Waterfront Condos Singer Island: Step into the Gilded Age of Flagler Museum

As you enjoy the spectacular luxury of Singer Island waterfront condos , there is an equally spectacular Gilded Age mansion just a short drive away in Palm Beach. Whitehall, Henry Flagler’s 75-room, 60,000-square-foot estate was built as a wedding present for his wife, Mary Lily Kenan Flagler. Flagler decided to use the same architecture firm that designed the New York Public Library and the results were equally splendid. The New York firm of McKim, Mead and White were practitioners of the Beaux Arts style of architecture, and when the design was unveiled, the New York Herald described the Flagler’s Palm Beach home as “More wonderful than any palace in Europe, grander and more magnificent than any other private dwelling in the world....”

The Flaglers used the home as a winter retreat, much like those who purchase waterfront condos. Singer Island had not even been established when the couple were wintering in Palm Beach. Henry and Mary Lily Flagler stayed at Whitehall in from 1902 until Flagler’s death in 1913, establishing the Palm Beach season for the wealthy of the Gilded Age.

During the winters the Flaglers spent at Whitehall, the couple entertained constantly. After Henry Flagler died in 1913, the house remained closed until the season of 1916. Mary Lily remarried, and visited the home only more after her marriage to Robert Worth Bingham. Mary Lily died in 1917 and Whitehall was left to her niece, who in turn, sold Whitehall to a group of investors. With the addition of a ten-story 300-room tower, Whitehall was converted into a hotel, and operated as such from 1925 to 1959. In 1959, the hotel was in danger of being razed, but Henry Flagler’s granddaughter lead the charge to save it, forming a non-profit company to help raise funds to restore it to its former grandeur. As a point of historic comparison, it was not until 1926 that Paris Singer was beginning his plans for an equally ambitious hotel on the parcel of land that would become known as Singer Island.

Waterfront condo owners and others who live in and around Palm Beach now flock to the Flagler Museum, which opened to the public in 1960. Today, Whitehall is beautifully restored and features guided tours, changing exhibits, and special programs.

For more information about our waterfront condos in Singer Island, FL , please visit The Ritz-Carlton Residences, Singer Island, Palm Beach .

The Ritz-Carlton Residences, Singer Island, Palm Beach are not owned, developed or sold by The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, L.L.C. 2700 North Ocean LLC uses The Ritz-Carlton mark under a license from The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, L.L.C.