of Worth
Avenue into a world-class
destination, but his imprudent real
estate dealings relegated him to
the town’s rogue’s gallery rather
than its pantheon of visionaries.

By 1918, Paris Singer and the

Singer family’s global triumphs
and moral transgressions were
headline news for more than sixty
years.

Nonetheless, when Singer began

buying property on both sides of
Lake Worth, a local paper
commented that “… he was not
known in these quarters.” The Paris Singer (1867-1932). Though described at the
time of his death as "one of the most picturesque and
inventive sewing machine heir’s important figures in the history of Palm Beach,"
Palm Beach chapter usually Singer's local legacy was obscured when the crash of
opens with a weary Paris Singer his real estate developments undermined and
destabilized the Everglades Club's financial future.
and a down-on-his-luck Addison Courtesy Historical Society of Palm Beach County.
Mizner, much like Samuel
Beckett characters, arriving on Palm Beach accompanied by a nurse to die of
social ennui. The nurse is a reference to Joan Bates (aka Joan Balsh and
Anne Charlotte Bates), with whom Singer began an affair in 1912, following
his “infatuation” with Isadora Duncan.

In March 1918, Singer was still married to his second wife, making the
reference to Bates as his and Mizner’s nurse more of a humorous nod to the
era’s decorum than actual fact. During that period, Bates was shuttling from
New York to England and France, overseeing Singer's properties that had
been turned into Red Cross hospitals until after the war ended. The Singer-
Bates-Mizner triangle tale grew more complicated perhaps when Mizner fell ill
while a houseguest at Singer’s villa on Peruvian Avenue. In a 1918 letter to
Mary Fanton Roberts, editor of The Touchstone Magazine, a robust
energetic Paris Singer appears to refute details of the more popular story.

“Dearest Mary … I have but rather a time with Addison Mizner who came here
with me because of a bad leg. He got pneumonia on the 3rd day of his visit
and the house is now organized like a hospital, day and night with nurses and
a doctor twice a day. The weather here is all for him and he is now out of
danger but it was “touch and go.” There are very few people here so far but
the trains seem to come in as before the war with dining cars, etc. … A man
coming here to see Mizner the other day says he talked to Isadora in
Washington? Is she back in the East again? — Mary Fanton Roberts
papers, American Arts Archive, Smithsonian Institution.

This letter is among the considerable

documents now available to researchers, not
referenced in Donald Curl’s influential book
Mizner’s Florida published in 1984, that
enhance and expand, as well as contradict,
our knowledge of Paris Singer and the
genesis of the Everglades Club. These
previously unpublished contemporaneous
resources stored at The Smithsonian’s
American Arts Archive are handwritten and
 typed letters and telegrams written by Paris
Singer, Joan Singer, and Singer’s son Cecil
Singer, postmarked Palm Beach, New York,
London, Paris, and St. Jean, Cap Ferrat.

Yet, missing pieces still remain, making my

research a work in progress. I have had to
postpone my jaunt to the Torquay Library in
Paignton where I could more closely review
more detailed archival materials on the
Singer family. Since the March 1918 issues
of The Palm Beach Post that would have
reported on Singer’s first acquisitions for the
club site are not available, I relied on articles
published in The Palm Beach Post during
the first week of April 1918 that refer to
Singer’s acquisitions the previous month.

The Palm Beach Daily News stopped daily publication for the season on 24
March 1918, just as Paris Singer was acquiring the club sites. In my review of
the Palm Beach Daily News issues published during January-February-March
1918 that I was able to read, some have faded beyond recognition, I found no
mention of Paris Singer or Addison Mizner. Berlin-based architect Luisa
Hutton, a great-granddaughter of Paris Singer, granted me permission to
include several Singer family photographs. Because of the US government
shutdown, correspondence with various institutions was not possible.

Nevertheless, here is a look back when Paris Singer was the King of Palm
Beach and the Everglades Club replaced Cocoanut Grove cakewalks and The
Beach Club as the cottage colony’s social centerpiece.

Paris Singer & the Singer Family

ALSO IN SOCIAL HISTORY

9.27.18: The Gilded Cage:
Tragedy at Palm Beach
5.23.18: The Coconuts! A
Palm Beach Party History:
1920-2018
4.27.18: Higher Ground:
Tall Timbers revives
Livingstons’ Florida
plantation
12.18.17: Palm Beach
Social History
11.1.17: Romanesque
Revival: Addison Mizner’s
Riverside Baptist Church
9.22.17: Nikola Tesla: A
By 1885, the Singer Manufacturing Company had sold more than six million sewing machines. The SoHo story
worldwide phenomenon was founded by Paris Singer's prodigious father Isaac M. Singer (1811-1875)
7.18.17: JOHN RINGLING
and his partner Edward Clark. Courtesy Library of Congress.
NORTH – CIRCUS KING
3.30.17: Palm Beach Social
Diary: Uncommon Lives
3.22.17: Architectural
Illusion: Villa Giardino at
Palm Beach
2.22.17: This was Then:
 Malcom Forbes' 70th, Part
II
2.21.17: This was Then:
Malcolm Forbes' 70th
Birthday, Part I
2.7.17: Mrs. Post's Mar-a-
Lago
1.12.17: America First:
Howard Major at Palm
Beach
8.23.16: Aristocratic
Artist: Albert Herter at
Palm Beach
6.22.16: Remembering
Vincent Sardi Jr.

More Social History >>

Calling card, c. 1920. Mary Fanton Roberts Papers. Archives of American Art. Smithsonian
Institute.

Paris Singer, an architect-engineer? Having curated the Historical Society of

Palm Beach County's voluminous archive more than a decade ago and been
a close friend of Mizner scholar Donald Curl, author of Mizner's Florida, I
cannot recall any reference or mention of Singer as a professional architect-
engineer. Singer's numerous patent registrations and his active interests in
automotive and aeronautical endeavors indicate expertise in the field of
engineering. In addition to Singer's studies at Caius College, Cambridge,
Singer may have studied architecture in Paris, according to available records
at the Torquay Library:

"During his early twenties Paris Singer found time to study architecture,
probably at the fashionable Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris, and obtained a
degree, though he assumed the role of patron rather than practitioner in later
life. Nevertheless he is recorded as the architect of No. 3 Cadogan Gate, the
large annex behind his mansion in London's Sloane Street, which apparently
bore a brass plate engraved "P. E. Singer – Architect" on the mews entrance
door about 1900." Torquay Natural History Society's Transactions and
Proceedings. Paris Singer: A Life Portrait, by John R. A. Wilson.

Oldway House, Paignton. With a theater and ballroom at their 100-room mansion on the English Riviera,
the Singer family enjoyed elaborate at-home tableau vivants, nurturing Paris Singer's lifelong
predilection for pageants and costume parties. Singer and E. Clarence Jones, the first vice-president of
the Everglades Club, are credited with reviving society's interest in elaborate costume parties, following
the popularity of the club's annual Fancy Dress Ball. Courtesy Singer Family.
Paris Singer's wife, Cecilia "Lily" Graham Singer, and his daughter, Winnaretta Singer. Courtesy Singer
family.

Paris Singer, family genealogy. Following the publicized 1877 will contest over Isaac Merritt Singer's
estate, Isabella Eugenie Boyer Singer, the 3rd and last married wife, was declared the legal widow,
making her children the estate's richest heirs. Thus far, I have been unable to find another reference to
Henriette Marais, listed as Paris Singer's first wife. Other resources, note Cecilia "Lily" Graham Singer
as his first wife. Courtesy Historical Society of Palm Beach County.
Paris and Lily Graham Singer, c. 1887. Courtesy Singer Family.
Social Register. Courtesy Historical Society of Palm Beach County.

