On the market: North End Bermuda-style home updated with Palm Beach panache

As New Yorker Gigi Mortimer tells it, she and husband Avie, who are soon to be full-time Florida residents, bought their first home in Palm Beach to be near Gigi’s mother, the late Jean Hamilton Pearman.

When searching for a residence about two years ago, the Mortimers found a 1939 house at 255 El Pueblo Way, which was designed by the late Palm Beach architect Belford Shoumate. With its Bermudian touches, the house felt like home, so to speak, says Gigi Mortimer.

“I am from Bermuda, and my mother lived on Major Alley,” she says, referring to the famous Bermuda-style condominium complex designed for Peruvian Avenue in Midtown by the late Howard Major, another Palm Beach architect who was inspired by Bermudian architecture.

The North End house on El Pueblo Way had many Bermudian features that attracted the couple.

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“We love the beamed ceilings and the way the house opens to the garden. It’s so sunny, bright and beachy,” Gigi says. “And one of the things that makes this house so special, it was owned by two generations of the same family. It has a wonderful vibe and feeling.”

But the time has come to sell the El Pueblo Way house, now that the Mortimers have upsized. With four bedrooms, four bathrooms and 3,723 square feet of living space inside and out, they’ve listed the property for $13.5 million through Sotheby’s International Realty agents Lisa and John Cregan.

The house occupies a lot of about three-tenths of an acre and stands about midway between the Palm Beach Country Club and the inlet at the north tip of the island.

From the foyer and stair hall, the living room lies to the east, as does the window-lined “Florida room,” which doubles as a dining room and opens to the pool terrace.

To the west are a bedroom suite, an eat-in kitchen and a laundry area. Also on this side of the house and to the north are a small bedroom suite and a family room, which the Mortimers repurposed to serve as the main bedroom suite.

On the second floor are two more bedroom suites.

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“We kept the style but redid everything. Our goal was to open it up and bring the outside and in, and to enhance the garden around the 100-year-old mango tree, which I felt was fun and special in the backyard.”

For their renovations, they worked with architect Pat Segraves, builder Chip Janssen and interior designer Alessandra Branca. The house has since been “staged” for resale with furnishings from Meredith Baer Home.

Echoing the Major Alley buildings, they chose a white-on-white exterior color scheme graced by bougainvillea vines.

“We kept Belford’s tilework on the floors (in the main rooms) and around the doors; he was known for his tilework,” Gigi explains.

Floors are covered in coquina stone in the Florida room/dining room. In the main bedroom and upstairs rooms, the floors are bleached oak.

Vintage elements left intact in the bathrooms were a green bathroom sink and a clawfoot tub that Gigi liked. The previous owners had already added some Waterworks embellishments.

In the living room, which is topped by a beamed pitched ceiling, a wood-burning fireplace is a focal point. Gigi kept the concept of the original mullion-less picture windows but refitted them with impact-resistant glass. In fact, impact glass was installed in windows and doors throughout the house.

The Florida room/dining room also has a beamed ceiling.

In the kitchen, which has a work island, stainless-steel appliances and marble counters and backsplashes, crews built a banquette, bookcases and a table to match the cerused-oak cabinetry.

The repurposed main bedroom, topped by a pitched ceiling, is finished in cerused pecky cypress paneling. A bank of sliding doors opens to a pergola covered by a louvered brise soleil.

The house is wired for music, audio/visual components and security. The electric and air-conditioning systems as well as the roof are all new.

In the time they spent in this house, the Mortimers enjoyed everything about it, Gigi says — the house itself, the neighborhood, their neighbors and the community’s shared beach cabana.

“Some people try to tear down an old house, but we just felt that this house had a lot of charm and character, and it was well situated on its lot. The outdoor spaces were as important as the inside spaces. The house had room to breathe,” Gigi says. “I understood what a Bermuda house is all about. I love historic houses and the traditional design elements of the Bermuda style. I love enhancing and updating them and preserving their integrity.”

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: Home at 255 El Pueblo Way in Palm Beach for sale at $13.5 million