(The picture above is of our house in Dade County Florida ca. 1959-about the date when the house I just bought was built. Many of the houses in florida were a generic 2/2 or 3/2 C.B.S and it is not exactly remarkable that the kitchens of this house in Dade and the one we bought in Hobe Sound were very similar. But when I first saw this house in HoBe Sound I felt instantly "at home". In fact, I had to set up a table exactly where the table is in this picture or it just didn't feel comfortable... and I didn't realize why I was compelled to do it until I found this photo.)
A House in Hobe Sound
The house that We bought, we bought from the estate of Douglas Dillon, the Secretary of the Treasury under presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson. According to our neighbor (the one they call the “vampire” because he is never seen in the day time and rarely at night. His house is closed up tight with hurricane shutters) the house was lived in by Dillon’s “man” Leon. I have also heard Leon referred to as the “chauffeur”. Dillon, it seems, had a residence on the island (Jupiter Island) and it was probably convenient for his “man” to be close. This house is close. In strictest terms it is about three miles to the beginning of some of the priciest real estate in the U.S. In measures aside from linear distance it is light years away from that island of verdant estates and lapping shorelines. This place is on the “wrong side of the tracks” when compared to Jupiter Island. It is a working class enclave with a peppering of “snow birds”, like ourselves and I don’t try to fool myself that it will ever be anything more.
Since its “discovery” by the white man in the 15th century Florida has suffered through the manipulations of generations of get-rich-quick land hustlers and self-styled visionaries aplenty. Jupiter and Jupiter Island are nothing if not perfect examples of the speculations of privileged Spanish, English, and American hustlers. By the middle of the twentieth century the island was a tropical enclave of weathy industrialists, financiers and sports figures. Hobe Sound is the community to the north of affluent Jupiter and Jupiter Island and to the south of rapidly developing Stuart.
C. Douglas Dillon lived out on the island as one of the approximately 800 very wealthy residents until he died in the year 2003. Despite the less than fortunate lineage of his paternal grand father * he grew up in a life of money and privilege. He married a Scottish woman of some position and was educated in East coast schools along with the likes of the Rockefeller and went on to a career in industry and finance. After a stint in the military during WWII he did the bidding of John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson as Secretary of the Treasury and Ambassador to France among other posts.
The house where his “man” Leon lived- 8695 S.E. Janice Drive- is a modest cement block house three miles north of the entrance to Jupiter Island at Bridge Road. One might imagine it being a convenient place to house one’s staff, it being only moments away by car. The house was part of the Dillon Trust and ,from what I have been able to piece together, his “man” Leon lived here seasonally until his death in 2015 (?). It is not a gated community-in fact there is not even a homeowners association. The community is bounded on the west by Federal Highway (U.S. 1), on the east by the Florida East Coast Railway tracks, on the south and north by strip stores and tracts of scrub pine and palmetto.
There is little shopping to be done in the strip stores unless one is looking for fruit, tacos, or recreational vehicles. If one wants food the Publix and a Winn-Dixie is at the cross roads of Federal Highway and Bridge Road three miles away. There is the Hobe Sound Library and the Hobe Sound Post Office about a mile away. One might also obtain blessings from god in one of a half dozen churches along the highway or ammunition for ones assault weapons. There is no shortage of churches or gun shops anywhere in South Florida to be sure and this area is no exception. Mr. Dillon’s grandfather would have been without religious succor as there is no synagogue anywhere in or near Hobe Sound. This is not an historically tolerant town when it comes to Jews.
Some of the homes in the community are elaborately maintained with lush landscaping while others are run down and neglected. (when buying a home one typically focuses on the former while ignoring the latter.) This house is somewhere in between. The lawn is weeds but the remnants of a carefully kept hedge and sculpted topiary are evident under the encroaching Brazilian Pepper and other invasive plants that have crept in. Elisabeth and I have already begun laboriously working to retrieve the 1950’s clues buried in the remains of the landscaping.
The interior of the house is sparse. The ubiquitous terrazzo floors are pocked from the installation and removal of “tack strips” and wall-to-wall carpeting. The plaster walls are heavy and sound-proof. The lighting fixtures and switches and outlets are all circa 1960s. There is wiring and cable from defunct electrical work and outdated telephone systems running along the baseboards and poking through the walls. The kitchen sports cabinets straight out of an episode of Leave it to Beaver. The appliances are clean but ancient. The wall oven is a 25 year old (at least!) Magic Chef that looks brand new and unused. It does heat up but our first attempt to cook with it revealed controls that did not work at all and it has only one temperature-900 degrees. It is useless. We’ll work our fingers to the bone outside on the landscaping and inside reclaiming what we can of the 1959 decor. It will be hard and expensive but we look forward to the tasks. Meanwhile, we sit in a little nook of the kitchen in the morning drinking our coffee, satisfied with our new home.
*Footnote: ( S. Lapowski was a Polish, Jewish immigrant . Dillon’s father changed the name. One might speculate on the reason but my thoughts are that it was the fashion of the day for Jews to try to “fit in”. Changing ones name to something more “American” would have been a common practice, especially living in Texas which was where the family settled after emigrating.)
