Everglades Club

The Everglades Club is the preeminent social club in Palm Beach, Florida. When its construction began in July 1918 it was to be called the Touchstone Convalescent Club and was intended to be a hospital for the wounded of World War I. But the war ended a few months later and it changed into a private club before it was able to open as a hospital.HistoryParis Singer (1867-1932) was an immensely wealthy man in the early 20th century. Singer's father, Isaac Singer (1811-1875), had invented the sewing machine and Paris Singer had an income of one million dollars a year at this time.Paris Singer and his friend, the architect Addison Mizner (1872-1933), were visiting Palm Beach in the Spring of 1918. Singer decided to build a hospital with Mizner as the architect. Singer had already built three hospitals in France for the wounded. It was during World War I when only war related buildings could be built. Construction began in July. Singer purchased laboratory and surgical equipment.However, as World War I ended, the hospital was reinvisioned as a private club. There was a main building, eight separate villas, tennis courts, a parking garage across the street, and a yacht basin. The club opened on 25 January 1919. Paris Singer was the President of the club and he decided who could become a member. For its second season in 1920, Mizner supervised the construction of a nine-hole golf course and the landscaping of the club's 60 acres. He also built an addition to the club on Worth Avenue with eleven apartments and sixteen shops.