Palm Beach, the Kennedys and historic preservation

I'm gearing up to give a talk on May 9 at 3 pm at the Preservation Foundation of Palm Beach, discussing Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis's significant role in the historic preservation movement. But I'm also excited to check out what for decades was the Kennedy family's waterfront home on North Ocean Boulevard -- the place where JFK recuperated from horrible back surgery; where he wrote his inauguration speech; where Jackie was fitted for her First Lady wardrobe; and where she began planning the renovation of the White House.

What's even more fitting about this story is that the Addison Mizner-designed home, which Joseph P. Kennedy bought in 1933 for $100,000 from the family of retailer John Wanamaker a decade after it was built, itself became a landmark, preserved by its new owner, the New York investor John K. Castle. He paid $4.9 million for the property in 1995 and restored it over four years, keeping its history in tact.

Jackie would have approved.

By the way, the talk is open to the public, perfectly timed for the Congress of the New Urbanism, in town at the same time.