At 253 Barcelona Road in the El Cid historic area of West Palm Beach, there is a historic home built in 1925 that is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The house was owned by Ralph Hubbard Norton, founder of the Norton Museum of Art. A Monterey style house, Marion Sims Wyeth was the architect. Wyeth altered the house extensively to fit Norton’s art collector and it is now used as an art museum.
Group tours, special events, a Little Explorers Summer Program and the opportunity to use the facility for an event are available. There is a K-10 curriculum and educators’ resource focusing on visual arts, science and language. There is a writing workshop, and featured are discoveries in carving, plaster model making, scale enlarging, lost was casting, eco-systems, ecology, plant identification and biodiversity.
The Ann Norton Sculpture Gardens, part of the 1.7-acre property, has over 100 sculptures by Ann Weaver Norton which are displayed in the house, studio and gardens. Ther are 300+ species of tropical palms. Ann studied at Smith College, the National Academy of Design, Arts Students League and Cooper Union. The artist’s studio has works in wood, stone and bronze done over 4 decades. Some works are abstract, yet warm and she is said to have been remarkably avant-garde eveb vy today’s standards. Some works are over 12’ tall. Works in the garden were created right there. The setting is peaceful and beautifully maintained.
