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Palm Beach style maven Lilly Pulitzer Rousseau says she had three reasons for buying a 1946 house five years ago in West Palm Beach's El Cid neighborhood - as an investment; as a home away from home when she rented out her home on the island; and as a place to accommodate her overnight guests.
As it turned out, the house at 310 Cordova Road near Olive Avenue turned out to be a perfect choice. Not only did it have plenty of room - three bedrooms and two-and-a-half bathrooms in the main house with another three bedrooms and three bathrooms in the guest cottage - but it also stood just across the street from the home of daughter Liza Pulitzer, a Realtor with Martha A. Gottfried, Inc.
These days, however, Rousseau has decided that living on Palm Beach makes more sense, and she has asked her daughter to list the Cordova Road property for $995,000.
"This was just a fun place for Mom to camp out in the winter," explains Liza, "and it was big enough for family to come and stay in the guesthouse."
Getting the landscape in shape was a top priority after Rousseau bought the place, but that didn't entail creating a clipped-and-trimmed-to-the-teeth yard.
"Mom's home on South County Road (in Palm Beach) is an acre and a half of jungle, and she tried to recreate it here," Liza explains. "It's what she loves.
"There was nothing here for landscape, not a blade of grass. It was wall-to-wall cement. She planted trees, bushes and flowers. She did everything."
Rousseau says she is happy she's leaving the property in better shape than she found it. And in her characteristic no-nonsense style, she doesn't mince words when describing what the house and grounds once looked like.
"It was the most uncharming house I'd ever seen. It was the ugliest," she says, ticking off the list of accomplished exterior projects, including the addition of hundreds of plants and the installation of the handsome Chicago-brick-covered driveway and patio area adjacent to the pool.
"I put in the entire garden and the old bricks - and I don't even know how many palm trees. It became charming overnight," she says.
The yard today is indeed Lilly-esque, as lively as one of her famous floral fabric designs - verdant, bountiful and blooming. Among her most notable touches to the home's front faŤade is the pair of Caribbean-blue posts that support the front porch's overhang.
"I think they are sort of racy," Rousseau says. "Someone was throwing them out. I gave them to Liza. She threw them into storage. Then we found them after a few years, and I thought, What the heck? Let's put them up."
Once you walk past the columns and enter the house, you find yourself in the living room and dining room, which are decorated in bright colors with lots of wicker and rattan furnishings.
Like other rooms, the living room boasts hardwood floors. One wall has a fireplace, and opposite it is a stairway with a simple white wrought-iron railing that leads to the upstairs bedroom and bathroom.
Past the living room, through French doors that Rousseau curtained, is the area she uses as a first-floor master suite. It's comprised of two bedrooms and a bathroom - the smaller bedroom serves as her dressing room. The master bedroom looks out to the pool.
The kitchen is connected to the dining room, and its back door leads to the pool, patio, gardens and guesthouse. Each bedroom in the guesthouse has its own entry and bathroom.
Liza Pulitzer calls the Cordova Road house Lilly's "garden cottage."
Rousseau, meanwhile, says its location is one of the house's most outstanding features: "It's a great street and it has wonderful neighbors - and the new owners will be right across the street from my daughter."
For more information about 310 Cordova Road, call Liza Pulitzer at (561) 373-0666.
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| Burnt-umber walls and a bright coverlet enliven one of the bedrooms in the guesthouse. | The living room's sofa and armchairs are upholstered in a bright jungle print. On the sofa is a pillow embroidered with the words 'Lilly's Casita.' |
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| Owned by Lilly Pulitzer Rousseau, 310 Cordova Road in West Palm Beach comprises the main house, above, and a separate two-story guesthouse. Rousseau added the Caribbean-blue posts to the front porch. The property is listed for sale for $995,000 by Martha A. Gottfried, Inc. | Lilly Pulitzer Rousseau concentrated on improving the exterior of the property with landscaping and Chicago-brick pavers. 'It became charming overnight,' she says. File photo/Palm Beach Daily News |
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| Seating areas and chaise lounges are grouped around the swimming pool. The guesthouse at left has three bedrooms, each with its own entrance. | glass-topped parsons table is surrounded by wicker chairs and an upholstered bench in the dining room, where large windows afford views of the landscape while letting in the sunshine. |
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| An elaborately patterned floral wallpaper adds visual interest to one of the guest bedrooms. | On the first floor, the master bedroom is dressed in floral prints and pastels. The room overlooks the swimming pool and patio. |
By Christine Davis
Marketing Writer
Thursday, July 26, 2007 - PalmBeachDailyNews.com
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