8 March 1918

Palm Beach Daily News, newspaper headlines. 8 March 1918. During the weeks Paris Singer began
buying property to build a convalescent facility for shell-shocked soldiers on Worth Avenue, Palm Beach
residents were waking-up to the latest World War I updates and the local sporting scene. Along with
staging various benefits to aid the war effort, the local social set, led by Tessie Oelrichs and Eva
Stotesbury, was raising funds to build Good Samaritan Hospital.

Building the Everglades Club

Although the Everglades Club's signature building has long been regarded a
stylistic departure from the existing landscape, my latest findings point
towards the clubhouse's aesthetic composition as more harmonious with the
era's emerging cultural milieu. Even so, the Everglades Club remains a
legendary architectural milestone, however it might have been inspired by its
nearby predecessors — Vizcaya, the Moorish lakeside J. B. Elwell mansion
on Seabreeze Avenue, the Italian villa built on South Ocean Boulevard, Casa
Apava, the Tuscan-styled oceanfront house on North County Road, or the
often overlooked under-appreciated, Spanish-style Beaux-Arts Building &
Promenade on North Lake Trail by architect August Geiger.

After a review of the accessible

resources, in my opinion, Mizner
formulated a design plan for Singer
that was influenced by, if not
borrowed from, the grandeur and
splendor found at Vizcaya. Shortly
after Singer and Mizner returned from
a weekend visit in March 1918 with
Charles Deering and James
Deering in South Miami, Singer
announced plans for the clubhouse’s
magnificent Old World look, to be built
“ … as if it had been there for
centuries.” Two weeks before Singer
and Mizner’s jaunt, James Deering
had checked into The Breakers.
During that same time frame, Paul
Chalfin, Deering’s major domo and
designer, was ensconced in Palm
Beach, having opened a studio on a James Deering.
houseboat tied up at the Beaux Arts
docks on North Lake Trail.

Although the aesthetic mix of Singer’s

original clubhouse appears to visually
contrast with the Deering mansion’s
more formally-modeled Italian facade
and elevations, both buildings
contained much the same ensembles
of courtyards, loggias, and arcades.
Though Mizner may have later said
he was inspired by a cloistered
Spanish monastery, the Everglades
Club was first described as a fusion of
Spanish and Italian features. In the
original plan, Mizner included a
Venetian Landing outfitted with
gondolas along the club’s lakefront
Paul Chalfin, Deering’s major domo.
with its ecclesiastical bell tower.

And, if you always thought the Everglades Club began as a secret social
cartel, you will be disappointed to learn there was no one more forthcoming
than Paris Singer. As the club became the nucleus for his and Mizner’s real
estate developments, Singer wanted the world to know the club’s who’s who.
Not only did the club circulate its daily events schedule, golf and tennis
results, and luncheon party guest lists and centerpieces, but it also disclosed
the names of every newly elected member, publishing them in Palm Beach,
West Palm Beach, and New York newspapers.

Prior narratives put the spotlight primarily on architect Addison Mizner rather
than the patron, Paris Singer. I have not included information gleaned from
essays or books written by club members, Mizner’s autobiographical The
Many Mizners (1932) and the architect’s unpublished second volume of his
autobiography (1933), or from Donald Curl’s informative Mizner’s Florida. It
isn’t that I suppose these works inaccurate or regard Mizner’s recollections as
capricious, even though he was known as a lively raconteur. Instead, I have
attempted to reflect the temper of a certain era within a minimal framework by
providing a chronicle that relies less on the lenience of predisposition and
circumspection of memory.

On the following pages, I crafted a construction chronology to simplify and

refine the club’s building history, combining the clubhouse’s complex
adaptation of Spanish and Italian architectural elements with its functional
evolution from the Touchstone Convalescent Club for Soldiers & Sailors to the
exclusive Everglades Club. By focusing on the building process as it
happened, rather than narrative summaries grounded on memoirs and
anecdotal recollections, the unfolding account sharpens appreciation for the
various factors in creating the club as a multifaceted composite. The timeline
format’s sequential structure offers a clarity not found in narrative formats, too
often held together by facts either condensed or lost at the expense of telling
a more engaging story. Below each date, the story’s headline appears in
italics, followed by a brief abstract of the article.

31 March 1918
“Paris Singer’s real estate plans”

In the last ten days, Paris Singer has spent $250,000 on eight parcels in Palm
Beach. He has an architect and a lawyer and is incorporating a holding
company to manage, develop, and build on the land. During the past week,
Singer painted his cottage Chinese colors and placed a six-foot stuffed
alligator on the roof, most likely a curio from the nearby alligator farm.
(According to an April 1917 issue of The Palm Beach Post, Singer acquired
his Peruvian Avenue house the previous month). Also, M. Nichols of
Greenwich began construction on an Italian villa on an oceanfront parcel
south of the Wigwam, the Croker estate, on South Ocean Boulevard.

1 April 1918
“Americans enter battle with dauntless allies”

Palm Beach Post, headlines. 1 April 1918. As Singer acquired property in Palm Beach and West Palm
Beach, the US was expanding its involvement in the war, as "Americans enter battle with dauntless
allies."

2 April 1918
"Socially Speaking"

A local social column reports Paris Singer and his architect Addison Mizner
(spelled Meisner) have returned to Palm Beach from a weekend in Miami.
Singer and Mizner were guests of Charles Deering and James Deering in
South Miami. The previous season, Deering's younger brother James Deering
had completed Vizcaya, a waterfront estate located in South Miami. Upon his
return, Singer announced his Palm Beach clubhouse would be built in the Old
World style, as if it had always been there, much like Vizcaya.

The Architectural Review. July 1917. However described as remote, Vizcaya was already a considerable
architectural presence and social landmark when Singer and Mizner began building the Everglades
Club. Vizcaya's architect F. Burrall Hoffman, whose parents were among the Everglades Club's earliest
members, had designed oceanfront houses on Palm Beach for the Phipps family several years before
Singer conceived the club.

Vizcaya, James Deering estate. Miami, 1916-1917. F. Burrall Hoffman, architect. Paul Chalfin, interior
design. In 1919, Hoffman, Chalfin, and Robert Winthrop Chandler, Vizcaya's mural artist, stayed at the
Everglades Club while they worked on the music room addition at Joseph Riter's Al Poniente on North
Lake Way. Courtesy Library of Congress.

4 April 1918
"Villas for US soldiers"

Paris Singer and Addison Mizner (spelled Mizener) left Palm Beach and
returned to New York after Mr. Singer spent the past three weeks investing
$250,000 in building sites. Singer plans ten large country homes for wounded
soldiers.

5 April 1918
"Paris Singer purchases still another valuable waterfront"

The Palm Beach Post, headlines. 5 April 1918. Paris Singer has completed a half-dozen deals in the
past month. The largest transaction from the Royal Palm Improvement Company. Singer bought from
City Builders an additional 660 feet of oceanfront adjacent to his present property. The land was
previously owned by H. F. Hammon and H.G. Wheeler. Singer buys Lone Cabbage Island.

