For eighty-eight years the Chapel’s social and fellowship meetings were held with the sky for a ceiling and grass for the floor.  We had no place for a social meeting, an enrichment hour, or a Sunday School.

Then a miracle occurred.  On Thursday night, May 10, 1984, a ninety-eight year old Sea Gull Cottage landed in the northwest corner of the Chapel lot.  Though chopped in two giant pieces, Sea Gull lived.  It had flown from Breakers Row on the ocean across the golf course on thirty-six rubber tires.  One section weighed one hundred twenty tons; the other, one hundred tons.  To the spectators, the cottage looked huge against the night sky.  The movers paused at Cocoanut Row to check the hedges and power lines.  Then one section slowly followed the other into the Chapel parking lot.  A cheer went up because an open carton of milk on an “I” beam had never spilled a drop on the journey.

Sea Gull’s story started in 1876 when Albert Geer purchased forty acres on Palm Beach for eighty-five cents an acre ($34).  For ten years he cleared the jungle and planted coconuts salvaged from the wrecked ship, Providencia.  When Mr. Robert R. McCormack (a railroad and land developer from Denver) came to Palm Beach on a fishing trip, he was enchanted by Mr. Geer’s work.

“Truly, this is a paradise - the wilderness has been made to blossom!”  said Mr. McCormack.  Being a man of action, he purchased the tract for $10,000, turning Mr. Geer’s $34 into a fortune.

The cottage was built in 1886 as the finest home in South Florida.  Building supplies, Georgia marble, some stained glass windows, and a three story tower were shipped by the schooner Emily B out of Jacksonville.  The mahogany staircase and rail were fashioned from logs washed ashore when the Providencia ran aground in 1878.

Mr. McCormack built the cottage three hundred feet from Lake Worth on the south side of what is now Royal Poinciana Way, and he lived there during the winters until 1893.  His investment came to $35,000.  He cultivated many varieties of tropical plants, including six hundred rose bushes.  To the wonder of his neighbors, two hundred fancy chickens roamed the grounds. 

Henry Flagler saw pictures of Mr. McCormack’s home taken by an itinerant photographer and exclaimed, “Why I didn’t know there was anything that beautiful south of Rockledge!”  When he decided to build the Florida East Coast Railway to Palm Beach, he purchased McCormack’s property with “Croton Cottage” for $75,000.  He moved the cottage closer to the lake and started building the Royal Poinciana Hotel.  Flagler used the cottage as a winter residence until 1902 when Whitehall was completed as a wedding present for Mary Lily Kenan.

After Mr. Flagler’s death, the “Croton Cottage” was moved to the beach facing the ocean and was renamed “Sea Gull.”  There it stayed as a rental unit for seventy years.  A large kitchen, pantry, five servant’s rooms, and one bath in two stories were added on the west side.  Mrs. Bradford Whittemore remembers that her father, William G. Welsh, rented it for about ten years until 1967.  She remembers its bigness, the enormous kitchen with restaurant size stove and refrigerator, the laundry room, and the many bedrooms with not too many baths.

Flagler Systems began their studies to build the beautiful 2 Breakers Row, and Mr. Earl E. T. Smith, the former mayor of Palm Beach, learned of their plans.  As a younger man, he had spent vacations in Sea Gull and he appreciated her history.  Declaring “It is too important to be just a memory,” he became the gallant warrior who saved this oldest Palm Beach residence.  If Sea Gull was to be saved, where could it live?  Several locations were explored but they were all too far, too small, or too expensive.

Mr. Robert G. Murray, an avid student of local history, heard of the search for a location for the cottage.  He conceived the idea of locating the structure on the circular turn-around of the parking lot on the northwest corner of Chapel property.  He approached Mr. Smith and the Preservation Foundation with his concept.  After many hours of dickering and negotiations, the Chapel’s board agreed to give Sea Gull a landing spot.  This agreement was reached in May of 1983, and though tentative, it was enough to get the two boards working together.  They needed to approach the Town of Palm Beach for a special exception to locate the cottage on Chapel property.  Mr. Smith estimated the costs of moving and restoration at about $300,000 and promised to pay them.  At the Town hearing on January 10, 1984, Mr. Smith took fifteen minutes to persuade the council to grant a “special exception” to move Sea Gull Cottage to its present site.

Mr. Lindley Hoffman was engaged as architect.  Polly Anne Earl provided leadership for the Preservation Foundation.  The contractor selected to move the building and erect it was Mr. Mike Adair of La Plant Adair, Inc.  Their foreman, Mr. Greg Dodkulski, after cutting the original building into two parts and demolishing the add-on servants quarters, declared to the newspapers, “She’s in pretty good shape, considering she’s a hundred years old.  The termites have been feasting, but they didn’t touch the beams or structure.”

Mrs. Edwin (Irene) Glass, a career builder, represented the Chapel during the long months of re-assembling the Sea Gull.  Her patience, diplomacy, and practical knowledge kept the Sea Gull on a steady course during the months of construction.  She took special delight in the fish scale shingles on the outside.  The blue ceilings of the outdoor porches were an authentic sign of the olden days.  Enough of the original marble was found to do the foyer.

The color of Sea Gull was much discussed.  Layers of paint a quarter of an inch thick were stripped off exterior planking.  Various coats of white (Flagler Systems), yellow (Henry Flagler), and blue-gray (Robert McCormack) were revealed.  Today’s gray approximates the original color. 

During the months of construction, there were endless discussions and arguments between the Boards of the Chapel and the Preservation Foundation.  It was agreed that the Chapel would buy the building and maintain it until the year 2010.  After that time, the Chapel could continue to use the cottage or they could give the Preservation Foundation a year in which to move it to another location.

The question of “Landmarking” became a battle because the Chapel strongly opposed the restrictions implied by the designation.  This contention was settled on June 12, 1985, when the Town Council unanimously approved designation of Sea Gull Cottage as a historical landmark but exempted the land on which the building rested.

Costs kept mounting.  The Chapel paid for items like the air conditioning and kitchen, but the restoration costs exceeded $600,000, far above the $300,000 estimate.  Mr. Smith never complained.  He said that he would pay for it and he did, smiling as the charm of Sea Gull began to reappear.

In spite of the lost three story tower, Sea Gull retained many of its jewels and borrowed a few from its neighbors.  An antique clear glass window from the Brelsford house was installed on the north side by the stairway.  Bradbury and Bradbury, specialists in Victorian wallpapers, created polychromatic wall coverings typical of the 1880s style.  Within this period setting of gleaming wallpaper, colored glass, dark woodwork, elegant fireplace and mantel, Sea Gull came alive for its new functions.

On September 14, 1986, the new Sea Gull Cottage was dedicated and sold by the Preservation Foundation to The Royal Poinciana Chapel for one 1886 silver dollar.

What happy days Sea Gull brought to the Chapel!  Church fellowship hours, potluck suppers, lawn parties, wedding receptions, picnics, socials on the porch while watching Fourth of July fireworks or boat parades became regular events.  After so many years of absence, Sunday School classes were organized for the children.

Perhaps the most joyous occasion was the hundredth birthday party given by her family for Alice Rooke (Mrs. Robert Rooke).  It was an “old fashioned” ice cream party in perfect matching of Sea Gull’s era.  The champagne, the music, the ice cream, and the goodies brought us close to the glories of the Flagler days.

         October, 1993

Copyright © 2007 Royal Poinciana Chapel
Last modified: 02/28/08