The Key West Citizen Newspaper, October 10, 1953, Page 6

Razing Of Aronovitz Building Is Under Wa Modern Structure To House Two Stores Will Be Built On Site By DENIS SNEIGR Real Estate Editor | In 1912, one of Key $43,500 Sales West's first concrete build- ings was going up at 618) H Duval St. A young man, son In 48 ours of the building’s owner,, climbed over the half-com- In Marathon pleted structure, watching : as the workmen poured con-! Florida Keys real estate sales crete or laid brick. eres a boost recently} when transactions in homes and pi or eat se . ———— residential lots at the Key Colony,| department store. The young |2rathon Shores went over the it $40,000 mark. j man was Charles Aronovitz. Wires: hnenae;and-Ii?aeektenital Yesterday, he again was watch- {lot Id the 48. ied aia dts ror an thas ting. s were sold during the 48-hour But this time the workmen were|PeTiod for a total of $43,500, ac-| not building. They were tearing cording to Richard Sadowski, vice-! down. _ President of Sadowski and Son,| As orton pened ine vrei owners and developers of the grow-| old flooring and mov AB 5 : sade of the building, (72 Keys community. Another Landmark Passes Aronovitz recalled how his father, David, had come to Key West in 1889. He established a store in a frame building and a few doors away from Number 618 ;Co., who bought a Included in the group of invet tors who purchased property. a7 Harry V. Mehrer of Philadelphia, vice-president of Livingston and two-bedroom Duval St. jhome and lot for $12,500; J. P. Then, in 1912, when the new con-/Welling, Akron, 0., a house and} crete structure was completed, the lot for $11,000, and Wayne H. Ker- store was moved into the first’ shaw di Miami who purchased a| floor. For about the first 25 years'small home and lot for $9,000. of the building’s life, Charles Aro-| novitz recalled, the second floor| was used as a dance hall — Aro-| novitz Hall. After that, and until) the recent closing of the store, the) second floor was used as storage space. When the old building is level- ed, @ modern, air-conditioned, ene-story building to house two stores will go up. The new buiid- ing, to be built by the CBS Con- struction Co. of Key West, will have a 50’ front on Duval St. and will be 150’ deep. One store, @ women’s ready-to-wear shop, will have @ 32’ front on Duval St. Aronovitz doesn't know yet what type of store will occupy the remainder of the new con- crete-block building. A block of 10 residential lots purchased by Charles. M. Williams| of Montery, Calif. for a total of) $10,000, and a single residential tot! was bought by John Thomka of}! Kenosha, Wis. for $1,000. Buyers from 28 states have now invested in residential and income} property in the Key Colony, Sa-) dowski said. work on the old building, said he} will use a crane and a clamshell! to tear down the walls and floors of poured concrete and the brick! veneer front. The new building, designed by | Norman Giller and Associates, ; Miami Beach architects, will have | a stucco front, glass entrance doors and an island show window. It is J, L. Staples, Key West contrac- expected that the new building will| crea ——* tor, who is doing the demolition |be completed by Feb. 10, 1954, Page 6 THE KEY WEST CITIZEN Saturday, October 10, 1953 tow EASY TERMS e | Florida Has 473,124 Home Owners - Michigan Leads Nation In Number; \Y State Falls -t End Of List re are more home owners in gan than any other state, a «vey disclosed this week. With 67.5 per cent of its homes owner- occupied, Michigan heads the home lownership parade. Next is Minne- sota with 66.4 per cent owner oc- cupied. New York on the other hand ranks lowest with 37.9 per cent owner-occupied, Florida comes 26th of the states with 57.6 percent of homes owner occupied, or 473,124. The National Association of Home Builders, quoting Census Bureau officials, said North Dakota was the third ranking home owning state with 66.2 per cent. A growth of home ownership in the U. S. - the best housed nation in the world - has been so gradual that few people are aware of the tremendous change in the com- Plexion of the national housing in- ventory during the first half of the twentieth century, NAHB added. Through the yeai home owner- ship steadily rose between 1890 and 1930 with the only temporary re- versal occurring in the 1930 de- Pression period. During: the 1940's, however, the trend shot up again. In 1940, census figures showed a U.S. population of about 131,000, 000 with a housing supply of 35,000,000 units - about 3.7 persons per unit. Today, the population has AWNINGS - DOORS JALOUSIES Key West Venetian Blind Co. 123 DUVAL STREET CONSTRUCTION CO. GENERAL CONTRACTINL RESIDENTIAL AND COMMERCIAL CONSTRUCTION AND REPAIRS ARCHITECTURAL AND ENGINEERING SERVICES AVAILABLE ... FREE ESTIMATES OUR NEW ADDRESS — 217 DUVAL DIRECTLY ACROSS FROM OLD ADDRESS Phone 2-2333 See Us If its JALOUSIES “We make em” — ANY SIZE — THE ARONOVITZ BUILDING on Duval Street is being demolished to make way for the erection of a modern store building.