25 April 1918
“Paris Singer will build ten villas and turn them over to the government”
In two months, Paris Singer has invested $250,000 in Palm Beach real estate.
He plans a “miniature Venice” on Lone Cabbage Island. Along Worth Avenue,
the lakefront will feature two sets of villas. The Continental villas will be at the
disposal of allied nations. The Palm Beach villas will be open to the U. S.
government. Paris Singer has four sons fighting in the war. Singer has spent
the last two weeks at the Ritz-Carlton in New York with his architect Addison
Mizner (spelled Meisner), making plans for Palm Beach. The ten villas will be
offered for free use to aid the recovery of wounded officers in France. Singer’s
Oldway mansion was turned into a 600-bed Red Cross hospital, directed by a
committee headed by the Duchess of Marlborough and Mrs. John Jacob
Astor. His London house is a 60-room hospital. His house in Paris is a 50-bed
hospital. Singer’s French Riviera house was also converted for the military’s
use.

Singer announces everything in Palm

Beach is to be Spanish or Italian
architecture, or a combination of the two.
He plans to carve Cabbage Island into six
islands, working up a “Venetian effect.” To
the south of the Convalescent Colony, he
will develop the existing jungle into a park
with trails and a lakefront restaurant. Singer
believes “all improvements must blend with
natural scenery.” There will be “no big white
houses with glaring red roofs.” A month
earlier, Singer had visited Vizcaya, the
Deering place in Miami, that inspired his
Palm Beach site. He will not build
“something laid out with a yardstick,” but
instead, “… something that looks old, like it
has always been there, with soft colors.”

3 May 1918
“Paris Singer here to start work on Consuelo, Duchess of Marlborough.
Convalescent Colony”

Paris Singer arrives in Palm Beach

accompanied by architect Addison Mizner.
Together they will superintend the
construction of the convalescent colony for
wounded American soldiers. The colony
will be located on nineteen lots in Royal
Park, bounded on the south and west by
Lake Drive, by Coconut Row on the east,
and Peruvian Avenue on the north. Some
of the lots face the yacht basin.

Singer and Mizner open an office on

Gardenia Street in West Palm Beach,
opposite the Lainhart and Potter Lumber
Company, where they place orders for the
construction materials needed for several
villas. The colony will accommodate “only
Mrs. John Jacob Astor (Madeleine Talmage
such men in need of the invigorating
Force).
influences of this climate.” The Touchstone
organization sponsors a national “Back to
Health Movement for our Wounded Men.”

The architect is Addison Mizner (spelled Meisner), of New York, a Californian

associated with “some of the most attractive buildings in America.” Mr. Singer
has spent part of the past two winters at Palm Beach. Singer says, “Lake
Worth is studded with islands and the scenery is beyond words, beautiful.”
The soldiers’ recovery will be stimulated by “deep-sea fishing, wild pig hunting,
alligator hunting, and wild duck shooting.” Dr. A. Thompson Downs, of
Saratoga Springs and formerly physician at The Breakers, will be the resident
physician and prescribe treatments for the recovering soldiers.

6 May 1918
Western Union Telegram

Paris Singer sends magazine editor Mary Fanton Roberts a telegram saying
“…Mizner does interesting picture of club. Would make good magazine cover
in Fall. Sending it. Love, Paris”

July 1918
The New York Times reports the American Red Cross Hospital in Paignton,
located at Oldway House, the country home of Paris Singer, is the finest
hospital for the wounded in England. Queen Mary visits.

Oldway House. Paignton, England. After acquiring The Wigwam, the main pavilion of his father's estate,
Paris Singer transformed it into an English adaptation of Versailles. In 1927, Oldway became the Torbay
Country Club. After World War II, the Singer family sold Oldway to the Torbay Council for civic and public
use. Unable to pay for Oldway's much-needed restoration, the Torbay Council sold the historic landmark
in 2012 to the Akkeron development group that is converting it into a 55-room boutique hotel and spa.
Oldway House. Paris Singer's study. Courtesy of the Singer Family.

15 July 1918
“Paris Singer tells of his Palm Beach development plans”

Singer tells of spending millions for his “loving donation to the cause of
democracy.” The July issue of The Touchstone Magazine features drawings of
the new Palm Beach facility. Few knew of Singer in Palm Beach before he
began acquiring property in March. First, the project was known as
convalescent hospital. In the article, Singer described Mizner as “the well-
known and genial New York architect who is now staying in Palm Beach all
the time to devote to this project.” Singer “banishes” the idea that the project
will be “profit-making.” Instead, it will be patriotic and humanitarian. Classes
will be offered by The Touchstone Magazine in October to ladies in New York
who want to be useful companions to the wounded veterans in Palm Beach.

24 July 1918
“Tile made in Tunis 2,000 years ago will be used in club”

Palatial home for soldiers and sailors will soon be under construction;
greenhouses and gardens are being gotten underway. Tunisian tiles are
stored in a warehouse in West Palm Beach. Architect Addison Mizner
explained that “Tunis was the Palm Beach of its day.” Construction of the villas
is underway but the clubhouse has yet to start. A dredge is digging in front of
the basin. Five greenhouses have been erected in the heart of the jungle as
thousands of crotons are being rooted. Singer purchased a nearby farm that
will supply the clubhouse with fresh dairy products and produce. The article
states “wonders” have been accomplished since construction of the villas
began two months ago.
The Touchstone Magazine, advertisement. 1918-1919.

3 August 1918
“Singer may go to California; wants no troubles with labor.” “Patriotic
carpenters will return to work on Paris Singer contract”

When construction workers strike and demand a raise in their daily minimum
wage, the local Labor Council agrees to exempt the Singer project in Palm
Beach, giving in to the argument that it is a patriotic undertaking.

“Wealthy philanthropist buys more property”

On the west side of Lake Worth, Paris Singer buys the Gables Hotel that will
accommodate “sixty French widows and their children.” The widowed French
women will help “nurse the wounded men.”

7 September 1918
“Palm Beach as a Fountain of Youth …”

The Touchstone War Work, as Singer’s project is termed, is in progress with

eight villas now nearly completed. The Clubhouse foundation has been laid at
the gateway to the famous Florida jungle. The Clubhouse will be semi-tropical
in style and is being built not to furnish hospital rooms and treatment but for
men discharged from hospitals not yet ready to face life. The purpose of the
facility is to fulfill the need for peace and calm in their lives. The club will
provide happiness and entertainment, a release from responsibility with a
variety of joy. The alligator pens remain to the south of the greenhouses
where Mizner was rooting crotons. The Clubhouse has been renamed the
Everglades Rod and Gun Club.

Fall 1918
The Touchstone Magazine
The Touchstone Magazine. 1918. Owned and financed by Paris Singer, The Touchstone Magazine was
a New York-based arts publication that promoted Singer's Palm Beach establishment as a refuge for
shell-shock veterans. Editor and co-owner Mary Fanton Roberts, also a close friend of Isadora
Duncan's, featured a series of articles about shell shock veterans and published Mizner's earliest
drawings for the planned facility.

14 September 1918
“Old World treasures gathered by Singer”

Singer announces Clubhouse will feature antique doors, furniture, and tile
from “ancient Troy that Helen may have walked on.” Also, to be installed will
be 400-year-old doors with the heads of saints, and male and female figures
in the upper panel. Mizner stages an exhibit of rare furniture pieces at Speer
Pharmacy on Clematis Street in West Palm Beach. The artifacts and
furnishings will be installed in the clubhouse now under construction.

October 1918
“First Shell-Shock Club in America for Soldiers and Sailors”

The Touchstone Magazine places a one-page ad in International Studio magazine illustrated with a
watercolor of the clubhouse, offering subscribers several issues on the subject of helping wounded
veterans, especially shell-shock victims.

13 October 1918
The Palm Beach Post, headlines. 13 October 1918. "Germany accepts armistice terms."

27 October 1918
“Wonderful artistic effects achieved in architecture of Paris Singer’s homes for
convalescent soldiers.”

Addison Mizner's colony of villas revel in color: pale blue, pale green, warm orange, a plain white, a
warmer blue, and over all, a red, but not too red tile, weather-worn and studiously irregular. Historical
Society of Palm Beach County.

