The Wenger Home is a Nautical Moderne private residence built at 3811 Wall Street, in an unincorporated pocket of Palm Beach County. The house is a whimsical fantasy with heart shaped cut-outs in the concrete perimeter enclosure and eyebrows stacked like a wedding cake. In 2000, Boynton Beach artist Rick Beaulieu composed a color scheme for the current owners.

Ruth and Ray Wenger, pictured, built their home themselves. Construction was completed on the Art Deco dream house in 1948. Ray, shown with his motorcycle, was a jack-of-all-trades, and Ruth was a beautician. Part of the home was built as Ruth’s Beauty Salon, with small connecting rooms. In 2006, the Wenger House became the first residence ever to be listed on Palm Beach County’s Register of Historic Places.

A symmetrical detail of the Wenger House’s facade exemplifies Art Deco geometry and balance. In this historic treasure, the use of flat linear plans, known as eyebrows, were fanciful and decorative. The eyebrows are assembled like the layers of a wedding cake or a smoke stack. Usually, eyebrows are functional elements placed above windows in order to provide shade from the tropical sun.

Another closeup details evenly spaced, stacked, and rounded linear planes forming functional steps. The curvilinear staircase swirls around the home, leading to a rooftop environment. The thin railings are reminiscent of the nautical theme, along with the repetition of large and small porthole windows. The historic Wenger House is currently owned by preservationists Linda Stabile and her husband, Calvin Zimmer. (Wide shot courtesy of Linda Stabile and Calvin Zimmer; others courtesy of the Art Deco Society of the Palm Beaches and Sharon Koskoff.)

As featured in Images of America - Art Deco of the Palm Beaches.

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