Stiltsville
Encyclopedia
Stilt house
Stilt houses or pile dwellings or palafitte are houses raised on piles over the surface of the soil or a body of water. Stilt houses are built primarily as a protection against flooding, but also serve to keep out vermin...
s located one mile south of Cape Florida
Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park
Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park occupies approximately the southern third of the island of Key Biscayne, at coordinates . The park is home to the Cape Florida Light, the oldest standing structure in Greater Miami...
on Biscayne Bay
Biscayne Bay
Biscayne Bay is a lagoon that is approximately 35 miles long and up to 8 miles wide located on the Atlantic coast of South Florida, United States. It is usually divided for purposes of discussion and analysis into three parts: North Bay, Central Bay, and South Bay. Its area is...
in Miami-Dade County, Florida
Miami-Dade County, Florida
Miami-Dade County is a county located in the southeastern part of the state of Florida. As of 2010 U.S. Census, the county had a population of 2,496,435, making it the most populous county in Florida and the eighth-most populous county in the United States...
. The structures stand on wood or reinforced concrete pilings
Deep foundation
A deep foundation is a type of foundation distinguished from shallow foundations by the depth they are embedded into the ground. There are many reasons a geotechnical engineer would recommend a deep foundation over a shallow foundation, but some of the common reasons are very large design loads, a...
, generally ten feet above the shallow water which varies from one to three feet deep at low tide.
History
Most sources claim the first stilt shack was built in the early 1930s, but some Dade County historians say that there were a dozen shacks in "the flats" as early as 1922.Crawfish Eddie
"Crawfish" Eddie Walker built a shack on stilts above the water in 1933, toward the end of the prohibition eraProhibition in the United States
Prohibition in the United States was a national ban on the sale, manufacture, and transportation of alcohol, in place from 1920 to 1933. The ban was mandated by the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution, and the Volstead Act set down the rules for enforcing the ban, as well as defining which...
, allegedly to facilitate gambling
Social issues of the 1920s
The 1920s was the rise of a variety of social issues amidst a rapidly changing world. Conflicts arose concerning what was considered acceptable and respectable and what ought to be proscribed or made illegal...
, which was legal at one mile offshore. Crawfish Eddie sold bait and beer from his shack and was known for a dish he called chilau, a crawfish chowder
Chowder
In North America Chowder is a generic name for a wide variety of seafood or vegetable stews and thickened soups, often with milk or cream. Some varieties are traditionally thickened with crushed ship biscuit instead of flour, which is more usual...
made with crawfish he caught under his shack. Thomas Grady and Leo Edward, two of Eddie's fishing buddies, built their own shack in 1937. Shipwrecking and channel dredging brought many people to the area and more shacks were constructed, some by boating and fishing clubs. Local newspapers called the area "the shacks" and "shack colony". Crawfish Eddie's original shack was destroyed by the late season Hurricane King
Hurricane King
Hurricane King was the most severe hurricane to strike Florida since the 1926 Miami hurricane. It was the eleventh tropical storm and the last of a record-setting eight major hurricanes in the 1950 Atlantic hurricane season. The cyclone formed in the western Caribbean Sea on October 13, and...
of 1950.
Calvert Club
The first social club built at Stiltsville was constructed during the late 1930s and named the Calvert Club. The Miami Beach Rod & Reel Club was organized in 1929 and held its first official outing at the Stiltsville Calvert Club in August, 1938. A club picture was taken in front of the club, which was popular enough to have picture postcards printed with its image.Quarterdeck Club
In 1940, Commodore Edward Turner built a large house on a barge and pilings near Crawfish Eddie's and named it the Quarterdeck Club. When it opened in November, membership cost $150 by invitation only and the club became one of the most popular spots in Miami. The club's popularity grew after an article about the club appeared in LifeLife (magazine)
Life generally refers to three American magazines:*A humor and general interest magazine published from 1883 to 1936. Time founder Henry Luce bought the magazine in 1936 solely so that he could acquire the rights to its name....
magazine on February 10, 1941. The article noted that this was an
"extraordinary American community dedicated solely to sunlight, salt water and the well-being of the human spirit". The club was described as "a $100,000 play-palace equipped with bar, lounge, bridge deck, dining room and dock slips for yachts".
The local newspapers began running stories and photographs of parties with celebrities. The Quarterdeck Club was viewed by tourists as a "must see" attraction at Miami Beach, Florida
Miami Beach, Florida
Miami Beach is a coastal resort city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States, incorporated on March 26, 1915. The municipality is located on a barrier island between the Atlantic Ocean and Biscayne Bay, the latter which separates the Beach from Miami city proper...
