Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Moving of McNab House to new home attracts thousands
Plan calls for 452-ton building’s renovation into restaurant at park
POMPANO BEACH — Thousands of people gathered Sunday morning to watch the 94-year-old McNab House, an enduring presence on the south side of Atlantic Boulevard in Pompano Beach, being moved slowly several blocks across town to its new, forever home.
Crews on cherry pickers lifted power lines and swung traffic lights out of the way as the county’s largest mobile home inched slowly along the route to its new home in McNab Park, which is another property the family gifted to the city.
Former Pompano Beach Mayor Lamar Fisher was among those on hand to watch the 452-ton home being shifted six blocks from one spot to another.
“Obviously I know the family,” he said. “We all grew up together, and I used to play in that house when I was a kid. I’m happy we are able to save it.”
Three McNab granddaughters walked alongside the house as it crawled eastward along Atlantic Boulevard.
Glenda Carr, who now lives in John Knox Village, said, “We’re so thankful. It’s just going to be a beautiful place.”
With her were Cindy Peters, who also lives in Knox Village, and Jenny Simon, who now lives in Tennessee.
“It’s emotional, but we’re very happy,” said Simon. “It’s only fitting that’s it’s going to be a restaurant. Our family is all about cooking.”
Added Peters: “We’re so happy that people will be able to enjoy it like we have.”
The McNab House, which was at 1736 E. Atlantic Blvd., will be set up in the park. The sixbedroom house once belonged to Robert “Bob” McNab, a city pioneer.
As the house — with its furniture intact — rolled along to McNab Park, at 2250 E. Atlantic Blvd., each block was being shut down beginning at 7 a.m. and reopened after the house passes by.
There was no access onto Atlantic Boulevard while the 452-ton house, and its accompanying stand-alone garage, was cradled by nine housemoving dollies — each dolly with eight wheels, aircraft tires and hydraulic steering — that creeped along at about 2 mph.
Robert “Bob” McNab and his older brother, William “Harry” McNab, moved to Pompano Beach in 1898 and farmed the land that today is along South Federal Highway. The McNab brothers built homes across the street from each other, using mustard-colored brick imported from Alabama.
Today, Harry McNab’s home is a school. But Bob McNab’s
house on the south side of Atlantic Boulevard might have sat at its current site forever as a family home, until a developer with townhouse and rental apartment plans offered to buy the heirs out. They agreed.
Rather than bulldoze the two-story masterpiece, the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency offered to foot the estimated $2.7 million bill to save it.
The plan now is renovate the house and turn it into a restaurant on the northeast part of the park. Officials said there is no timetable to choose the restaurant management, but the McNab House Restaurant and Botanical Gardens project is expected to be complete in three years after the CRA files plans for items such as landscaping, parking, a new commercial kitchen building, valet area and a planned courtyard between the garage and house.