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CASINO HISTORY Casino Photo History from 1921 These photos appear courtesy of Lake Worth Museum and William Coakley. Unauthorized reproduction or distribution is prohibited.
The postcards were made available for restoration by Bruce Webber of Webber Galleries. All restorations and enhancements by William Coakley. Hi resolution versions are available contact webmaster@lakeworthmedia.com
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The Casino construction began in August of 1921 and was
completed in the spring of 1922. The bond for the construction was for
$100,000. At that time, the beach frontage extended for about 300 feet.
On Independence Day 1941, an extra 1000 feet of beach was acquired by
the city. The above photo is likely late twenties (about 1927) since
a model A Ford appears in the photo. The interior support structure
of the original Casino is still intact. As we shall see, shortly after
the hurricane of 1947, the outer arcade and the second story was removed.
That was the hurricane that took out a chunk of A1A just south of the
Casino prompting the move of A1A from the beach to where it is today.
Around 1950 the current building with it's 'dental office look’ was
built around the core and a second level added to a portion of it. The
city has a long history of allowing this building to deteriorate and
failing to arrive at a public consensus on what to do with it.
Originally, the Casino was built in an L shaped form around a 40'x100'
salt water pool. We have located where the pump house was and have a
picture of the pipe used to circulate water in the pool from the ocean.
Although there are no remaining floor plans of the Casino, it has been
possible to reconstruct a rough sketch of the floor plan which will
be presented in the near future.
Note the spires... they are the primary clue to dating all subsequent
photos of the Casino. In particular, the northeastern spire was lost
prior to 1933. The hurricanes of 1926, 1928, and two in the thirties
damaged the spires and by the time the forties rolled around, the spires
had all disappeared. Also, note the arches around the windows; they
also hold the key to dating the photos. The automobiles shown here include
Model A and Model T Fords which also help date the photo.
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The picture above shows the Casino as its construction was nearing
an end in the spring of 1922. The piping in the foreground was installed
for use in pumping salt water from the ocean into the pool. The pump
house was located under the boardwalk at one of the covered porches
overlooking the ocean. The Moorish architecture was beautifully arranged
in stunning proportion to give it a very stylish look. This was truly
THE JEWEL OF THE PALM BEACHES.
Most likely the northeastern spire was knocked out during the 1928 hurricane
which swept through Palm Beach blowing down the world's largest wooden
structure at the time - the Royal Poinciana Hotel. Huge planks of its
structure were made of Hart Pine (a favorite of Scorpions) and some
of that wood was salvaged and used in structures elsewhere including
the building at 611 First Street in WPB now owned by Robert Gottfried.
The northeast spire of the Casino was replaced by another spire with
a large eagle on it. It didn't make it through the next hurricane or
two. The principle weakness of the Casino structure was its roof. It
was too light in construction, not aero dynamically compatible with
the airflow of the rest of the building and precipitated the immense
water damage done to the second floor structure on more than one occasion.
| Here's a color enhanced postcard from the early 20's before the boardwalk
was constructed. You can see the outlet for the tunnel under A1A which was
a saftey feature so that bathers didn't have to cross A1A to get to the
beach. This tunnel was recently filled in and the contractor remarked that
it was built like a bomb shelter. |
| Early to mid twenties. The original spire is still intact and the center
upper level windows have the original arches over them. You can see through
the main entrance back to the short arched structure that supported the
diving boards. |
| This is a color enhanced picture. They actually painted in the colors
from a trace of a photo. It shows what a lively community center this was. |
| This picture is early 20's and shows the diving tower with its two levels.
The boards were either removed or not yet installed at this point. The high
dive board was later removed because of the dangerous proximity to the boards
beneath it on the first level. |
This is probably a mid 30's shot. Note the 30's cars and the NE spire
with the eagle on it. After the 1928 hurricane, the original spire was
replaced with the second spire which is also the one in the picture below.
You can see the pipe going out into the water that feeds the swimming
pool located behind the Casino. The pump house is the covered area of
the boardwalk in line with the pipe. At this point in time, A1A is still
along the beach and passes in front of the Casino. |
| This photo is from the early to mid 30's and shows the second NE spire
with the eagle on it. Also, the arches over the center windows/French doors
on the second floor were squared off for some unknown reason. Architecturally,
it didn't make any sense. By the end of the 30's, all the spires had been
removed and all the upper level arches had been squared off. The sign in
the form of an arrow on the north wall of the Casino says: GOLF COURSE &
BUSINESS SECTION and points back across the bridge. |
By the late 30's and early 40's all the spires had disappeared and for some
unknown reason, all the upper level arches over the French doors had been squared
off. It's not certain exactly when the boardwalk was put into place but likely
somewhere before the late 20's. This photo was taken from the upper level of
one of the canopied areas of the boardwalk. The photo is a little odd. It may
have been taken by some city official. The Casino is wide open, it's well into
the day and yet no people are around except for one not so obvious mystery girl.
Can anyone identify her?
| Here she is in a closer look. |
| Just six months before WWII and Pearl Harbor, the people took great pride
in this event. Note the spires are all gone. Can anyone identify the people
in this shot? |
The Casino had already survived two decades of storms which slowly
had stripped away its beautiful ornamentation. But in September of 1947,
it suffered a fatal blow. The hurricane that went through Fort Lauderdale
managed to create the right set of circumstances that finished off the
Casino and knocked out a chunk of A1A south of the Casino.
It is the author's theory that a section of the roof actually exploded
off the trusses due to the intense pressure inside the Casino added to
the low pressure area created directly above the roof. That low pressure
area was created by a roof design that acted like an airplane wing which
in the high winds, created an intense low pressure area above the flat
portion of the roof. The roof construction was too light to withstand
the combined pressures. At this point, we don't know what if any storm
preparations were made to protect the Casino from the storm.
The aerial photo in the collage on the special beach page shows the area
of beach adjacent to the boardwalk and retaining wall was unaffected by
the hurricane. Miraculously, the boardwalk and chairs survived nearly
intact.
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Finally, demolition began in the late 40's and this once proud beautiful building
that stood as the Jewel of the Gold Coast had its upper floor removed in the first
phase of the demolition. The booth for admission to the pool can still be seen
through the main entrance.
| With it's upper floor ripped off, the Casino awaited its final destruction...
the second phase of demolition in which the exterior arcade (the moorish
arches) would be stripped away to be replaced with the "modern"
look facade of a dental office building. Notice in the view below the sign
says "DINING ROOM - BATHERS SERVED. This picture dates from ca. 1948 |
Copyright © by Lake Worth Media All Rights Reserved. Published on: 2007-07-15 (5109 reads) [ Go Back ] | |
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