.
Rumors of gambling persisted, and the club was raided in 1949, but no evidence of gambling was found. Businessman Walter Freeman purchased the club in 1950 and envisioned it as a high class operation. The structure was renovated and expanded, only to be heavily damaged by Hurricane King
Hurricane King
Hurricane King was the most severe hurricane to strike Florida since the 1926 Miami hurricane. It was the eleventh tropical storm and the last of a record-setting eight major hurricanes in the 1950 Atlantic hurricane season. The cyclone formed in the western Caribbean Sea on October 13, and...
late in the season. Dejected and broke, Freeman sold what remained.
The club was rebuilt, but never regained the popularity of its early years. Hurricane Donna
Hurricane Donna
Hurricane Donna in the 1960 Atlantic hurricane season was a Cape Verde-type hurricane which moved across the Leeward Islands, Puerto Rico, Hispanola, Cuba, The Bahamas, and every state on the East Coast of the United States...
in 1960 damaged most of the structures in Stiltsville, including the Quarterdeck Club, then the building was completely destroyed by a fire in 1961 that burned all the way to the pilings. The rumor was that the owner's wife set fire to the club after a jealous fit. Karl Mongelluzzo, the last owner of the Quarterdeck Club, was denied a building permit in 1967.
Party Central
Stiltsville may not have looked like much, but in the 1940s and 1950s, it was the place where lawyers, bankers, politicians, and other moneyed, well-connected Miamians came to drink, relax and kick back. Law enforcement periodically visited the area, looking for vice activities.Florida's Governor LeRoy Collins
LeRoy Collins
Thomas LeRoy Collins was the 33rd Governor of Florida.-Early life:Collins was born and raised in Tallahassee, Florida, where he attended Leon High School. He went on to attend the Eastman Business College in New York and then went on to the Cumberland School of Law in Birmingham, Alabama to...
(1955-1961) was a frequent visitor during the 1950s, a guest of Jimmy Ellenburg at his house in the flats. Ellenburg established his barge near Crawfish Eddie in 1939 and was known as the unofficial mayor of Stiltsville. A handwritten note from the Governor to his host read:
"Jimmy Ellenburg, When the time comes when I say so long to this life, I hope the great beyond seems alot like your cabin in the sea - Roy Collins"
From the 1950s to the 1960s, Stiltsville's style matured from ramshackle to lodge, some with architectural styles, including the "A-frame
A-Frame house
An A-frame is an architectural house style featuring steeply-angled sides that usually begin at or near the foundation line, and meet at the top in the shape of the letter A...
" house; the Leshaw House, with its distinctive Mansard roof
Mansard roof
A mansard or mansard roof is a four-sided gambrel-style hip roof characterized by two slopes on each of its sides with the lower slope at a steeper angle than the upper that is punctured by dormer windows. The roof creates an additional floor of habitable space, such as a garret...
; and the uniquely shaped Baldwin, Sessions & Shaw House, which was featured in a national ad campaign for Pittsburg Paints
PPG Industries
PPG Industries is a global supplier of paints, coatings, optical products, specialty materials, chemicals, glass and fiber glass. With headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, PPG operates in more than 60 countries around the globe. Sales in 2010 were $13.4 billion...
. These three houses, as well as the Ellenburg house, were among the seven buildings included in the 2003 Stiltsville Trust. Nearly all of the structures included full wrap-around porches. At its peak in 1960, there were 27 buildings.
Miami Springs Power Boat Club
In the late 1950s, twelve blue collar workers in the Miami Springs Power Boat Club purchased a sunken barge for $1, re-floated it and towed it to Stiltsville, where they grounded it on a mud flat and built a structure and docks for use by their club. Hurricane Betsy did considerable damage to the barge in 1965, so club members invested in concrete pilings, which still remain in place. Thousands have visited the "Springs House" over the years, including Boy Scout troopsScout troop
The Scout troop is a unit of Scouts, Boy Scouts, Girl Guides and Girl Scouts that usually meet weekly. Girl Guides often use Unit or Company instead. The troop is the fundamental unit, which a Scout joins and via which he or she participates in Scouting activities, such as camping, backpacking, and...
and Optimist Clubs
Optimist International
Optimist International is an international service club organization with 3,200 clubs and almost 100,000 members in more than 35 nations throughout the world. The international headquarters is located in St...
. Several television commercials have been filmed there, also. It was one of the seven remaining structures named in the Stiltsville Trust of 2003.
