Venice board says to preserve WWII club

VENICE — The Historic and Architectural Preservation Board voted unanimously Thursday to put a kitchen sink on the Local Register of Historical Resources.

The sink is the original one in the former Student Officers Club of the Venice Army Air Base, built in 1942, which now serves as the clubhouse for the Municipal Mobile Home Park, 780 Firenze Ave. E.

The proposal before the board was to put the building itself on the register, but after Historic Resources Manager Harry Klinkhamer pointed out that the mailboxes, wood floor and kitchen sink are original features of the building, they were included as well.

The proposal now goes to the City Council, which almost certainly will accept the board's recommendation because it was at the Council's direction that the club was nominated for the register.

The building has been the clubhouse for the park since 1950, a year after the Council voted to create the park, Klinkhamer said.

It wasn't even in the city at the time, he said, because when the federal government developed the air base to train pilots, it owned the land from Tamiami Trail to the Gulf of Mexico and from San Marco Drive down to where the Intracoastal Waterway would be dug south of the airport proper.

The land was declared surplus after World War II and given to the city by the War Assets Administration, though the federal government retained oversight of the uses on it.

It wasn't annexed into the city limits until 1961, Klinkhamer said.

The club could be considered for the register for two reasons, he said: its significance in the city's history, combined with its structural integrity; and its association with distinctive elements of history that have contributed to the community, city, county, state, region or nation.

The club is one of several structures from the air base days that still exist, he said, but it's the only one still in its original location. And it has largely maintained its integrity, though the windows were replaced in 1951 and it has a new roof.

Assuming it gets put on the register, any future renovations or improvements would need to be done according to the secretary of the interior's standards, he said.

Listing it isn't a requirement of applying for grants, he said, but would probably put the club higher on the state's list for funding.