Everglades Club & Villas. c. 1918-1919. A view of the villas along Worth Avenue facing the basin,
looking southeast towards the completed clubhouse. Historical Society of Palm Beach County.

The Clubhouse is described as "a blend of feudal, Medieval, Spanish, and

Italian in delicious harmony." The structure's ambiance is "of a high and
venerable pile like a monastery." The dining room measures 70 by 40 and the
roof measures 40 feet from its lowest point to the massive beams. The living
room is 85 by 44 with a fireplace 6.5 feet high, "large enough to roast an ox."
The structure suggests barons and monks. Also, ladies rooms, cloak rooms, a
club office, musicians' balconies with narrow-arched doorways. The plans
include an Orange Court and a double-terrace angled, the lower of which will
form a true Venetian landing stage overlooking Lake Worth. The tower is 30-
foot square whose two uppermost floors will contain apartments for Mr. Singer
and Mr. Mizner. Twelve bedrooms are located west of the tower. According to
the story, Mizner "makes the most pretentious efforts of his predecessors
appear inappropriate and commonplace."

Everglades Club, floor plan. 1918-1919.

The Touchstone Magazine. 1918-1919.

1 December 1918
“Paris Singer here for a few days”

Paris Singer along with Frederic Roosevelt Scovel, secretary of the new
club, arrived to look over interests at the Everglades Club. Scovel’s mother
Maria Roosevelt Scovel was a cousin of President Theodore Roosevelt.
Scovel’s father Edward Scovel was titled Chevalier by the king of Italy.

11 December 1918
“Mr. Paris Singer divorced after 30 years”
Newspaper item. December 1918. During the Singer v. Singer divorce, filed on the grounds of
misconduct and desertion, the former Mrs. Singer said she and Paris married 24 October 1887 in
Hobart, Tasmania, before taking up residence in England. She testified she and her husband separated
in 1910. At the time, she did not file for divorce because she "thought it better for the sake of the
children." Court testimony by Martha Smart, Joan Bates' maid, and Florence Taylor, Paris Singer's cook-
housekeeper, revealed details of the couple's most intimate affair.

Note: According to several Isadora Duncan biographers and court documents,

the Singer-Duncan "infatuation" ended by 1912, though Singer still gave
Isadora financial assistance for her various artistic projects. He remained
concerned about Duncan's welfare especially following the tragic accidental
drowning in 1913 of their three-year-old son Patrick Singer. Previously, when
Singer reportedly stayed at The Breakers, he was visited by Isadora Duncan,
who "stopped over on her way to South America." Some say Duncan never
recovered from the loss of her children; she died in 1927. Since 1912, Singer
had lived openly with Miss Joan Bates in London, Paris, New York, and Palm
Beach until his divorce from Cecilia "Lily" Singer in 1918. Soon after, in 1919,
Joan became his third wife, called "the bride of the season" by a Palm Beach
social columnist.
Portrait of Cecilia "Lily" Henrietta Augusta Graham Singer. From a portrait of Paul Matheny, c. 1895.
Mrs. Graham Singer attended her former husband's funeral in June 1932. Courtesy of the Singer family.

15 December 1918
“Paris Singer buys large tract in Royal Park”

Sydney Maddock sold Paris Singer a tract in Royal Park. The article does not
detail the precise location.

22 December 1918
“Palatial homes for shell-shocked convalescent soldiers built by Singer
nearing completion”

The article states, “The main clubhouse suggests a castle.” The clubhouse
utilizes quaint antiquities from Spain and Italy, such as the iron doors at the
entrance on Worth Avenue. Upon entering, cloakrooms are located for men
and women. The cloak room is the only room provide for women, for this is to
be a man’s club. Ahead, looking through the building is a view to the south of
the orange court and to the west to the lake and the island, also a part of this
enterprise. The lounging room and the dining room are high-ceilinged and
paneled. These rooms evoke recollections of Washington Irving’s Alhambra or
of old English inns. Decorated beams reproduce the period long past. The first
floor also includes a model kitchen and servant’s quarters. The villas are
described as “Homes for Heroes.” The gardens are a half-mile south of the
clubhouse. The dairy is “on the mainland, two miles distant.”

1919
17 Jan 1919
“Everglades Club for Convalescent Soldiers Most Complete of its Kind in the
United States”

With residences in Devonshire, St. Cloud, and the French Riviera, Paris
Singer has invested $1 million into the Palm Beach project. Singer states club
will not be charitable or a moneymaker but an institution. The facility is set on
70 acres plus a nearby 140-acre farm to supply the club. The club features a
dining room with service for 150-200, large living room, several reception
rooms, and 12 bedrooms and baths for residential members. Seven villas
each with seven bedrooms and living rooms are nearby with one occupied by
a resident physician, Dr. Sherman Downs, of Saratoga Springs. The club
offers a fleet of motor boats, tennis courts and a nearby log cabin, where
hunting parties can hunt turkey, quail and deer. A golf course will be
constructed later.

25 Jan 1919
“Everglades Club opens on February 4”

The Busoni Orchestra from New York will arrive in Palm Beach on 1 February
1919. The club will offer members boating, fishing, dancing, and a tea dansant
from 3 to 6. The club’s president Paris Singer is reported to be indisposed
and may not make opening. The club’s officers are: E. Clarence Jones, vice-
president; T. T. Reese, treasurer; F. Roosevelt Scovel, secretary. The Board
of Governors members are: Pierre Barbey, Harlan Kent Bolton, William
Lawrence Green, Lewis Quentin Jones, Frederick P. Moore, E. Clarence
Jones, Walter J. Mitchell, Henry C. Phipps, T. T. Reese, Paris Singer,
Joseph E. Speidel, J. Frederick Pierson, and Edward T. Stotesbury.

29 January 1919
The club is rapidly nearing completion. The front of the club is lined with
wheelchairs. The stucco villas are complete. The Yellow Villa will be occupied
by Mr. and Mrs. Jerome Napoleon Bonaparte; the White Villa by Mrs.
Charles B. Alexander and her daughter Mary Crocker; and, the Green Villa
reserved for Lt. Earl C. Horan and Mr. and Mrs. F. Roosevelt Scovel. There
is already a membership of 100 names with new names constantly proposed.
Nelson Slater is occupying the apartment in the Club Tower over Addison
Mizner’s. Three of five motorboats are now in commission with Capt. Wilson
Rowan in command. The Club maintains its own “Tuileries” in West Palm
Beach. The club’s tiles are also manufactured in West Palm Beach. The
Everglades Club was “Made in America,” said Paris Singer.

Everglades Club, 1919. The club's original façade on Worth Avenue. Historical Society of Palm Beach
County.

30 January 1919
Portrait of Cecilia "Lily" Henrietta Augusta Graham Singer. From a portrait of Paul Matheny, c. 1895.
Mrs. Graham Singer attended her former husband's funeral in June 1932. Courtesy of the Singer family.

February 1919
Palm Beach Life Magazine

February 1919. Paris Singer hosts a pre-opening lunch at the Palm Beach Country Club with the club's
charter members and its first honorary member W. H. Beardsley, president of the Florida East Coast
Railway and Hotel Company. Because the Everglades Club was not incorporated until 1924, there are
not believed to be any recorded minutes of the club's organizational meetings between 1919 and 1923.

4 February 1919
Everglades Club's Opening Afternoon Event

Everglades Club, February 1919. Addison Mizner hosts the club's "first big party" with Mr. Irving Berlin at
the piano.

