HomeMy WebLinkAbout1979-01-27 Feelings run high on fate of Oakes Mansion in NPB (North County News)NORM PALM BEACH PUBLIC LIBRARY
NORTH COUNTY NEVc . ,Ta•nia a.ry 27 , 1979
Recreation Director Stu Tabor, who thinks the building can be evade useful for about $60.000, shows the N.C.N. the
gymnastics room. The ceiling, which is not high enough to permit full use of the bars, is t'.., ' water teaks.
Lei
Feelings run high on fate
of Oakes Mansion in N. Palm Beach
rive!) (Ave I've talked
to feels strongly about
the Oakes Mansion,"
says North Palm Beach
Village Manager Phil
Nicoletti. "Either they
think it should be turned
into a grassy knoll or be
restored to its original
state. Either way, feel-
ing runs high."
That. feeling is prob-
ably going to run higher
as the village officials
make some decisions on
what should be done to
the fifty year old
structure, now housing
dance and gym classes
for the recreation de-
partment. Ceramic and
art classes have already
been moved to buildings
in Anchorage Park.
Nicoletti received the
final cost estimates on
the necessary restora-
tion work Thursday.
This money will be
used to re -roof the
building, fix its win-
dows, paint it inside and
out, clean and treat the
top two floors, refinish
the floors on the first
level, remove added
partitions, shore up the
floor from the basement,
clean it out and redo the
plumbing and wiring.
Now, is all that
necessary?
14 inch thick cypress
beams. They just need
r..._.,.g.'
Tabor thinks most of
the windows can be
fixed, only a few would
need to be completely
replaced. His idea is to
fix the roof, close off the
upper floors and use the
basement only for
Recreation director
Stu Tabor, whose office
is still in the Oakes
Mansion, doesn't think
so.
"I've been here ten
years, and if it wasn't
safe. I wouldn't be in
here and I certainly
wouldn't let the classes
be held in here," he
says.
He doesn't think the
place is "as bad as some
would have you think,"
and he feels it can be
"made usable for anoth-
er 20 years for about
$60,000.
He says the basic
structure is sound, "The
first floor is held up by
storage.
"That would leave us
several thousand square
feet of usable space at a
fraction of what it would
cost to build a new
facility," says Tabor.
So reasonable men
may differ on what
should be done to the
Oakes building, one of
the first in North Palm
Beach. The Village
Council will have to 4
decide how much is
actually needed and
where that money
should come from.
Finally, for that deci-
sion, they may turn to
the electorate in the
form of a bond
referendum.
1