Everglades Club — Palm Beach's Oldest and Most Exclusive
The Everglades Club is a private social club located in Palm Beach, Florida. It is among the most storied private clubs in the United States, founded in the early twentieth century as a gathering place for wealthy seasonal residents and socialites. Its historical significance, architectural character, and social influence have made it a defining institution of Palm Beach's identity. The club's founding helped shape the cultural and economic landscape of Palm Beach at a time when the island was emerging as a favored destination for American industrialists and their families.
History
Paris Singer, heir to the Singer sewing machine fortune, founded the Everglades Club alongside architect Addison Mizner, who designed the original clubhouse in a Mediterranean Revival style that would define Palm Beach's architectural character for generations. Planning began in 1918, and the club opened formally on January 25, 1919. Singer had initially envisioned the building as a convalescent home for soldiers returning from World War I, but the plan shifted before completion, and the structure opened as a private social club instead. The collaboration between Singer and Mizner proved consequential well beyond the club itself. Mizner went on to design dozens of Palm Beach estates and public buildings in the same idiom, and the Everglades Club is widely credited with introducing Mediterranean Revival architecture to Florida's Gold Coast [1].
The original land grant associated with the property encompassed approximately 160 acres of Palm Beach real estate. Singer subsequently sold portions of that land, and the club's current footprint is substantially smaller. The original grounds included tennis courts, a swimming pool, and landscaped gardens that became a backdrop for an elaborate social calendar. Membership criteria emphasized lineage, wealth, and social standing from the outset, and the club's reputation as a center of old-money privilege was established almost immediately.
Throughout the early twentieth century, the club's membership included prominent figures from American industry and society. Members of the Vanderbilt family were among those affiliated with the club during this period. Henry Flagler, the industrialist whose Florida East Coast Railway transformed Palm Beach into an accessible destination for the wealthy, had been the foundational presence in the region's broader development before his death in 1913, five years before the club's planning began. The social infrastructure Flagler created, including The Breakers hotel and the railroad connections that made Palm Beach reachable, formed the backdrop against which Singer and Mizner built the club's early membership [2].
The Great Depression and World War II brought a contraction in membership and activity, as they did for many institutions of this kind. Recovery came in the postwar years, and by the 1950s the club had solidified its position as one of the most exclusive private institutions in the country. That exclusivity wasn't without controversy. The Everglades Club maintained policies during this era that excluded Jewish applicants from membership, a practice that was common among elite social clubs across the United States but carried particular weight in Palm Beach given the size and prominence of the island's Jewish community. This policy contributed directly to the founding of the Palm Beach Country Club as an alternative institution for those excluded from the Everglades Club and similar establishments [3]. The episode is a documented chapter in Palm Beach's broader social history and shaped the island's club geography for decades.
In 1941, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor arrived at the Everglades Club, a visit that marked the beginning of their documented connection to Palm Beach and drew considerable attention from the American press [4]. Franklin D. Roosevelt also visited the club during his presidency, reinforcing its role as a meeting point for figures of national significance. Throughout the twentieth century, the club went through several renovations and expansions as membership demands evolved. Today, the Everglades Club's archives and historical records are preserved as part of the Palm Beach historical record [5].
The club's social context shifted in the final decades of the twentieth century as the composition of American wealth changed. Palm Beach's private club landscape was itself altered significantly in 1995, when Donald Trump converted Mar-a-Lago, the historic Marjorie Merriweather Post estate he had purchased in 1985, into a private membership club. Trump's decision to admit members without regard to religion or race was widely understood as a direct challenge to the exclusionary traditions of the Everglades Club and similar establishments, and it drew new attention to the discriminatory membership histories of Palm Beach's older institutions [6].
Architecture
The Everglades Club is among Addison Mizner's most significant works. His design drew on Spanish, Moorish, and Italian Renaissance sources, producing a style that came to be called Mediterranean Revival. The clubhouse featured stucco exteriors, red clay roof tiles, arched loggias, interior courtyards, and ornate ironwork details that distinguished it sharply from the wood-frame vernacular architecture then common in Florida. Decorative tilework, heavy timber ceilings, and asymmetrical massing gave the building a sense of accumulated age that Mizner cultivated deliberately. He sourced antique materials, Spanish tiles, and wrought iron fixtures from suppliers who traded in salvaged European architectural elements, creating interiors that felt rooted in an older tradition even when newly built [7].
Mizner's work at the Everglades Club was influential enough that it set a template for Palm Beach construction that persisted for decades. Builders, developers, and private clients across the region commissioned work in the same idiom, and the club's visual identity became inseparable from the island's own [8]. That influence spread beyond Palm Beach. Mizner went on to develop Boca Raton along similar lines, and his firm's output helped establish Mediterranean Revival as the dominant residential style along Florida's southeastern coast through the 1920s building boom.