4 February 1919
Opening Evening Event

"The First 100"

As it was believed it would take at least five years for European resorts to recover from the devastation
of the war, the Everglades Club enjoyed almost instantaneous popularity.

16 February 1919

The New York Sun reports the Everglades Club has 125 members, among
them, Reginald Boardman, Charles F. Choate, Richard Croker, Fulton
Cutting, James Deering, George Peabody Gardner, and John Rutherfurd.

19 February 1919

The New York Tribune reports “The largest social affair of the season was the
opening of the Everglades Club the other night … There are fancy canoes,
sailboats, fast motor boats, servants with turbans and sashes, and, in fact,
every touch known to the stage which the development smacks strongly of. It
has cost about half million dollars, in addition to the real estate.” Also, “The
handsome new club, erected for the use of French officers, caught fire during
a housewarming a few nights ago but the damage was slight. The blaze
occurred at dinner time. The diners rushed to the street but returned to finish
their meal. A dinner was being given for Mrs. Vernon Booth of Chicago. The
guests included Stanley Mortimer, Grafton Pyne, Mrs. Quincy Shaw 2nd,
John B. Kitchen, Robert Toland, Mr. and Mrs. John Rutherfurd, and Mr.
and Mrs. William Lawrence Green.

5 Mar 1919
Sketch of Club with image captioned “Now open for convalescent army
officers.”

5 March 1919
“Society Leaders at Palm Beach”

The newspaper edition I was able to access featured a badly damaged

photograph taken 4 February 1919 in the club’s Court of the Oranges
headlined: "Eight ladies considered society’s leaders." The photograph
included Mrs. Walter Mitchell, Mrs. Harlan Bolton, Mrs. Pierre Barbey,
Mrs. John F. Harris, Mrs. E. T. Stotesbury, Mrs. Joseph Speidel, Mrs.
William Lawrence Green, and Mrs. Lewis Quentin Jones.

6 Mar 1919
“New members at the Everglades Club”

New members include: From New York, Francis Burrall Hoffman Jr., Phillip
Stevenson, Marion S. Wyeth, Leonard Thomas, William Gammell, James
Byrne, and David Forgan; Philadelphia, John F. Kelly; and Lenox,
Courtland Field Bishop. Paris Singer has been “absent for some time,” as he
is in New York at the Everglades Club office located at the Anderson Galleries
at 58th Street and Park Avenue.

18 March 1919

After a first season of nine weeks, the club will close 29 March. The club has
grown from 100 to 300 annual subscribers. The club’s sixty-odd rooms have
been completely occupied with many applications refused because of lack of
room. Additions to be made before next season include a golf course and four
or five clay tennis courts. The club will be open from 15 December 1919 -15
April 1920.

5 Apr 1919
“Paris Singer buys Hotel Arches”

Singer pays $25,000 for hotel located on the oceanfront at Australian Avenue.
Singer sells 200-feet of oceanfront north of Gus’ Baths for $45,000.

6 Apr 1919
“Elks buy Gables Hotel from Paris Singer”

In West Palm Beach, the ever patriotic Paris Singer sells a hotel on the west side of Lake Worth. He
once planned to use the Gables Hotel as an adjunct to the Touchstone Convalescent Club.
8 June 1919
“Everglades Club enlarged in three sections”

During the season, the Everglades Club had “three applications for every
room.” Fifteen additional sleeping rooms are being added to the south side of
the club. Another addition on the northeast side is being extended east to
house 300 lockers for golfers, 200 for men and 100 for women, and showers.
Across the street, the club will add a garage to accommodate 40 or more cars,
with servants’ quarters above. To the south of the clubhouse, the old Jungle
Trail is being cleared for the golf course.

22 December 1919
“Opening of Everglades Club today marks beginning of Palm Beach season”

“Paris Singer and F. Roosevelt Scovel arrive today to open the Everglades
Club for the season.” R. F. Denzler, of Piping Rock, club manager, arrived two
weeks ago. Nine-hole links will be ready at first of the year.

1920

5 Jan 1920

The club’s first chef was a Swiss cook named “Sheible.” The first Maitre’d was
also Swiss, R. A. Sulzer. Following the 1919 and 1920 seasons, Chef
Jacques Lescarboura arrived and stayed until 1925 when Cesare Innocenti
became club chef. Two of six davenports arrived for placement in the Living
Room. The sofas are old gold in color with splashes of mauve and blue
flowers. The club announced that Thursday and Sunday nights were $5 prix
fixe dinner-deluxe and dancing nights. Afternoon tea dances will be held on
Wednesday and Saturday from 4pm to 6pm. On gala nights, dinner appears to
have been served at 8:30; supper service at 1:00 am. Breakfast also served.

A menu from one of the club’s dinner deluxe evenings “… served in true
medieval fashion at long tables with gorgeous old tapestries and crimson and
gold altar cloths.”

Grapefruit Cocktail
Celery Olives
Crème Portuguese
Filet of Striped Bass Colbert
Medallions of Beef Bouquetiere
Salade Everglades
Meringue Glace Chantilly
Café Special Petits Fours

8 Jan 1920

Foremost dramatist Percy Mackaye is staying at the Everglades Club. Singer

receiving congratulations on recent marriage to Joan Bates; he is expected to
arrive today. Singer’s son Cecil Singer has arrived at the club for the season.
Annie Charlotte "Joan" Bates Singer. Courtesy of the Singer family.

14 January 1920

In legal matters, Paris Singer’s Ocean and Lake Company reclaims Lone
Cabbage Island as part of its acquisition of the Hiriam F. Hammon tract. By
the later part of the month, it will be standing room only at the Everglades
Club. There have been many changes and improvements over the summer
and fall. The nine-hole golf course will soon be played on. Work progresses on
the clay tennis courts. Sherwood Aldrich is in residence at White Villa. Also,
in residence at the club are mural artist Robert Astor Chandler who is
working on murals for Joseph Riter at Al Poniente and architect F. Burrall
Hoffman, who is designing Reiter’s music room that will become home for the
first events by the resort’s Society of the Arts. Chandler designed the murals
at Vizcaya; Hoffman was Vizcaya’s principal architect. Singer’s nephew Fred
Singer arrives from Paris. The club adds a Ladies Association Annual
Membership. Because of the club’s popularity, board meetings are being held
almost every few mornings to consider additional new members known as
either annual or temporary subscribers.

The club’s officers are: Paris Singer, president; E. Clarence Jones and E. T.
Stotesbury, vice-presidents; Martin Sweeney, secretary and treasurer. The
board of governors are: Pierre Lorillard Barbey, Harlan K. Bolton, William
Laurence Green; John F. Harris, E. Clarence Jones, Lewis Quentin
Jones, Frederick P. Moore, J. Frederic Pierson, H. C. Phipps, Henry T.
Sloane, all of New York; Edward Crozer, Charles Munn, E. T. Stotesbury,
Philadelphia; T. T. Reese, Palm Beach; Joseph Speidel, West Virginia; and
Walter J. Mitchell, Manchester–by-the-Sea.

17 Jan 1920

New club members include: From New York, Leroy Baldwin, Thomas
Barbour, James F. Carlisle, Edward Clark Crossett, John Edwin Deitz,
Winthrop Dwight, Robert L. Ireland, Percy Mackaye, Edward Martin,
Evander Schley, and Cecil Singer. Chicago: William Waller Jr., Robert C.
Wheeler. Others: Col. Richard O. Davies, Henry F. du Pont, Frank
Griswold, William P. Snyder, William G. Warden, Robert Webb (West Palm
Beach) and George W. Wightman.

