Welcomed Victory for WPB Historic Preservation

        The West Palm Beach City Commission voted 3-2 on second reading to include a section of the Northwood Village business district as part of the WPB  Local Register of Historic Places at its Oct. 24 public hearing.*
        The new Northwood Road Historic District will consist of 35 business properties, of which 27 (or 77 percent) are contributing historical structures. The commercial district is along Northwood Road, between Broadway Avenue to the west and Dixie Highway to the east.
        The commercial area was platted in the 1920s, at the same time as the Northwood residential community. The district contains several Mediterranean and Mission Revival style storefronts built between the 1920s and 1940s.
        For several decades, the street served as West Palm Beach's "second main street" for the city's north end, just as Clematis Street was the business center for downtown. The old Rexall Drug Store building is one of the historic structures in the new district.
        The West Palm Beach Historic Preservation Board voted 6-1 in favor of the designation at its Feb. 23 meeting. Supporters cited the need for protection of historic business structures from future development projects.
        Several business owners and two commissioners spoke in opposition to the historic designation at the two public hearings. They stated it would create another layer of  "bureaucracy" and limit business expansion. Currently, without the historic protection (Ordinance 4623-16), developers could level existing buildings.
        Earlier this year, Northwood Village received a "Florida Main Street" designation from the Florida Division of Historical Resources. The program focuses on economic development within the context of historic preservation.
(c.) Davidsson.  *Updated Oct. 2016.

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