The big yellow Mediterranean Revival house at 625 Royal Palm Place, which is listed for $389,900 by Daley & Company Real Estate, holds a unique place at the center Vero Beach’s social, political and architectural history.
Occupied at different times by two of Vero’s most prominent citizens, including former mayor and state senator Merrill Barber who lived in the house for three decades during his heyday as a politician and banker, it is one of the best residential examples of the Mediterranean Revival in the city.
The romantic style, which was popular in the 1920s and ’30s, originated in Florida and California in the wake of the Pan Amercian Exhibition in San Diego and the opening of the Panama Canal and it is the most notable type of historical architecture found in Vero Beach, where it is expressed in a number of handsome commercial buildings and many beautiful homes.
A Statement of Significance someone wrote about 625 Royal Palm Place, which can be found in the Archive Center in Vero’s main library, states Mediterranean Revival homes are characterized by “flat or [low-pitched] hip roofs; usually some form of parapet; ceramic tile roof surfacing; stucco facades; flat-roof entrance porches, commonly with arched openings supported by square columns; [tall] casement and double-hung sash windows; and ceramic tile decorations.
The Med Revival moniker is often used generically to encompass Spanish Colonial Revival and Mission Revival buildings, as well as Moorish and Italianate architecture.
Prominent examples of the style in Vero Beach include the Farmers Bank building, now Vero Furniture Mart, the Theatre Plaza and the Pocahontas Apartments, all on 14th Ave. downtown. Brazilian Court at 1805 19th Place and the Royal Viking at 706 Royal Palm Boulevard are two other apartment buildings in the Mediterranean/Spanish Colonial Revival style that are familiar to Vero residents.
Med Revival homes are scattered through older parts of mainland Vero Beach, with a heavy concentration in the Osceola Park neighborhood, and there are some great, almost palatial examples on the island in Old Riomar.
Frederick Trimble, one of the most well-known architects who worked in the style in Florida, designed a number of buildings in and around Vero including the Royal Park Inn, now demolished, Farmers Bank, Theatre Plaza and Brazilian Court, which was called the Orange Apartments when it was built in the mid-1920s.
The architect of the home at 625 Royal Palm Place is unknown. Likewise the exact date of construction. County property records show it was built in 1923, but the Royal Park Subdivision was not plated until 1924, and Pam Cooper, director of the archive center, believes it was probably built in 1925 by a Mr. Harvey Stevens.
“When a house that size was built, it was usually mentioned in the newspaper, but we can’t find any reference to its construction,” Cooper says.
The house jumped into prominence in the late 1920s when Stevens sold the house to a colorful character named Edward “Daddy” Soppitt and his much younger wife Grace, who he had married a few years before.
Starting as coal miner in England at age 12, Soppitt immigrated and rose in the world to become president of two Pennsylvania coal mines. He bought the house on Royal Palm Place, which looked much the same then as it does now, as a winter home and immediately made a splash in the little town, appearing frequently in the newspaper in his roles a clubman, golf promoter and host of bridge parties for other socially prominent residents.
Entrenched in an essential commodity business, he seems to have been unscathed by Black Friday – when the Roaring Twenties came to a calamitous end in the biggest stock market crash up to that time – and emerged afterward as a bit of one-percenter.
In the spring of 1931, when much of country was still sinking into the economic abyss and unemployment was over 30 percent, he gave a “Depression Party” for his golfing and card-playing pals in which they dress up as hobos and took turns telling their tales of poverty and woe to entertain each other. After the theatrics, according to the daily paper, the guest enjoyed “an elaborate buffet” supper and another well lubricated bridge tournament.
The down-and-outers got a measure of revenge a few months later. While “Daddy” and Grace were on a three-month tour of Europe, someone broke into their elegant home and stole food and clothing.
In 1946, Soppitt sold the house to an even more notable Vero resident. Merrill Barber (1910-1985) and his wife Helen bought the stylish residence and two adjacent lots in January, a year before Barber became mayor. In that position, he negotiated the deal that brought the Brooklyn Dodger’s spring training program to Vero, launching a storied, 60-year chapter in the city’s history.
Barber later served on the Florida State Road Board, using the position to bring many major roadway improvements to Vero, including paving U.S. 1 from Vero to Fort Pierce and building the railroad overpass at the county line that is just now being replace. Next came two terms in the state senate where he played an exceptionally productive role, chairing many key committees and sponsoring legislation to fight polio, establish the state’s community college system and set up the appellate court system, according to the nomination form submitted by his friends to have him named a Great Floridian.
An important banker, he was president of Indian River Citrus Bank from 1948 until 1975 and was a founder and chairmen of three other area banks, serving as a leader and lynch pin in the development Indian River and St. Lucie counties in between his actives as President of Vero Beach Rotary and member of the Scottish Rite Masons, Shriners, Elks and other fraternal and civic organizations.
Besides the soaring bridge that carries Highway 60 across the lagoon that bears his name, Barber is memorialized by an ornate metal plaque near the entrance to city hall that recognizes him as a Great Floridian.
During his time at the center of Vero society – in his later years he helped found both Riverside Theatre and the art museum – Barber’s home was well known to everyone in town. Some still call it “the Barber House” today.
Sally Daly says she is not sure when he sold the Royal Palm Place property, but it was probably in the late 1970s or early 1980s. The home passed through a number of hands thereafter, being bought and sold half a dozen times prior to 2013 when it was foreclosed on by Wells Fargo Bank.
The home was picked up as part of a package of foreclosed properties by The Housing League, Inc., a nonprofit based in Coral Gables and Vero Beach that aims, to provide “affordable housing for low to moderate income families by working with private and public developers to create affordable housing opportunities,” according to TheHousingLeague.org.
“The Barber House is a little bit higher end than the houses we usually rehab, but we were happy to acquire it as part of the package” says Jeff Flick, an independent mortgage broker who lives near 625 Royal Palm Place and is a volunteer asset manager with the Housing League.
The League made significant structural repairs and aesthetic improvements in home before listing it for sale with Daley, turning it into a historical home showpiece.
“The sellers did some smart things,” Daley says. “They repurposed part of the master bedroom space to create a large walk-in closet, which people expect nowadays, and installed a structural beam where a prior owner had removed a wall. All of the systems in the home are updated. It has a new roof and is newly painted, but with all improvements they stayed true to the historical charm and integrity of the house.”
Historical elements include heart pine flooring on the second floor, original windows with very cool old antique cranks, much of the interior woodwork and of course the homes outstanding Med Revival/Spanish Colonial structure and appearance.
“You get the best of both worlds here, in a neighborhood that is getting more popular all the time because it is so close to everything Vero has to offer,” says Daley.
She did her own due diligence on the beautifully renovated 3-bedroom, 3.5 bath, 2,800-squre-foot house and it comes with a home warranty.
“People are besotted with the house,” Daley says, standing outside in the large, lushly landscaped yard where there is room to put in a pool if a new owner wants one. “We have had great interest from a wide demographic, including young families looking for a wonderful place to raise their children, retired couples who are tired of cookie-cutter condos and single women who love the property and want to make sure it is preserved.”