The Harriet Himmel building is the centerpiece and crown jewel of West Palm Beach. Itsarchitecture is iconic and its courtyard is the epicenter of public activity in downtown, drawingnearly 4 million visitors per year.
What we today know as the Harriet was built 98 years ago in 1926 as the First MethodistEpiscopal Church, which occupied the building for nearly 70 years. By the early 1990’s, thearea surrounding the church was plagued by neglected vacant buildings and highcrime. The church sold the building and moved away. A developer acquired much of theneighborhood and proposed a development called Downtown/Uptown, which went bankrupt andleft the city holding the bag.
In 1996, the city selected Related Companies through a request for proposals, totransform this neglected part of the city. Related and a generous lady named Harriet Himmelmade it a priority to rehabilitate the church building in accordance with the U.S. Secretary of theInterior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties (“Standards”), which is the nationalgold standard for rehabilitation of historic structures. Related has maintained the building inaccordance with these same Standards for the last 25 years.
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Today, the Harriet building needs additional work, a new roof, and window replacements. TheHarriet also needs to be reimagined. Despite Related’s best efforts and over two decades ofoperating losses, few groups utilize the building because the venue is small, dark on the inside,and does not have the cooking and catering facilities desired by users. Related is now proposingto spend over $20 million of its own money to rehabilitate the building again, inconformance with the Standards and modern building codes.
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Most historic structures in the county are not widely available to the public, are funded bytaxpayers, or charge admission to enter. The rehabilitated Harriet will be the most publiclyutilized historic building in the County, at no cost to the taxpayers and no admission charge.
So what is the controversy? Many well-intended people care deeply aboutpreserving our unique history. I am one of them. However, not all of them agree on how best to keep this building alive and relevant into its second century, nor do they know the historical facts about this building, which are vital, even if we disagree about how best to keep this beautiful building economically viable and available to the public.
Here are the facts. The original church building was significantly modified in 1999, with fullcity consent and approval. The southern 25% of the building was completely removed and a 2-story building was converted into a 3-story building by changing the grading to expose a lowerlevel floor. The north steps were removed and replaced. The Il Bellagio addition was added tothe south side of the building where the Sunday School portion of the church building wasdemolished. In other words, the Harriet building that you see today is very different from theoriginal historic church building.
These types of changes are permitted by the Standards so long as the “character-defining spaces,materials, features, and finishes” “do not radically change.” All of the significant changes in1999 were deemed to comply with the Standards. Similarly, all of the currently proposedchanges by Related are in compliance with the Standards, none alter the “character-defining”elements of the original building. The proposed changes are minor compared to priormodifications and to modifications made to most adaptively re-usedhistoric buildings.
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The proposed changes are: (1) removing a portion of the non-original stairs on thenorth elevation to create an Americans with Disability Act-compliant door to allow the public into the front of the buildingon the ground level; (2) converting two of the double-arched 2nd floor (originally the 1st floor)openings on each side of the building to a single arch opening, to allow more light into thebuilding. That is all. No demolition. No removal of original “character-defining”elements, and only the minimum amount of alterations necessary to allow the building to be usedfor an economically viable use (which, incidentally, is a published goal of both the Standards andthe City’s Historic Code).
All of the characteristics of the original windows, tower elements, bell tower, stucco siding,cornices, barrel tile roof, roof lines, and decorative elements that define the original building arenot only being left but will be rehabilitated to current building code standards in compliance with the Standards and the city Historic Preservation Code.
All of this is being paid for by Related, so the public can have greater access to and enjoy this building. Any statements to the contrary are simply false or poorly informed.
Lawyer Harvey Oyer III represents The Related Companies. Former chairman of the Historical Society of Palm Beach County, he was responsible for saving, designating, or restoring many historic buildings in Florida. The Florida Trust for Historic Preservation honored him with its Individual Distinguished Service Award.
