May might be Historic Preservation Month, but we at the CRA are always celebrating! In fact, part of our mission is to contribute to historic preservation efforts. This not only helps preserve our history, but also highlights the men and women who worked so hard to develop Delray Beach many years ago.
Three of the CRA’s recent historic preservation projects include the LaFrance Apartments, the Wellbrock House, and the Historic Fifth Avenue Cottages.
The LaFrance Hotel was the only African-American owned hotel between Delray Beach and Fort Lauderdale that welcomed African Americans during the turbulent segregation era in the 1950s and 1960s. Completed in 1949 by the Charles Patrick family, the 20-room hotel was the “home away from home” for seasonal laborers. In an effort to preserve history, we purchased the structure in 2004. It has since been reincarnated as an apartment building that serves low-income seniors in Delray Beach. We renovated the original structure and added a second structure, which provided another 14 residential units. The apartments sit on the original site at 140 N.W. Fourth Ave., Delray Beach in the West Settler’s Historic District.
The Wellbrock House almost suffered a fate of demolition, until the CRA got words of the plans and took swift action. The CRA was able to relocate the home from 215 N.E. Seventh Ave. to 22 N. Swinton Ave.; a project that began May 2019 and ended November 2019. The house was designed by the city’s first registered architect Samuel Ogren, Sr. and designed for JC Wellbrock, a prominent produce broker in the city. Mr. Ogren’s work has been instrumental in the continuance of Delray Beach’s revitalization efforts with hundreds of his designs located within the city. On top of saving the home, we were recently recognized for the designation of the Historic Wellbrock House to the Delray Beach Local Register of Historic Places!
Lastly, two historically significant cottages in the Historic West Settlers District, the Muse Cottage and the Harvel Cottage, recently underwent minor repairs before finding new tenants. The two cottages are located along the historic Northwest and Southwest Fifth Avenue corridor within the West Settlers Historic District. This area was once a vital commercial and institutional corridor comprised of black-owned businesses in the heart of the City of Delray Beach’s African American neighborhood.
It’s important for the CRA team to preserve our history and find ways to keep old buildings and homes in the current spotlight, both for the community’s benefit and for our future!