Bikini Club
In 1962, a businessman/scam artist named Harry Churchville, also known as "Pierre", grounded a 150-foot yacht named, "Jeff" in the mud flats of Stiltsville and turned the boat into a social club. Alcoholic beverages were offered for sale, with free drinks to women wearing bikinis. There was a sun deck for nude sunbathing and staterooms could be rented for any purpose. TheBikini Club was raided by the Florida Beverage Commission
Florida Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco
The Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco is the Florida state government agency which licenses and regulates the sale of alcoholic beverage and tobacco...
in the summer of 1965 and closed down for selling liquor without a license. On September 8, 1965, Hurricane Betsy
Hurricane Betsy
Hurricane Betsy was a Category 4 hurricane of the 1965 Atlantic hurricane season which caused enormous damage in the Bahamas, Florida, and Louisiana. Betsy made its most intense landfall near the mouth of the Mississippi River, causing significant flooding of the waters of Lake Pontchartrain into...
destroyed most of Stiltsville and severely damaged the boats upon which the Bikini Club was based. In 1966, what remained of the Bikini Club burned to the waterline.
The May, 1967 edition of Argosy magazine
Argosy (magazine)
Argosy was an American pulp magazine, published by Frank Munsey. It is generally considered to be the first American pulp magazine. The magazine began as a general information periodical entitled The Golden Argosy, targeted at the boys adventure market.-Launch of Argosy:In late September 1882,...
featured a picture story titled, BIKINIS ON STILTS, written by Ward Kennedy. The introductory quote stated:
"Off Key Biscayne is a renegade village on stilts where weekend residents live by their own laws. Their town hall is a floating Bikini Club that swings both day and night."
The irony was that by the time the story was published, the Bikini Club had been gone for over a year.
Radio Tower
Radio station WRIZ constructed a radio transmission tower in Stiltsville in 1967. It became radio station WRHC in 1985 and uses the Stiltsville tower for daytime broadcasting at 10,000 watts on 1550-AM.Regulation
Stiltsville's frontier era ended with Hurricane Betsy in 1965. Beginning in August, 1965, the state of Florida required building owners to pay $100 annually to lease their quarter-acre circular "campsites." No permits for new construction were issued, and structures that sustained more than 50% damage could not be rebuilt. Building codes were implemented and the state banned commercial operations after 1969.Big Changes
In 1976, the state renewed leases for $300 annually, but included an expiration date of July 1, 1999. A clause in the lease stated that structures remaining after that date would be removed at owner's expense.Congress expanded the Biscayne National Park
Biscayne National Park
Biscayne National Park is a U.S. National Park located in southern Florida, due east of Homestead. The park preserves Biscayne Bay, one of the top scuba diving areas in the United States. Ninety-five percent of the park is water. In addition, the shore of the bay is the location of an extensive...
boundaries in June, 1980, bringing the area containing Stiltsville within the Park. The state of Florida deeded the submerged lands in the expansion area to the United States in 1985. The Park Service agreed to honor the terms of the existing leases, so nothing really changed.
At the beginning of 1992, there were 14 "campsites" with structures present at Stiltsville. After Hurricane Andrew
Hurricane Andrew
Hurricane Andrew was the third Category 5 hurricane to make landfall in the United States, after the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935 and Hurricane Camille in 1969. Andrew was the first named storm and only major hurricane of the otherwise inactive 1992 Atlantic hurricane season...
struck on August 24, 1992, only seven buildings survived and were still standing by July 1, 1999.
Deadlines
As the lease termination date approached, the leaseholders requested renewals. In the mid-1990s the park service told leaseholders it lacked the authority to renew leases and suggested they pursue a listing on the National Register of Historic PlacesNational Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
. Several preservation groups took up the cause, but Stiltsville twice failed to earn National Register status, primarily because the surviving houses weren't 50 years old.
Dr. Paul George, historian for the Historical Museum of Southern Florida
Historical Museum of Southern Florida
HistoryMiami formerly known as the Historical Museum of Southern Florida, is a museum located in Miami, Florida, USA, specializing in the history of southeastern Florida, including Greater Miami, the Floria Keys, and the Everglades...
explained the significance of Stiltsville:
"It really is an only-in-Miami kind of thing. It had an aura, a rascally mischievous past. But it was also just a place people could go to enjoy getting away. It would be a terrible loss."
Life Magazine featured another article on Stiltsville, 57 years after the original. The November, 1998 issue included an article entitled, STILTSVILLE: The residents of a fading Florida community make a stand to save it. Jason Fulford was credited for the photography.".
