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David Wolkowsky
David William Wolkowsky (August 25, 1919 – September 23, 2018) was a real estate developer from Key West, Florida. He is credited with transforming the city from a navy town to a tourist destination.
David Wolkowsky's grandfather, Abraham Wolkowsky, was a Russian Jewish immigrant who moved to Key West in 1886, where he initially worked as a peddler and eventually operated businesses including clothing stores, furniture stores, and saloons. He had two sisters: Edna Wolkowsky (died 2006) and Ruth W. Greenfield (1923-2023), a musician and social activist in Miami. Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, a photographer and filmmaker, is his nephew. He has another nephew, Miami based attorney Joseph Lipsky, and a niece, Kim Lipsky, a congressional staffer.
Wolkowsky grew up in Key West and Miami. Originally studying pre-med at the University of Pennsylvania, he decided against medicine as a career and switched to architecture. After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania in 1943, he joined the merchant marine and moved to New York, where worked as a floor walker for Lord & Taylor, making $25/week.
Wolkowsky returned to Philadelphia to restore buildings in the inner city. Under the name David Williams, to avoid anti-Semitism, he began the rejuvenation of Society Hill and Rittenhouse Square; his projects received accolades from Town & Country magazine in 1955.
Wolkowsky returned to Key West in late 1962, after the death of his father, Isaac Wolkowsky, to deal with the properties that he inherited from his father. Unable to retire, he rescued a condemned bar on family land on Greene Street, which was the original home of "Sloppy Joe's" of Ernest Hemingway fame. From there, he developed property on lower Duval and Front Streets including "Pirate's Alley" and the "Original Cigar Factory". In 1963, Wolkowsky acquired the old Cuban Ferry Dock, choice waterfront property near Mallory Square, for $106,000.
Wolkowsky lifted the 1890 Porter Steamship office off of its foundation and moved it 300 feet (91 m) out, setting it on pilings in 40 feet (12 m) of water. He transformed the Steamship office into "Tony's Fish Market", a restaurant and cocktail lounge where guests could watch shrimp boats in the channel on their way into port.
In 1967, Wolkowsky hired architect Yiannis B. Antonidis to help design a motel around the restaurant, with 50 unique rooms, to which 50 more rooms that faced the ocean were quickly added. The completed structure was named "Pier House Resort Motel".
The Pier House became a destination for celebrities and media types, mostly because of Wolkowsky's unique personality and laissez-faire attitude, as well as his acute public relations; he invited celebrities as well as photographers to get press coverage.
David Wolkowsky
David William Wolkowsky (August 25, 1919 – September 23, 2018) was a real estate developer from Key West, Florida. He is credited with transforming the city from a navy town to a tourist destination.
David Wolkowsky's grandfather, Abraham Wolkowsky, was a Russian Jewish immigrant who moved to Key West in 1886, where he initially worked as a peddler and eventually operated businesses including clothing stores, furniture stores, and saloons. He had two sisters: Edna Wolkowsky (died 2006) and Ruth W. Greenfield (1923-2023), a musician and social activist in Miami. Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, a photographer and filmmaker, is his nephew. He has another nephew, Miami based attorney Joseph Lipsky, and a niece, Kim Lipsky, a congressional staffer.
Wolkowsky grew up in Key West and Miami. Originally studying pre-med at the University of Pennsylvania, he decided against medicine as a career and switched to architecture. After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania in 1943, he joined the merchant marine and moved to New York, where worked as a floor walker for Lord & Taylor, making $25/week.
Wolkowsky returned to Philadelphia to restore buildings in the inner city. Under the name David Williams, to avoid anti-Semitism, he began the rejuvenation of Society Hill and Rittenhouse Square; his projects received accolades from Town & Country magazine in 1955.
Wolkowsky returned to Key West in late 1962, after the death of his father, Isaac Wolkowsky, to deal with the properties that he inherited from his father. Unable to retire, he rescued a condemned bar on family land on Greene Street, which was the original home of "Sloppy Joe's" of Ernest Hemingway fame. From there, he developed property on lower Duval and Front Streets including "Pirate's Alley" and the "Original Cigar Factory". In 1963, Wolkowsky acquired the old Cuban Ferry Dock, choice waterfront property near Mallory Square, for $106,000.
Wolkowsky lifted the 1890 Porter Steamship office off of its foundation and moved it 300 feet (91 m) out, setting it on pilings in 40 feet (12 m) of water. He transformed the Steamship office into "Tony's Fish Market", a restaurant and cocktail lounge where guests could watch shrimp boats in the channel on their way into port.
In 1967, Wolkowsky hired architect Yiannis B. Antonidis to help design a motel around the restaurant, with 50 unique rooms, to which 50 more rooms that faced the ocean were quickly added. The completed structure was named "Pier House Resort Motel".
The Pier House became a destination for celebrities and media types, mostly because of Wolkowsky's unique personality and laissez-faire attitude, as well as his acute public relations; he invited celebrities as well as photographers to get press coverage.