The Palm Beach Post, Tuesday, November 27, 1934

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TOWN COUNCIL TAKES NO ACTION RELATIVE

TO HALTING ACTIVITY

​Razing Work on Hotel Must be Completed By Dec. 1, 1935

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​     While ghosts of former days haunt the half demolished rooms, once the scene of their gaieties, and souvenir hunters seek frantically for mementoes of the past, wreckers of the famous Royal Poinciana hotel are grappling with the problems of town ordinances and fire hazards.

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​     Gauntly the half razed timbers tower above the once noted ballrooms and Palm room, in which thousands once danced year after year at George Washington' balls... Kitchens where meals were once prepared for the hundreds of guests gathering winter after winter at the hotel, are now in shambles... Porticoes under which notables strolled to enjoy the tropical mid-winter season are now toppling...  Within the week the entire south wing , first part of the famous structure to be built more than 40 years ago, will be down. 

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     Pile after pile of Florida pine lumber, unharmed by termites, virtually as good as when it was nailed in place back in 1894, are now all that remains of many of the countless rooms that went  into making the Poinciana the largest frame building in the world....

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     One hundred and two men, largely assembled from the rolls of the county unem-ployed are engaged during the week in the gigantic task of razing the hotel.  But on Sundays, when work is at a standstill, the half destroyed corridors again resound with the tramp of many feet.  Despite the efforts of the watchmen, always on guard, sightseers pour through the building, hopping over debris , some merely out of curiosity, many trying to carry away some souvenir.  Nails,,, bed slats...planks... even part of an old rubber stamp found in a trash pile... are carted off to be proudly  exhibited as coming from the Poinciana.

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   The work on razing the Poinciana , which must be completed by December 1, 1935, is one-third finished , it was learned Monday from the office of Scott & Whittaker contractors.

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     Originally, it had been planned that the labor should be stopped Dec-ember 1,  to be resumed i the early spring.  However, in view of the problems involved in police and fire protection, there was some discussion of expediting the work or of lengthening the time of work.

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     It is understood that the contracting firm is now preparing to undertake inside work during the winter months, if possible, cleaning up the exterior to make the half razed building as unobjectionable as possible from an aesthetic standpoint.

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     No action has been taken to date from the Palm Beach town council on the question of allowing work to continue this winter.  James M. Owens Jr., president of the coun-cil, questioned last night, stated  that he was of the opinion that as the contractors had not found it possible or advisable to double the crew and accelerate the rate of speed , the town would expect them to abide by the original agreement to stop work during the winter season.  He added that he did not believe there would be any objection to a continuance of work until Whitehall opened in early January, but, that if any protests were made about the noise, the work would have to cease.  The problem of fire and police protection for the property during the winter months would be up to those in charge of the razing the councilman indicated.

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       The town council is to have a meeting Friday afternoon and it is possible that the question of work on the Poinciana may be discussed at that time.  It has never come before the council except in an informal discussion some weeks ago, when the members took it under advisement.