The club's commitment to preserving its architectural character reflects an institutional philosophy that prizes historical continuity. Subsequent renovations have maintained the original materials and spatial arrangements rather than replacing them, and the interiors retain much of the atmosphere Mizner created at the opening. This fidelity to the original design has made the building a reference point for architectural historians studying the development of Florida's built environment [9].
Addison Mizner
Addison Mizner arrived in Palm Beach in 1918 at the invitation of Paris Singer, whom he had met in New York social circles. He wasn't yet famous. His commission to design the Everglades Club changed that. Born in Benicia, California, in 1872, Mizner had studied briefly in Guatemala and Spain before working in New York as an architect and antiques dealer. His exposure to Iberian and Latin American vernacular architecture gave him fluency in the decorative vocabulary he would deploy throughout Palm Beach [10].
The success of the Everglades Club opened commissions for some of the largest private estates ever built in Florida. Mizner designed homes for figures including Harold Vanderbilt, Edward Shearson, and Joshua Cosden during the 1920s land boom. He founded Mizner Industries, a manufacturing operation that produced the tiles, ironwork, and stone ornament his designs required, often distressing new materials artificially to give them the appearance of age. He died in 1933, having seen the boom collapse, but his architectural legacy proved durable. Palm Beach's character as a place defined by Mediterranean courtyards, red-tiled roofs, and stucco walls traces directly to his work at the Everglades Club [11].
Culture
The Everglades Club's culture emphasizes exclusivity, refinement, and historical continuity. Its traditions and annual events became integral to Palm Beach's social calendar over the course of the twentieth century. Winter balls and spring garden parties are among the club's most recognized recurring occasions, drawing members and their guests from across the country and abroad. These gatherings serve as platforms for social networking and philanthropy as much as entertainment. Formal dress codes and the preservation of historical furnishings and artifacts from the club's founding era show how seriously the institution regards its own traditions.
Beyond its social functions, the club has played a role in cultural life more broadly. Its members have included artists, writers, and philanthropists who contributed to the arts and education in Palm Beach and beyond. The club's library houses rare books and manuscripts used by scholars studying the region's development. It's also supported local environmental conservation initiatives tied to the nearby Everglades ecosystem, connecting the club's identity to the landscape that gives it its name [12].
Notable Members and Guests
Influential figures have been associated with the Everglades Club since its founding. Paris Singer's network drew much of the American social elite to Palm Beach during the club's early decades. Henry Flagler's railroad and hotel investments had made Palm Beach viable as a destination and created the social world the club inhabited, though Flagler himself died in 1913 and was never a club member. Members of the Vanderbilt family held affiliations with the club, contributing to its reputation as a center of American elite society during the early and mid twentieth century.
The club has continued to attract leaders in business, politics, and the arts across successive generations. Franklin D. Roosevelt's visits during his presidency are among the most documented of the club's notable associations. In 1941, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor's arrival marked a high point in the club's visibility as a gathering place for international figures of social and political prominence. More recently, the club's membership has reflected broader shifts in the composition of American wealth, drawing figures from finance, media, and the entertainment industry alongside the traditional social elite.
Relationship to Other Palm Beach Institutions
The Everglades Club exists within a network of private clubs and institutions that together define Palm Beach's social geography. The Bath and Tennis Club, founded in 1926, and the Sailfish Club are among the island's other prominent private establishments, each with distinct membership cultures and social identities. The Everglades Club sits at the top of this hierarchy by virtue of its age and the rigidity of its membership standards, which have historically made it the most selective of the island's private institutions [13].
The founding of the Palm Beach Country Club in the mid-twentieth century as a response to exclusionary policies at clubs like the Everglades Club created a parallel social infrastructure for Jewish members of Palm Beach's elite community. That division shaped the island's social landscape for decades and remains part of the documented historical record. The arrival of Mar-a-Lago as a membership club in 1995 introduced a different model entirely, one that emphasized open admissions and higher membership fees over lineage and social vetting. The contrast between Mar-a-Lago's approach and the Everglades Club's traditional selectivity has been a recurring subject of commentary on Palm Beach's evolving social culture.
Economy
The Everglades Club has had a measurable impact on the local economy of Palm Beach and the surrounding region. As a private club attracting high-net-worth individuals, it draws members and guests who contribute to the area's real estate market, luxury hospitality sector, and retail economy. Property values in the immediate vicinity of the club have historically tracked above broader Palm Beach averages, reflecting the prestige associated with proximity to the institution. Annual events and social gatherings generate revenue for local businesses, including hotels, restaurants, and event service providers that cater to members and their guests.
The club's economic influence extends beyond direct spending. Many of its members hold leadership positions in major corporations and financial institutions, and the networking that takes place within the club's social environment has been credited with building business relationships that extend well beyond Palm Beach. The club's philanthropic commitments, including support for educational programs and environmental conservation projects in the region, carry long-term economic and civic benefits for the broader Palm Beach County community [14].