Petition
In a last ditch effort, a petition drive was started:The response from the community was overwhelming. More than 75,000 people asked that Stiltsville be spared, and the park service reversed their decision. In August, 2000, the Park Service announced the approval of a Stiltsville amendment to the 1983 General Management Plan for the Biscayne National Park.
Under the revised plan, the houses would not be demolished and the existing leases would be extended while a preservation plan was developed.
Stiltsville Trust
A non-profit organization called the Stiltsville Trust was established in 2003 and included the seven remaining leaseholders, called caretakers, and eight members of the community. In addition to raising funds, their goal was to preserve and rehabilitate the structures to help showcase the Park's marine resources with support for educational and interpretive services. Possible uses included community meeting space, a visitor center, research facilities, an artist in residenceArtist in residence
Artist-in-residence programs and other residency opportunities allow visiting artists to stay and work so that they may apply singular focus to their art practice....
program and a satellite National Park Service office in the northern part of the park.
The park service added hurricane strapping to protect the structures from wind damage in major storms. Caretakers still perform basic maintenance on their former weekend retreats, but the Stiltsville buildings are owned by the National Park Service
National Park Service
The National Park Service is the U.S. federal agency that manages all national parks, many national monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations...
and have been secured and posted with no trespassing signs. Access to the buildings by non-trust members is by permission of the park's superintendent.
The park service hopes the Stiltsville Trust will alleviate one of Biscayne National Park's problems: the facility is 95% water and essentially inaccessible to non-boaters. According to park superintendent Linda Canzanelli,
"A lot of people hear about Biscayne National Park because of Stiltsville. It can be a wonderful educational tool if we can get people out there so we can talk about the local history and marine environment."
Seven Remaining Houses
A - Jimmy Ellenburg houseB - A-frame house
C - Baldwin, Sessions & Shaw house
D - Leshaw house
E - Bay Chateau
F - Hicks house
G - Miami Springs Power Boat Club
Media Use
Stiltsville has been the setting for scenes in the Les Standiford novel, Done Deal; three Carl HiaasenCarl Hiaasen
Carl Hiaasen is an American journalist, columnist and novelist.- Early years :Born in 1953 and raised in Plantation, Florida, of Norwegian heritage, Hiaasen was the first of four children and the son of a lawyer, Kermit Odel, and teacher, Patricia...
novels: Skin Tight
Skin Tight (novel)
Skin Tight is a novel by Carl Hiaasen. It focuses on a former detective for the Florida State Attorney's office, who becomes the target of a murder plot by a corrupt, and egregiously incompetent, plastic surgeon.-Plot summary:...
, Stormy Weather and Skinny Dip; several episodes of Miami Vice
Miami Vice
Miami Vice is an American television series produced by Michael Mann for NBC. The series starred Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas as two Metro-Dade Police Department detectives working undercover in Miami. It ran for five seasons on NBC from 1984–1989...
(1984-89) and Sea Hunt
Sea Hunt
Sea Hunt was an American adventure television series that was aired in syndication by Ziv Television Programs from 1958 to 1961 and was popular in syndication for decades afterwards. The series originally aired for four seasons, with 155 episodes produced...
(1958-61); featured in the 2003 film Bad Boys II
Bad Boys II
Bad Boys II is a 2003 action/comedy film directed by Michael Bay, produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, and starring Martin Lawrence and Will Smith. It is a sequel to the 1995 film Bad Boys. The film is about two police detectives investigating the flow of ecstasy into Miami...
, Around the World Under the Sea
Around the World Under the Sea
Around the World Under the Sea is a 1966 science fiction film directed by Andrew Marton and starring Lloyd Bridges, with Marshall Thompson, Shirley Eaton, Gary Merrill, and David McCallum...
(1966), the made-for-TV adventure-pilot, The Fantastic Seven (1979), and Absence of Malice
Absence of Malice
Absence of Malice is a 1981 American drama film starring Paul Newman, Sally Field, and Bob Balaban, directed by Sydney Pollack.-Plot:Miami liquor wholesaler Michael Gallagher is the son of a deceased criminal who awakes one day to find himself a front-page story in the local newspaper, indicating...
(1981).
See also
- stilt houseStilt houseStilt houses or pile dwellings or palafitte are houses raised on piles over the surface of the soil or a body of water. Stilt houses are built primarily as a protection against flooding, but also serve to keep out vermin...
- Stiltsville Resources
- Stiltsville: a novel by Susanna Daniel, ISBN 0-06-196307-0, August 2010