Sea Gull Cottage, Palm Beach’s Oldest House

Seagull Cottage, oldest house in Palm Beach and Flagler's first residenceA night ride took me past Sea Gull Cottage in Palm Beach right at dusk. Lights inside the building cast an orange light that contrasted with the cold light of the coming night.

Flagler’s first winter residence

Sea Gull Cottage was built in 1886. Henry Morrison Flagler, the man most responsible for making Florida a winter tourist destination, bought it in 1893 and made it his first winter residence.

The building was originally located north of the Royal Poinciana Chapel. It was moved east to The Breakers in 1913 and used as a rental property. The Preservation Foundation of Palm Beach paid to move it to its present location in 1984 to save it from demolition.

The lights in the windows are from construction workers renovating the interior, adding a 2,000-foot extension to the north side of the building and replicating an octagon-shaped turret that was lost decades ago.

Sea Gull cottage is located next to the Flagler Museum

Seagull Cottage

11 Replies to “Sea Gull Cottage, Palm Beach’s Oldest House”

  1. Wife Lila was complaining that she looked at the map, but still couldn’t find Sea Gull Cottage.

    “It’s where the little blue symbol is,” I hollered to the next room.

    “I don’t SEE a little blue symbol,” she hollered back.

    (Some folks have an intercom system. We use the hollercom.)

    She’s right. For some strange reason, the marker symbol in Google Maps doesn’t show up for Internet Explorer users, apparently.

    Let me amend that: it doesn’t show up on Wife Lila’s Internet Explorer. It shows up fine on my computer’s IE AND my primary browser, Firebox.

    Anybody else see or not see the marker on the Google Map?

  2. I have Internet Explorer and the only marker I see is a camera symbol at the intersection of Whitehall Way and Cocoanut Row.

    We’ve had this problem before. Explorer doesn’t get along with your system for some reason.

  3. I see the Flagler Museum. Great picture of Sea Gull Cottage. You were ahead of us in search results for something I googled the other day, this might be another one that trumps us :)

  4. Thanks, Kelly.

    Since the Sea Gull Cottage was so popular, I’m getting ready to post a couple of other shots from that ride. It’s funny what appeals to folks. I almost didn’t put these up because I didn’t think they were all that great.

    I can’t figure out why the Google Maps marker shows up for some folks, but not others. I would have thought they’d be browser agnostic if anybody would.

    I’m going to quote extensively from the PBDN in my next posting, so I’ll link to the story and maybe send some traffic back your way.

    BTW, I stopped by your office on my way by that night and all the good Shiny Sheeters had already left. (A case of short sheeting, I suppose.)

  5. Thanks for the photo and map. I love riding along there. This year my wife “forced” me to take her to Florida although we couldn’t afford Disneyland, we enjoyed biking in the warm weather and sight-seeing. Someone should do more of a guide of landmarks along this trail.

  6. I’m using Firefox and I can’t pinpoint the exact location too. Too bad though … I love those shingles and windows… and I’m so curious as to how the rest of the building looks. Oh well, there’s always the trusty traditional maps to fall back on …

  7. This photo kind os gives me the creeps. I can’t tell whether it’s because it resembles the haunted houses made so famous in movies … or merely because of this house being the “oldest house.”

  8. I would have loved to see more photos of the house, Ken. Being the oldest house in town, I expected to see at least a photo of its facade. Absolutely love old style architecture!

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