Seldom is a house party thrown for the house itself. Equally rare is finding a South Florida house that’s over a hundred years old.
For Corcoran agent Amy Triggs and her family, there was every reason to celebrate their West Palm Beach home hitting the century mark.
Nestled in the Southland Park section of the city’s downtown, the Triggs residence is a remarkable example of the handsome Mediterranean Revival homes that defined early neighborhoods across the Palm Beaches. It had a front-row seat to the land boom that transformed the area surrounding the Lake Worth Lagoon from a sleepy winter resort into the fashionable destination we know today.
The home’s period integrity is enveloping, hallmarked by original hardwood floors, stucco walls and archways, and a staircase crafted from Dade County pine — a coveted material in the local architectural vernacular. A decorative stone figure at the front entrance also dates to the home’s construction. The clay barrel tile roof doesn’t, but it’s an authentic replacement.
Details added through renovations, including two tasteful additions, were painstakingly selected to ensure their appropriateness for the property’s vintage. “We incorporated a lot of things that would have been original to these 1920s homes,” explained Triggs.
They installed gaslights to flank the pecky cypress front door. The driveway and walkway were paved with Chicago brick, which also frames the pool. A new cast stone mantel replaced the long-gone original. Pecky cypress was also selected for the kitchen ceiling panels, new garage doors, and a porte-cochère out back.
“The city’s historic preservation planner told me she still uses our house as an example of how to renovate the right way,” Triggs added.
Triggs and her husband have lived in their Monroe Drive abode for more than 30 years, and it’s the only house they’ve ever shared together. They’ve raised three children here and grown a community — and for Amy, her business, too. She and her real estate partner, Marla Fountain, have sold three homes on the street in the past year alone.
While Triggs hasn’t confirmed the home’s architect of record, its sensibilities embody the distinct spirit of South Florida revivalism popularized by Addison Mizner and subsequent practitioners like Maurice Fatio, John L. Volk, and some of Mizner’s own local apprentices, notably G. Sherman Childs and William Manly King. To quote noted Palm Beach architect and historian Jeffery Smith, “Mizner created buildings that simulated age and gave the young town a sense of history.”
West Palm Beach was indeed still a young town in 1923, the year William and Harriet Seiler became the Triggs house’s first residents. Though that might not seem like a long time ago in perspective — Betty White was already a year old — it’s practically antiquity on the local timeline. Consider that Henry Flagler’s Florida East Coast Railroad arrived just 29 years earlier in 1894 — he opened the Royal Poinciana, a precursor to The Breakers, that same year — and the adjacent Town of Palm Beach wasn’t even incorporated until 1911.
On March 18th, the Triggs’ gathered friends, family, and professional colleagues to toast the grand milestone in style. The invitation featured a portrait of the house painted by their daughter, a Dreyfoos alum who now attends the Savannah College of Art and Design.
Decorations for the occasion included a series of framed newspaper clippings from the 20s, 30s, and 40s, chronicling amusing moments from the home’s earliest chapters. There was a bridal party, an HOA election, and a wedding rehearsal dinner. Triggs was even able to locate an old classifieds section advertising the home for rent at just $100 per month.
“It’s funny to see what the newspapers reported back then,” Triggs remarked.
Partygoers were encouraged to write down their favorite memory in the home to submit anonymously. “Whatever the occasion, the home always has served as a warm and loving place to gather, laugh, share friendships and enjoy each other’s company,” said one. “The house is beautiful and historically prominent in our community, but it is the home that we gravitate to and relish in its constant grace and hospitality.”