—Citizen Staff Photo, Finch. (rs. Dorothy Ki Sourt suit said had given! ar, a mink coat,} jewelry, and expensive clothes—; but no money for groceries. | She filed a suit for separate tenance. Judge Julius H. Min- ‘anted an injunction to keep bed by his wife as ind gambler, from in a safe depos- it pending disposition of the suit. BS were married in 1950, The Pana Canal is sometimes considered to mark the division be- tween Ni outh America. and ROBERTS Office Equipment ON SALE AT... SOUTHERNMOST PHAR! TUCKER’S DEPT. STOR ARCHER’S GROCERY 126 Duval Street Phone 2-5634 Distributed by Royal Typewriters BALDWIN'S GARDEN STOR Portables and Standards Fertilizers Garda SALES - SERVICE Legian N01 SIMONTON STRE: RENTALS | TELEPHONE 2.5212 VENETIAN BLINDS EXCLUSIVELY WITH © Built to Fit Any Size Window! x “Aluminum ROLLACHEAD ne Easily Removable) CUSTOM-MADE VENETIAN BLINDS Precision « made to fit your perfectly ... choose frem decor: inspired colors ... either m er contrasting tapes. PHONE US FOR FREB ESTIMA The Maxwell Company 909 Fleming St. New Construction, Repairs Revealed In Week’s Permits | | | NORTH POLE, Alaska (P—Kids, maybe you think Santa Claus (only 77 more days to Christmas) is the only resident of North Pole |Well, he isn’t. It's so darn crowded ing building perm jup here they’ve gone and elected a mayor and city cuuncil and it turned into the doggonedest mixup you ever saw, Two fellers—Everett Dahl and James ford—were running for mayor and when ‘ne votes were counted they both had 20. Had everybody in a kinda sweat won- dering what to do and then they found out that two of the four council races had a tie vote, too. They were 31-31 and 28-28. They straightened it out Thurs- day with the deadiocked candi- dates standing in front of the elec- tion judges who seitled the prob- lem by tossing a coin. It’s Mayor Dahl now. North Pole is south of the North Pole, 14 miles south of Fairbanks, in fact. If you want to make really good coffee, always measure both the coffee and the water. Two level measuring tablespoons of coffee and three-quarters of a measuring cup of water make a full-flavored beverage. of American housing over the past 13 crucial years has been as great as its growth. Where more than half of the homes and apartments of 1940 were renter - occupied, home owners are in the majority today. Since World War II alone, eight Santa’s Crowded |pair and maintenance work St. will make general repairs at $200. S. Cabrera, Jr., 826 White St. will make general repairs; $200. | Contractor Roy Edwards will | make general repairs for Mrs. A. |Miller, 526 Angela, for $1,000. Contractor J. L. Staples has per- (mits for four $13,500 CBS homes P Sey|for Philip Topino, 2710 Seidenberg; am Key Frank R. Toppino, 2718 Seidenberg; West during the past week|Edw. Toppino, 2718 Harris Ave., es te ¥ and George Topino, 2710 Harris St. as reflected by the Giffen Roofing Co. will repair the S: roof of the La Concha Hotel; $200. 2509 Harris St.,| M. Carey, 1426 Peuonia St., will cost of $100. repair a roof; $290. 515 Du-; The CBS Construction Co. conditioned by build $8,000 con: New construction and re- continued active VINYL . TILE TRADE MAPK VINYL TILE FLOORS Cut your flooring upkec follow- Steve San 1 add a room 's Rest will be ai will block homes val Esquinaldo Bros. reirigeration ser-|for Inocente San)», 1916 Fogar- e bone! vice for $1,800. |ty Si., and Elpid:o santiago, 1418 costs to th Lou Smith, 922 North Beach’ Albury St. - Road, will repair a porch; $200. | —— — H A wall and fence will be built | If all the salt in oceans were at St. Mary’s Church, Simonton jextracted, it is « rated that it and Virginia Strects by Porter- |would cover the lv: areas of the Wagor-Russell, Inc., contractors, jearth to a depth of about 110 feet, for $2,900. jsays the National Geographic So- The Delicatessen at 926 Simonton ciety. The Royal Palms APARTMENTS Accepting Applications Now Furnished and Unfurnished * KENFLEX Defies Grease, Dirt and Wear! At last! A floor that cuts down overhead while it helps build up your business! Now, get new, crisper, brighter, clearer colors in « floor that needs less maintenance because the vinyl tiles are unaffected by grease and dirt. KenFlex t waxing except to add to its permanent luster. Have stalled now without interruption to business. We will be glad give you a FREE estimate. : All Work Guaranteed Tropical Sheet Metal Works 134 Simonton Street TEL. 2-3923 Just edged up over 160,000,000 with million homes have been built, a an inventory of more than 5.000,!world production record, according 000 dwellings - slightly more than to John M. Dickerman, NAHB Exe- three persons per unit. jeutive Director. Between 1940 and 1950 a remark-! In 1900 there were 7,500,000 - or able increase in the percentage of 46 per cent - owner occupied home owners outnumber renters, dwellings in the U. S., fewer than latest (1950) Housing Census figu-\the number of homes built since res reveal that, for the first time, World War II. By 1940 the number home owners outnumber renters,./had risen to 15,200,000 or 43.6 per 55 per cent own their own homes|cent and in 1950 the figure had in- today. creased to 23,400,000 or 55 per cent. i Despite hot and cold wars, the Projected for 1960 are 30,000,00 or ch in character and quality|6 per cent. 2 Bedroom Apartments FIRST STREET and PATTERSON AVENUE KENFLEX Floors Are Ideal for Every Type of Business Restaurants Motels Banks Grocery Stores Lunch Counters Beauty Parlors Department Stores Hotels Barber Shops Offices Light Factory Work Spaces Rey West Floor Covering Co. 132 DUVAL STREET