Howard Major designed the 1936 Prescott Gardener home in the British colonial style of the Bahamas and British West Indies.
“The house is Pres,” exclaimed Suzan Phillips. She was speaking about Prescott LeBreton Gardner, the original owner of the stately Lowell house at 2300 Ocean Dr. with its unparalleled view of the ocean and the Riomar golf course. Suzan remembers Pres as an outrageous character and incredibly generous philanthropist as do all his friends and acquaintances.
Pres first came to Vero Beach from Ridgewood, N. J., to visit the Phillips. He had been best man at their wedding. As soon as he saw the beauty of Vero, as it was then called, he decided to become a winter resident. When he was trying to decide what kind of house to build, he got in touch with well-known Palm Beach architect Howard Major. Major was an associate of Addison Mizner, the famous designer of many of south Florida’s most magnificent Mediterranean Revival mansions, most notably, La Guerida, John F. Kennedy’s Winter White House.
Read the entire article in the May 2014 issue
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