Which landmarked house just sold for $17.5 million in Palm Beach's Estate Section?
The landmarked family home of the late investments advisor and businessman Peter Summers and his widow, real estate agent Ann Summers, has sold in Palm Beach for $17.5 million, the price recorded with the deed.
The 1930s-era landmarked house at 215 El Bravo Way stands on one of the so-called 'El Streets,' which are considered prime real estate in the Estate Section, the historic neighborhood that is also home to President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago Club.
Along with neighboring El Vedado Road and El Brillo Way history, the streets are renowned for their history, handsome architecture and proximity to shopping and dining options in Midtown.
A trust named after the property's address was on the buyer's side of the sale, the deed recorded May 14 shows. The document lists West Palm Beach real estate attorney Maura Ziska as trustee of the 215 El Bravo Trust. Ziska declined to comment about the sale, and because of rules governing trusts, no other information about the buyer was immediately available in pubic records.
The two-story house is the second one west of North County Road with windows and glass doors that look across Island Road to the Everglades Club's golf course. The property is about 1½ miles south of Mar-a-Lago.be
The Monterey-style house has six bedrooms and 7,366 square feet of living space, inside and out. It stands on a lot measuring two-fifth of an acre, property records show.
The house was designed in 1934 by society architect Howard Major, who drew up plans for a number of Palm Beach houses in the Monterey style. The focal point of the main facade is a second-story cantilevered balcony with ornamental metal railing and posts extending to the roof.
Among its distinctions, the residence was owned in the 1930s by silent film star Norma Talmadge and her husband, comedian George Jessel, according a 2020 report prepared for the Landmarks Preservation Commission. The house house earned landmark status in March 2020.
Peter Summers paid a recorded $2.2 million for the house in 1993, courthouse records show. After his death at age 81 in 2024, ownership passed to his widow and two children from his first marriage — Bliss Elizabeth Summers and George Ellis Summers Jr. The just-recorded deed lists all three as the sellers of the house.
An avid outdoorsman who once worked as an African safari guide, Summers career expanded to include financial services, real estate development and the cattle industry, according to his obituary. He began his corporate career with E.F. Hutton and Co. in 1971 and retired in 1999 from Alex. Brown. He also worked in real estate development in Florida and as a commercial cattleman in the Sunshine State and Virginia.
Ann Summers sells real estate as an agent with Brown Harris Stevens' Palm Beach office. She and Peter Summers were married when he bought the house on El Bravo Way.
Broker Christian Angle of Christian Angle Real Estate handled both sides of the just-recorded sale. He listed the property at the tail end of August 2024 at $23.95 million, a price that had dropped to $19.95 by the middle of January, records in the multiple listing service shows.
Angle and the sellers could not immediately be reached for comment.
The sales listing described the property as offering 'serene outdoor living' with tropical landscaping and a covered poolside loggia accessed from the house through French doors.
Among the property's other notable features, the listing said, are a cabana room with a bar and an oversize family room with a fireplace and wood-beamed ceilings. The layout also includes a living room with a fireplace as well as a formal dining room.
The house's landmark designation protects exterior walls viewable from the street from significant changes without the permission of the Landmarks Preservation Commission. The Summerses supported the effort to designate the house a landmark, town records show.
A fusion of architectural revival styles including Spanish Colonial, British Colonial and French Creole, the Monterey style originated in California and was especially popular in the United States in the 1930s and 1940s, according to historians.
'This is a really lovely house that will be a great addition to the town's landmark list," former landmarks board Chairman Ted Cooney said at the time. 'Major was a master of the Monterey style ... having [a Major design] preserved in such an important neighborhood makes a lot of sense to me.'
A second-story addition and the pool cabana were added to the rear of the house in 1992, according to the landmarks report. But apart from that, changes over the years were minimal, according to the report.
The house was originally part of El Bravo Park, a 27-acre, ocean-to-lake property bought by engineer Frank Clements, a winter resident and engineer who intended to create his own estate.
But Clements, responding to demand for villa sites, divided the property into 36 lots and two streets — El Bravo Way and El Brillo Way. In 1921, first-generation Palm Beach architects Addison Mizner and Marion Sims Wyeth were the first two architects to design villas in El Bravo Park, according to the landmarks report.
dhofheinz@pbdailynews.com
This is a developing story. Check back for any updates.
Portions of this story have appeared previously in the Palm Beach Daily News.
Darrell Hofheinz is a USA TODAY Network of Florida journalist who writes about Palm Beach real estate in his weekly 'Beyond the Hedges' column. He welcomes tips about real estate news on the island. Email dhofheinz@pbdailynews.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: Historic house on prime street near Trump's Mar-a-Lago fetches $17.5M
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