Belford Shoumate (1903-1991)
Biography
Belford Shoumate was born in Aberdeen, Ohio. He studied architecture at the University of Pennsylvania and worked with architect Joseph Urban in New York City. Shoumate worked in Miami for one year with Carlos B. Schoeppl before coming to Palm Beach. Since the late 1930s, Belford Shoumate has left his architectural imprint, in either design or restoration, on more than 500 buildings of many styles in South Florida, from Bermuda and Colonial to Art Deco. His first Palm Beach commission was the 1937 Art Moderne style “Boat House” on North Lake Way, which was rumored to have won the award for “House of the Future” at the 1939 World’s Fair. Early in his career in Palm Beach, Shoumate designed and built a home and office in Phipps Plaza where he lived and worked until his death in 1991.
Collection: The collection was donated in 1993 by Shoumate’s sons William and Thomas Shoumate and includes over 10,000 of Shoumate’s architectural drawings and papers. Click here for the Belford Shoumate Finding Aid.
