The GroveHouse, 50 years later

You all know the GroveHouse at the Mayfair Promenade, the co-op art gallery run by local artists. But did you know the original GroveHouse started in 1960? I recently was privy to lots of old documents, newspapers and other items, showing the history of the GroveHouse and many Grove entities.

The GroveHouse was started by James Merrick Smith, Otto Holbein and Lester Pancoast who were concerned about giving local artists an outlet for their work. GroveHouse became an incorporated non-profit marketplace for their work. (Click on the invitation here for larger view).

The original GroveHouse was at the original Coconut Grove Bank Building (now H&H Jewels on Main Highway) and later moved into a two story yellow house at 1 Playhouse Alley, where it offered a homey open porch and large rooms. Eventually they moved to larger quarters because their membership was over 500. A school at the back of their new facility on Main Highway was a school where students learned from professional artists. Everything was taught from photography to painting, sculpture, etc. There were over 30 workshops and seminars at one point.

The GroveHouse branched out and had annexes at Mercy Hospital and Suniland. Members did shows "on the road," like at FIU. Movies were shown at the GroveHouse in collaboration with The Experimental Cinema of Miami.

In the early 1970s, Erika King, local artist, was the interim director. She tried to bring in modern art but the crafts people felt threatened and thought it was too far out, which may have been the beginning of their problems, since they refused to move with the times.

By the mid 1970s, the GroveHouse started having financial problems. You can see the front page report in this June 8, 1974 issue of The Village Post (the Grove's newspaper at the time, please click on the image for larger view). The paper said it was due to a lack of community support, which seems hard to believe now since we have always considered the Grove to be an arts center of Miami.

By June 29, 1974, a headline in the Miami Herald proclaimed "Grove House Saved" and Grace Wing Bohne proclaimed in her article that over 700 people showed up for the GroveHouse "Rescue Party" event on June 27, 1974. They raised $10,000 in one night, which went to their $12,000 debt. Grace said, "Old-timers and new-timers joined the throng. Founding mother Mary Whitlock reminisced with attorney John Gunn who drew up the charter in 1960."

The Grove House's newsletter in September 1974 proclaimed, "Sun's Out!" and reported on the success of the June rescue party. Also part of the newsletter is an announcement of a modeling sketch class, only $1.50. (Click on the newsletter for larger view).

Eventually the GroveHouse folded due to lack of funding and years later was resurrected in 2005, to the entity you see today. They were first on Main Highway at St. Stephen's and now at the Mayfair Promenade next to The Improv. What's old is new again.

Above and below is the GroveHouse today. They really come alive on Coconut Grove Gallery Walk nights, the first Saturday of each month, and they'll be part of the Grove's Art Basel night on November 29 and Concierge Night on November 30.