A West Palm Beach neighborhood isn’t only showing off its holiday light displays — it is showcasing homes that date back to the 1920s.
The Flamingo Park Neighborhood, located just a few blocks south of CityPlace, is hosting its 23rd annual Holiday Historic Home Tour at 5 p.m. Sunday.
The historic neighborhood, which dates back to the 1920s, is bounded by Park Place to the north, Belvedere Road to the south and Parker Avenue to the West. It is situated on one of the highest coastal ridges from downtown West Palm Beach to Miami.
Folks familiar with the neighborhood’s holiday gathering will find newly featured homes this year.
“This year I did my best to try to create more interest by having as many houses that had never ever been open to the public,” said Linda Cullen, the neighborhood’s association president.
The three-hour walking tour highlights eight historic homes. Five of the homes haven’t been on the tour before. The other three haven’t been featured since 2010.
Cullen said one of the homes featured this year is known as the “Comeau House.”
The two-story home was built by E.B. Walton for Alfred J. Comeau in 1924. Comeau was a famous 1920s entrepreneur and financier. The 10-story Comeau Building in downtown West Palm Beach on Clematis Street was built for and named after him in the ’20s.
Other houses on display this year were built in 1920s Mediterranean Revival Style, Spanish Mission and 1930s and 1940s Frame Vernacular. Many homes were built during the 1920s Florida Land Boom Era.
“There’s very little of old Florida left that has wood floors and fireplaces,” Cullen said. “People love to come for the architecture and the neighborhood.”
Folks who sign up for the tour will be allowed inside all of the homes on the tour for snacks and drinks, which will be catered in from several local restaurants. There also will be a trolley to help transport people to the houses.
To help preserve the real wood floors in many of the homes, people on the holiday tour are asked to not wear high heels.
Tickets cost $30 per person if purchased before Sunday. Tickets purchased at the event cost $35. The tour is only open to adults.
Cullen said the holiday tour is the neighborhood’s biggest fundraiser of the year. She said all money raised goes into neighborhood upkeep.
The neighborhood, a former Pineapple plantation, became a West Palm Beach historic district in 1993 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2000.
Once people finish visiting the eight homes, they can gather at an outdoor hospitality tent located in the 700 block of Claremore Road for dessert, coffee and holiday caroling.
Tickets can be purchased online at,
, 561-243-6544 or Twitter @marisagottesman
