The Wilmington morning star., 1947-03-15
Housing Problem
Extremes
By KROCK

LAKE WORTH, Fla. March 14.-On both
sides of the roads of Florida, coastal and
inland, the construction industry is busy. In
this community and on the west banks OF
the lakes and lagoons that divide the beaches
from the mainland of the peninsula, housing
that costs in the neighborhood of $4,000 is
diminishing the jungle at what to a traveller S
snapshot eye seems a rapid rate. In Palm
Beach itself. a few miles to the north, the
famous community of Mediterranean palaces
and luxury villas is slowly but definitely
changing into a town of comfortable one-fami-
ly houses, ranging in cost from $4,000 to
$50, 900.
Like the cheaper structures. intended pri-
marilv to relieve the housing shortage for
returning veterans and their families, the one
family buildings are being equipped for a
servantlesS era. Electrical and mechanical de-
vices are. being installed to tighten and virtu-
ally to eliminate the burdens of homemaking.
For every great mansion that is vacated be-
cause of the passing of the last generation
that could build and maintain them Cor be-
cause of servant troubles and diminishing in
comes after taxes five or six small, pink
houses are springing up, or are being fabri-
Gated out of the great, deserted pile.
The abandonment Of the palaces is pro-
ceeding slowly. though rapidly enough to
bring daily anxiety to the taxpayers and those
officials who must find the revenues TO pay
the costs Of government in the luxury towns
But there is also a check on the production
o. the substitute. one-family homes, which,
if it were not for this would be even greater.
That check is to be found in the wartime
re equations Of the Civil Production Authority.
One of these, limiting the square tootage
which can be used for a house and restrict
ing it to one bathroom, helps to keep the
construction activity from attaining the pro-
portion of a boom. Restrictions or the sales
prices of houses built for speculation on a
skyrocketing abor-and-materials market, and
the prevailing rental ceilings, have further
checked the inevitable transition Of the Palm
Beach area from a tropical playground for
the very rich into a winter resort for the
merely prosperous who can leave their
sources of income for long holidays.
But the change is already strongly in evil
dence. and. though the self-operating houses
offer no immediate solution Of the important
problem of homes for veterans and families
forced to seek cheaper rentals because of the
rise in other costs of living. they will in time
relieve the pressure on the communities here.
Whenever the stock market takes a dive,
or the troubled world once again explosively
declines to compose itself for peace and pro-
duction, many of the owners or occupants OF
these mansions turn envious glances toward
the pink. cream and yellow self-operating
villas that are rising up around them. In a
torrent OF complaints against the Republican
majority in Congress when both these events
happened recently. this correspondent heard
in addition to the hereto suggestion that
maybe it would be best to re-elect President
Truman after alI-the observation that, if
worst comes to the worst. happiness could
probably be found in a servantless villa that
ran itself.
But. though the shifting architecture and
construction on this coast is steadily in the
direction of smaller housing units. there is
a project just south of Lake Worth which be-
longs in this report cor other reasons. One is
that the builder firmly believes that citizens
Of large means should continue to employ
them for the support and ornament of human
society. Another is that as an engineering
enterprise the project is remarkable. A third
is that as an architectural feat it is brilliant
and beautiful The citizen who has created
employment in these parts by this demon
Stration OF his faith in the system he has
thrived under, and at the same. time has
added something new to house architecture
and the esthetic enjoyment OF his generation,
is Gerard B. Lambert.
Just north of Boynton Inlet, a few miles
south of here. Mr.. Lambert is building a
new house the architect of which is Marion
Wyeth. He had chosen a site on both sides
of the road that runs rather high between
the ocean and the lake. To have full use OF
his two waterfronts. while the public was re-
tanning full use of the road, was Mr.. Lam
berts engineering. problem. He solved it in
a most interesting way. and Mr.. Wyeth is
carrying it out faithfully and skilEully.
Under the road a tunnel has been construct
ed which connects the two wings of the house.
one fronting on the Atlantic and the other
on Lake Worth. This tunnel has been fash
Toned into a long, graceful music room, which
will have a fireplace and soft interior light
ing. To eliminate all road noises and vi
brations from the house itself the heavy con-
s%truction of the tunnel, supporting the public
road. has been insulated and soundproofed.
and within it have been boxed those walls OF
the house which connect the two wings.
BY ample planting and the erection Of high
walls on either side Of the road where. it
passes over, the house-save for two white
chimney-stacks on the ocean wing-is con-
cealed from the view Of those on the road.
and vice versa. The result is that. for the
first time a residence on the Florida coast
road. with land extending to the inland wa
tiers. has frontage on both beaches without
being bisected by the road.
Yet. like the new pink villas, MS house
under the ocean road can be servlced II need
ha Nv the robots with which they are