The nine-hole golf course will open soon, designed by Seth Rayner and
Charles Blair MacDonald.
20 January 1920

Mrs. F. Roosevelt Scovel hosted a luncheon at the Everglades Club to honor

Mrs. Paris Singer. Mrs. Scovel was the former Vivian Sartorius, second
cousin to President Theodore Roosevelt and granddaughter of President
Ulysses S. Grant.

3 Feb 1920
“Everglades Club golf course opens tomorrow”

4 Feb 1920
“Everglades Cub course opens – Nine-Hole Links ready for play…”

William Robertson is the club’s first golf professional. The course is 2,830
yards; par for the course is 39.

4 February 1920

The club’s 1st Anniversary is celebrated with a golf exhibition, followed by a

tea reception and dance. The following annual subscribers were added: From
New York, James Anyon, Cooper Bryce, Hamilton Carhart, Bayard
Dominick, Robert Dougherty, Thomas Eastman, Henry Kipp, Henry H.
Rogers, Arthur Punnett, James Punnett, and John J. Watson Jr.; Charles
Pillsbury, Minneapolis; Jerome Wideman, West Palm Beach; A. E. Dietrich,
Millbrook; Jonathan Godfrey, Bridgeport; R. I. Huntzinger, Greenwich; C.
Bai Lihune, Chicago; and Lord Queenborough, London.

4 Feb 1920

Sketch image announces the club’s advantages “Modern Laundry and Dairy
Farm.”

17 February 1920

Among the subscribers at the tea and dance celebrating the club’s first
anniversary and opening of the golf course were: Mr. and Mrs. Richard
Croker, Mr. J. Horace Harding, Sherwood Aldrich, Lord and Lady
Queenborough, Mrs. Whitney Lyon, M. and Mrs. William Thaw, Mr. and
Mrs. Leland Sterry, Michael P. Grace, and Dr. and Mrs. Landon
Humphreys.

2 March 1920

At a meeting held 23 February 1920, the following new subscribers were

elected:

New York: Howard Cole, Conde Nast, A. R. Pierson, Herbert Pulitzer, J.

Ernest Richards, William Rhinelander Stewart Jr., Edward Tinker, and
Sidney Whelan; Neil Bertson, Flint; Harold J. Bryant, Lake Forest; Waldo
Bryant, Bridgeport; NY; George Crawford, Pittsburg; Irenee du Pont,
Wilmington; James Elverson Jr., Philadelphia; W. J. Matheson, Florida; and
Lloyd Thayer, San Francisco.

Temporary subscribers elected were:

New York: Clifford Brokaw, Howard Brokaw, Herbert Harriman, John

Inman, Ferdinand Jelke, A. V. Otergren, Orme Wilson, and John S. Wise
Jr. Also, Henry Darlington, Newark; Harry Holloway, Philadelphia; F.
Wilson Pritchett, Philadelphia; Michael Van Beuren, Newport; and John B.
Warren, Philadelphia. Among the temporary annual subscribers elected were:
Gen. P. D. Fitzgerald, London; John K. Branch, Richmond; Lawrence
Fuller, Philadelphia; Capt. Cyril Hargraves, London; and Eugene Levering,
Baltimore.

Thursday evenings were appointed Venetian Fete nights, complete with

melodious Italian singers and a fleet of gondolas.

16 March 1920

Among the most recent subscribers elected: Sam Bell, Philadelphia; Arthur
W. Butler, New York; R. Hugh Carleton, Long Island; Walter Carpenter Jr.,
Wilmington; T. DeWitt Cuyler, Philadelphia; Edward C. Dale, Philadelphia;
Dr. James A. Draper, Wilmington, H. Wilfred Dupuy, Philadelphia; F. W.
Fuller, Springfield; Lord A. Levison Gower, London; Robert Goelet, NYC;
Sydney Hutchinson, Philadelphia; Ogden Reid, New York.

1921

2 Jan 1921
“Everglades Club opens”

Chef Jacques Lescarboura returns with “a galaxy of gourmet and epicure

delights.” Dr. Sherman Downs, club physician, is in residence. The club has a
“welcome foreign atmosphere.” By 7 January 1921, the club has a waiting list
of members and for accommodations.

Everglades Club, aerial, 1921. Courtesy Library of Congress.

Everglades Club. View of the Maisonettes and tennis courts, looking east. State of Florida Archives.
The Court of Oranges was also called the "Breakfast Room." Courtesy Historical Society of Palm Beach
County.

May 1921

Singer Addition. Palm Beach. The plat for Singer Place, now known as Middle Road. At the very least,
the Town Council should revisit its impulsive decision made in January 1936 at the request of Mrs.
Lorenzo Woodhouse that turned Singer Place into Middle Road, forever removing the Singer name
from the streets of Palm Beach.

1922

14 Mar 1922

Annual members elected: Clarence Dillon and Col. L. H. Slocum. Women

members elected were Mrs. Felix du Pont and Mrs. Arthur Brockle.

14 June 1922
Villa les Rochers. The Singer villa in the South of France. Courtesy of the Singer family.

In a letter to Mary and Bill Roberts in New York, Joan Singer invited the
couple to Palm Beach the following winter and updates them on the Singers’
latest comings-and-goings from Villa les Rochers in St. Jean, Cap Ferrat.
“Poor Paris has been quite ill with grippe and congestion of the lungs with a
temperature of 104 for two or three days and an abnormally high blood
pressure… He came downstairs yesterday for the first time in three weeks. It
has made him awfully weak but with this lovely sunshine he will be getting
strong again and we are planning to be in Paris by the 24th and then to
England and Oldway House at Devonshire … Addison is expected here in
July when we hope for great things.”

1923

2 January 1923

The Everglades Club’s informal opening will be 3 January 1923 because so

many members have yet to arrive and the absence of the president. The club
formally opens 8 January 1923 when the orchestra arrives. Gala nights
reserved for Thursday and Sunday nights. During the 1923 season, the club
expects many distinguished diplomatic and foreign visitors.

Of the club’s many changes and

improvements suggesting an ancient Spanish
monastery, Paris Singer “… has made Palm
Beach beautiful with the magic of his taste
and money.” Since the need diminished for
accommodations for officers following the
armistice, the Everglades Club has since
become an exclusive residential club.
Members are elected at weekly board
meetings held on Mondays during the
season. The club’s officers for the 1923
season are: Paris Singer, president; E.
Clarence Jones and E. T. Stotesbury, vice-
presidents; Martin Sweeney, secretary and
treasurer. The board of governors: Pierre
E. T. Stotesbury, vice-president of the
Lorillard Barbey, William Laurence Green; Everglades Club in 1923.
John F Harris, E. Clarence Jones, Lewis
Quentin Jones, H. C. Phipps, Henry T.
Sloane, all of New York; Edward Crozer,
Charles Munn, E. T. Stotesbury,
Philadelphia; T. T. Reese, Palm Beach;
Joseph Speidel, West Virginia; and Walter
J. Mitchell, Manchester–by-the-Sea.

Paris Singer arrives January 8 to open his

Chinese Villa on Peruvian Avenue. The
opening dinner will introduce the sales force
from the club’s parent company, The Ocean
and Lake Realty Company. The 18-hole golf
course features a new stucco golf and tennis
clubhouse with a view of the course lake.
Martin L. Hampton is the architect of golf
club house. The club’s tennis manager is Pierre Lorillard Barbey, board of
James Bevans; the golf director is William governors.

Robertson.

