PRESERVATION
Where the kitchen is now, inside, used to be a dressing room by the
fireplace for Dr. Van Landingham’s girls, and the boys dressed on the
other side. Bean used to just leave the dishes out for anyone to grab
when he lived there. It was a bohemian lifestyle.”
Main Street is having the verandah put back into its original place,
wrapping around the east side of the building, said Main Street
Manager Doris Tillman. They also removed the wrought iron balcony
rail that was above the front door for many years.
Upstairs, where Main Street will have offices in what used to be
bedrooms, officials found the perfect triangular spot for a green
stained glass window that says Main Street on it — a gift from the
Vachon family.
To bring the house up to current building code standards the contractor
46
added a flight of wooden stairs leading to the second floor on
the back corner of the west side of the house. The first floor will be
used for community events.
The front door of the house, rounded into an arch shape at the top,
was a gift from Waldo Sexton, the legendary entrepreneur and builder
extraordinaire of Vero Beach. It came from the old Guggenheim house
in Palm Beach, torn down in the 1960s, Brown said.
“Waldo used to come and get Bean and take him up to Vero, and
then he’d hold up a piece of wood and say, ‘What do you think, Bean?
Does it look better here… or over here?’” Brown said.
Backus himself made the back door, using planks he found on the
beach and driftwood to make a graceful design on top of the planks.
The contractor saved all of the old wood that was useable and is
replacing the interior walls with bead board and wainscoting, matching
the original. Old-style windows have been replicated. The Waldo
Sexton door is being refurbished by a specialist. New plumbing and
electrical wiring is being installed. Landscaping will be suitable for
garden parties.
Main Street is hosting preview tours of the house between April 24
and 26, and plans to cut the ribbon on May 7, concluding a year-long
effort to restore an old house and significant piece of the history of
Fort Pierce to its former glory.
This back door is attributed to Backus himself from planks found
on the beach and driftwood he attached in a curving design.
On the far right, in front, in this aerial
shot of early Fort Pierce, with
just the roof and part of the secondstory
windows showing, is the
Platts/Backus house.
MAIN STREET FORT PIERCE