Historic Ft. Lauderdale schoolhouse reopens as museum

After a $2 million renovation, Fort Lauderdale’s historic West Side Elementary School has reopened as the Broward County Historical Commission and Museum, home to a 2,000-volume research library, glass pavilion for meetings and events and an exhibition space. A new 37-unit artists’ affordable housing complex is also now up and running on the site. Lennar Homes purchased the building and the 13.4 acres surrounding it in March 2003 for $5 million. The company had planned to build the artists’ apartment complex on the site, but the project stalled amid the credit crunch, and the county ultimately kicked in the $2 million in funding to create the museum and $1 million to finish the art colony project. When the school, at 301 Southwest 13th Avenue, was built in 1923, it cost $27,600 to construct in just two months. [Miami Herald]

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