The new maisonettes overlook the tennis courts with a wide loggia on the
second floor. The club’s maisonettes apartment tenants included: John
Sanford, Alice DeLamar, Mrs. Lorenzo Woodhouse, Mr. Irenee du Pont,
and Herbert M. Cowperthwaite. Singer’s Golf View Development Company
has built bijou houses of unique architecture each of a different color on
Golfview Road designed by architect Marion Sims Wyeth. Each house
features three master bedrooms and baths, adequate servants’ quarters, and
large living room. In addition, the Jay Carlisles have already moved in. Mr.
and Mrs. E. F. Hutton and Mr. and Mrs. David McCullough already occupy
their houses. Nearby, Singer Place is a broad boulevard offering large lots and
lots between 2nd (Gulfstream Road) and 3rd Streets (Via Marina) and
between Ocean Boulevard and County Road.

Martin Sweeney begins his third season as the club’s manager. A beautiful
new Bridge Room has been added on the ground floor entered from the left
side of the loggia. The bridge room features colored theatrical gauze curtains
with green wool embroidery and the necessary soft lighting that affords
winning a game of bridge. A new seawall on the southwest of club’s lakefront,
allowed for a new fill-in area to make a large garden plot. The Great Hall has
new light fixtures with yellow parchment shades on the great iron chandeliers
making the light softer.

On Worth Avenue east of the clubhouse, the Everglades Arcade Shops open
with Jay Thorpe, Exotic Gardens, Miss Flora Darrah Silver, Palm Beach
Decorative Society, Wood, Edey & Slater and William Baumgarten, Max
Littwitz lace shop, Ladd & Webb, real estate, Edward F. Foley,
photographer, Louis McCarthy, gowns, Gontran, hairdresser, a barber shop,
and Western Union.

The club’s staff includes: A. D. Tunnecliffe, superintendent; Jacques

Lescarboura, chef; Maitre’d Frank Walfel; James Bevans, tennis director,
William Robertson, golf manager, and C. D. Miller, gardener.

Everglades Club, 1923. Golf clubhouse. Martin Luther Hampton, architect. Courtesy State of Florida
Archives.

17 June 1923

In a letter to Mary Fanton Roberts, Joan Singer relates the work being done
on their villa at St. Jean. “Paris has bought a lot more property and the
scheme is to be much bigger than Palm Beach! The new villa is unfinished but
well on its way and we hope to be occupying it in October. We are getting
furniture into the rooms that are furnished and Addison is expected here in
July when we hope for great things. Paris is busy from morning to night and is
well except for his high blood pressure for now as a result of his stupendous
energy. … Cecil and Laura are coming down July 7.”

1924

8 Mar 1924
“Paris Singer to retire; Give up control of Everglades Club.”

Apparently, this New York Times headline was premature.

1925

1 May 1925
“The Beginning of the End …”
Courtesy Historical Society of Palm Beach County.
Courtesy Historical Society of Palm Beach County.

4 June 1925
“Singer obtains $1.5 million more beach to the North. Adds Blue Heron tract of
5,200 feet to enormous holdings beyond inlet.”

“Millionaire clubman” Paris Singer plans Mizner-designed Blue Heron Beach

Inn to accommodate “thousands of pleasure-seekers.” Plans include a yacht
basin and deepening the inlet for sea-going yachts.

24 September 1925
“Singer to build costly theater for Palm Beach. Ziegfeld will stage Follies this
winter.”

Singer announces plans for a Venetian-style theater to be built on the

lakefront south of the Everglades Club. Pending its completion, Singer has
engaged Joseph Urban to redesign his Club Montmartre on Royal Palm Way
to showcase Flo Ziegfeld’s “Palm Beach Follies,” described as a “high-styled
amusement.” Ziegfeld adds that Palm Beach will host the first international
beauty contest in search of a “Modern Cleopatra.”

15 December 1925

Everglades Club, 15 December 1925. Finishing touches are placed on the club's new façade and
additions. In December 1925, the club's junior associate members could be elected regular members
except they could not introduce guests, use the club before 4:30 p.m. on weekdays, or until after church
on Sunday. Dues were $50 if single; $150, if married.

31 Dec 1925

The Everglades Club opens on New Year’s Eve. The Maisonettes, Everglades
Arcade and several cottages along Worth Avenue are completely occupied.
And now, perhaps the greatest improvements can be found in building across
from the Everglades Club. A façade and tower were joined by a group of
twenty shops with apartments above (Via Mizner).

The club’s Main Building has altered its own entrance and added apartments
extending east towards the arcade of shops. In the rear, additional apartments
add to the capacity. There is a welcome addition to the south side where the
loggia facing the patio is now a beautiful room with a sliding roof that members
may engage for private parties. The roof of the ballroom/living room forms a
beautiful roof garden with rare shrubs, trees, vases, and jardinières. The roof
garden is reached from the apartment above by a flight of tiled steps and set
aside for the exclusive use of Paris Singer whose apartment it adjoins.

At the club’s southwest, the domed Moorish roof of the loggia has achieved a
full story height dominating the apartment built especially for Mr. and Mrs.
Harris Hammond. The apartment overlooks the golf course and gardens on
one side and the Singer’s garden on the other.
Everglades Club, addition. 1925.

The center of the patio itself has a tiled oblong fountain with a goldfish pond
lined with green tile and an octagonal tile top arising from the base in which a
beautiful symmetrical orange tree has been planted. A wonderful pile of
Tunisian tiles in the loggia denotes they are to be used for completely tiling
this space overlooking the patio.

The new addition to the front of the club facing Worth Avenue is reached by a
beautiful circular staircase leading to the private apartments of Mr. and Mrs.
James Donahue and Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Beaver Strassburger, these now
having been completed. Mr. Strassburger is president of the Singer Sewing
Machine Company.

During the summer, the dining room was completely redecorated. Exquisite
mural decorations by Achille Angeli have transformed it. The decorations
depict the Spanish Armada on the north wall, on the left of the panel being the
inscription, “ On May 13th there sailed from the port … And on the other side
of the panel, this inscription, “Under instructions from Fillippa II, the great
Armada was held at Sea…”
Everglades Club, dining room mural additions. 1925. State of Florida Archives.

The smaller private dining room beyond has frescoes of orange trees
combined with Spanish crests. The entire wall above the paneling of these two
rooms was decorated by the master, Achille Angeli. It seems like a veritable
antique.

The Great Hall, the comfortable lounge and card rooms beyond, and the great
Orange Gardens with their terraced dancing floors remain unchanged. But to
the south of the club, there are beautiful new gardens adjoining the golf links.
Rising from the corner of the gardens is a beautiful great building which
contains a studio atop and the apartments of English artist Oswald Birley.

The club’s manager is London Wallick; Chef Cesare Innocenti; and

doorman, Jock Dempsey.

Across from the clubhouse on Worth Avenue, the six-story office building on
Via Parigi is completed. The tenants are :1st floor, Grace Hyde’s hat shop;
2nd floor, La Tienda, Duchesse de Richelieu’s antique import shop that will
furnish the Blue Heron Inn; 3rd floor, Palm Beach Ocean Realty; 4th floor, H.
C. Orrick, banker from Toledo; 5th floor, A. J. Drexel Biddle Jr.; 6th floor,
Ocean and Lake Realty. Mortimer Singer, son of Franklin Singer, is
appointed club’s honorary secretary.

Club policies remain unchanged, “… being more than ever like smart French
and English clubs.” The entrance to the club has changed so members will
receive mail and cashiers in new offices giving onto the loggia on the entrance
floor. The club’s architectural features are of “best London clubs.”

