Landmarking

Landmarking - the Royal Poinciana Plaza is going before the Palm Beach City Council for ratification on Wednesday, November 12. There is great concern the Royal Poinciana Playhouse may only be landmarked in part. The Playhouse stands on its own in meeting all four of the town's criteria for landmarking. Not only for its exterior architecture but its interior architecture as well, in categories of functionality; e.g., acoustics, line of sight, spacious and comfortable seating, overall aesthetic value, and quality of materials and more. Furthermore, its extensive history of celebrity performances and its historic standing by the New York Theatre Guild for selecting the Royal Poinciana Playhouse out of all the theaters in the entire country as the theater to present premiere performances of "The Miracle Worker and the "Glass Menagerie," both of which went on to be produced as movies - is more than noteworthy

Sterling Plan -After review of the Sterling plan I was very pleased to see the Volk parallel buildings will remain in the redevelopment of the Royal Poinciana Plaza. I am greatly disappointed, however, that the developer did not incorporate the entire Royal Poinciana Playhouse in the redevelopment plan. Rather, the plan calls for the playhouse to be razed except for the east façade in order to build a 5-story condominium complex in its place. The remaining modified east façade of the Playhouse is being marketed as the "Volk Gateway" entry to a waterside public park. A closer study would suggest, however, that the gateway will likely best function as a gated entry rather than a "gate way" to the public park. This conclusion is consistent with the removal of the public bike path that had been planned to run along the edge of the Intracoastal Waterway and connect to the existing bike path north of the Flagler Bridge. The public park bordering on the Intracoastal Waterway also functions as the "front yard" of the proposed five-story condominium complex. The long time planned public bike path has been removed thus eliminating any public access to the public park from the public bicycle path.

Symbolic Façade- Allowing only an altered symbolic east façade of the playhouse to stand as symbol of the Royal Poinciana Playhouse, a gem designed by renown architect John Volk would be a travesty to its memory. John Volk's works has contributed greatly to Palm Beach and are found throughout the country as far west as California, south to Texas, east to New York and many states in between. The theatre itself has contributed greatly to the social and culture of Palm Beach. It is a gem that should be treasured and valued not only by the theater enthusiast but all the residents of Palm Beach. The Playhouse has been central to the social and cultural lifestyle of Palm Beach for many years.

1979 Covenant - It is unfortunate the owner of the plaza has not lived up to the 1979 covenant, which requires the owner to provide continued maintenance of the theater that now stands in disrepair and who refuses to allow the Theatre Guild entry to the playhouse.

Viability and Compliance- The Theatre Guild has put forth earnest efforts and enthusiasm by consulting with theater experts to develop a plan to make the playhouse a viable enterprise by shifting from a touring to a regional playhouse and has produced a program that addresses its viability. Concern expressed by some officials that the plan has not been proven – well, the real questions should be – does the developer have a proven viable plan and where is the documentation to prove it. For example, the developer claims it would cost approximately $20 million to restore the playhouse in order to meet the codes and ADA compliance requirements. This claim is highly exaggerated. Where is their report and the figures to prove such a claim? Additionally, having worked in historic preservation for a number of years for the state of Florida until recently, I know it is well recognized that historically significant buildings, such as the Playhouse, although required to meet the safety codes and ADA compliance needs, receive certain leniency in adhering to the strict letter of the code required by new construction, as long as the safety codes and ADA needs are met satisfactorily. This flexibility allows the integrity of the historic building to be maintained and still meet the safety and ADA requirements. The burden of proof should really be placed on the developer not the Theater Guild.

The Loss - To lose a valuable piece of history with all the memories, quality of materials and functionality that are manifested in a historically significant building such as the Royal Poinciana Playhouse would be a tremendous loss to the town and theater community. A building that has earned its aesthetic and cultural standing in the theatre community and meets all of the Town's Landmarking criteria on its own should not be replaced with a theatre less than half its size, and suggests possibly having a cabaret setting (a shell and moving chairs around). This would be a grave mistake and a tremendous loss to the Town of Palm Beach and to the region as a whole. Another question is, why was the 900-seat Parker Theatre in Fort Lauderdale not used as a comparative study in the Duncan Webb report. A regional playhouse that is successful and also designed by the renown architect John L. Volk. On a personal note, I have been to the Royal Poinciana Playhouse many times and miss it very much. One should remember - once the playhouse is gone - it is gone forever. A few arches in front of a park will stand not as a good memory of the Royal Poinciana Playhouse but a symbol of a tremendous loss of the treasured playhouse that once stood there.

Bonnie Dearborn,
Dearborn Preservation Research, Inc.
Boca Raton