The club’s Gala Nights will be on

Thursday and Sunday featuring the
Meyer Davis orchestra. A House
Committee was created to bring
members closer with suggestions and
complaints. The Board added Bylaw IV
enabling “a few desirable young men,
whose occupations prevent them from
fully using the club, to become junior
associate subscribers. The Club will
close for the season on 15 April.

The Seminole Golf Course has been

built with 18 holes ready to play. This
season there is a golf pavilion
containing dining rooms, sitting rooms,
locker rooms, and a caddie house.
Seth Raynor is the architect of golf
course located along the Intracoastal
Waterway six miles north of Palm
Beach.

New kitchens have been built for the

club. A covered carriage entrance port
cochere has been added on east side,
together with a visitor’s reception area.
A new private ballroom or banqueting
hall has been built at the east end of
the east patio. Two nine-room cottages,
Golf course architect Seth Raynor. USGA
plus three maisonettes have been Archives.
added. If the embargo on construction
is not too severe, eight club cottages with be refurbished in the Spanish style.
A new barber shop was built and two new garages added. Via Parigi contains
twenty stores. The club’s harbor has been dredged thoroughly, cleaned, and
the bottom blasted to six feet. Paris Singer purchased Gus’s Bath along the
oceanfront at Worth Avenue, reserving a part of it as a private swim club for
Everglades Club members.

During the 1925 – 1926 season, there was an avalanche of requests for
membership. Maisonette leases have been extended to: W. Jackson Crispin,
Cecil Singer, Princess Polignac, (aka Winaretta Singer, Paris Singer’s
sister); and George Singer. The cottages are occupied by Felix Doubleday,
Leonard Schultze and Fullerton Weaver. Apartments on Via Parigi are
leased to Maurice Fatio and artist William Van Dresser. Via Parigi has softly
tinted walls in cream, eau de Nile, blue, and cream with a half-timbered effect.
The winding pedestrian street has a lovely plaza.

1926

5 March 1926
Newspaper item, "Paris Singer opens new bridge." With his son Paris Graham Singer behind the wheel
of the family's Citroen ATV, Paris Singer is seated in the front seat. Singer's son and daughter, George
and Winaretta are in the back seat with their sister-in-law Mrs. Cecil Singer and George's son, Master
Paris George Sartorius Singer. "Approximately one thousand men are daily at work in my two
developments and this number will be added to rather than depleted. My developments are purely the
expansion of Palm Beach … I have been proceeding with the utmost caution …" Courtesy Historical
Society of Palm Beach County.

1927

9 April 1927
"Florida authorities allege huge fraud. Singer bailed after arrest."

While Paris Singer was exonerated of criminal fraud, numerous civil suits were
filed by investors against him and his Palm Beach Ocean Realty Company.
These suits alleged Singer made off with more than $1.5 million under false
pretenses. Eventually, Singer lost these cases and liens were file against his
various interests.

Blue Heron Inn, abandoned construction site. Located at was then the far north North End of Palm
Beach, now Singer Island, the shell of Paris Singer's "last hurrah" was finally demolished in 1940.
Having financed his Palm Beach Ocean developments from mortgage bonds placed on the Everglades
Club, Singer and his companies faced numerous civil suits. State of Florida Archives.

30 April 1927
"Mr. Singer explains .."
Letter, Paris Singer to Mary Fanton Roberts and her husband Bill Roberts. 30 April 1927 Mary Fanton
Roberts papers (1880-1956), Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution
Letter, page two. Paris Singer to Mary Fanton Roberts and her husband Bill Roberts. 30 April 1927.
Mary Fanton Roberts papers (1880-1956), Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

6 March 1930
"The last dance …"

Everglades Club, invitation. 6 March 1930. Courtesy Historical Society of Palm Beach County.
The aftermath

Shortly after the Fancy Dress Ball at the Everglades Club, Paris and Joan
Singer left Palm Beach, where they had spent their final season in a rental
cottage on Seaspray Avenue. For a time, they encamped on a houseboat on
The Nile before heading back to London. Several months after a Palm Beach
County court lodged a $1.5 million lien against Singer, already in tenuous
health, he died of heart failure in a London hotel room on 23 June 1932. He
was entombed in the Singer family vault in Paignton.

Singer’s sons Cecil and George Singer represented the family’s interest in
dealings with the Everglades Club. Cecil Singer succeeded his father as the
club’s president for the 1933 season. In August 1933, Cecil and the bond
holders placed the Everglades Club’s real estate in receivership appointing
local realtor John L Webb as their receiver. Singer, his brother Paris Graham
Singer, and the family’s various Devon and Vosges syndicates of Canada
(holders of stock and notes of the club’s parent company), filed a suit alleging
the Everglades Club owned them more than $200,000, claiming officers of the
club fraudulently appropriated money. They also filed a damage suit to recover
$375,000 in promissory notes, recorded in March 1928 Following the Singer
family’s lawsuit against the club, the club’s members, including Hugh Dillman
and John Shephard, filed for involuntary bankruptcy of the club itself.
Columnist Cholly Knickerbocker reported an “explosion in the Everglades
Club, as far as management policy.” Nonetheless, the club’s directors
explored various options for the club to continue operation.

In January 1934, James Cromwell advocated opening the club to the public
between the hours of 10 pm and 2 am each day except Thursday and Sunday.
A vote was taken and nine governors voted favorably with one voting against
the suggestion. It was decided to ask the Receiver to petition the court for
such authority. Several weeks later, Charlton Yarnall reported the court would
not approve the open night policy because it might affect the solicitation of
new members. Charlie Munn suggested members be permitted to issue
invitational cards permitting guests to use the Orange Gardens during
prescribed times. Also, Yarnall proposed a Committee of Ladies be formed for
the purpose of sponsoring teas in the Orange Gardens on Saturday
afternoons. Both the Munn plan and Yarnall’s suggestions were approved. At
one juncture, club members considered selling the club to the Town of Palm
Beach.

After years of acrimonious wrangling, the club’s future was finally settled in
January 1936 when a group of club members formed The Everglades
Protective Syndicate, acquiring the club and its real estate holdings for
$450,000 from the trusteeship held by the Central Farmers Trust and H. C.
Rorick. A decade later, the Everglades Club became member-owned when,
reportedly, each of its 800 members paid $1,000 to become an equal
shareholder of the club and its holdings..

Addison Mizner died 5 February 1933, several months after his patron, Paris
Singer.

Paris Singer’s third wife Joan died 4 February 1946 at the Singer estate in St.
Jean, Cap Ferrat.

Paris Singer set new standards for Palm Beach; he believed Palm Beach
always deserved better. Just as Henry Flagler’s and E. R. Bradley’s flaws
have been overlooked, Paris Singer’s numerous contributions outweigh his
faults. His legacy deserves a reassessment.

“Paris Singer has become almost legendary in the famous resort, which
 probably owes to him more than to anyone else its place in the sun.”

“Palm Beach Pioneer, Paris Singer dies of a heart ailment,” The Palm Beach
Post, 25 June 1932.

Sources:
Historical Society of Palm Beach County
New York Sun - New York Tribune - New York Times
Palm Beach Daily News - Palm Beach Post
Mary Fanton Roberts papers (1880-1956), Archives of American Art,
Smithsonian Institution
The Touchstone Magazine - Torquay Library

Augustus Mayhew is the author of Lost in Wonderland – Reflections on Palm Beach.

BACK TO TOP Follow PRINT EMAIL

SUBSCRIBE/UNSUBSCRIBE ADVERTISE

(c) 2018 David Patrick Columbia & Jeffrey Hirsch/NewYorkSocialDiary.com