Yorktown University Newsletter
Special “Scholarship Tour” Edition
February 12, 2010

Tour of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida

On Saturday, January 30, Yorktown University conducted a tour of important architectural features of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.  The Ft. Lauderdale Tour is the first of four tours that will be conducted in 2010 and 2011 that feature Yorktown University Faculty members.

The Ft. Lauderdale Tour was led by Yorktown University Professor of Architecture, Edward Levinson.  He was accompanied by John Whitehead, the founder of the Philadelphia church architecture firm of Whitehead, Phillipi & Harris. 

Dr. Levinson’s FA203, History of Architecture, is a panoramic examination of the history of Western architecture.  His course features hundreds of photos of architectural structures that he has visited on more than twenty tours of West and Eastern Europe.  Yorktown “touristas” on the Ft. Lauderdale Tour visited the Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church and the canals of Ft. Lauderdale and shipping lanes of Port Everglades.

Saturday’s tour began at 10:00 am the Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church where John Whitehead directed our attention to the architectural features of this Ft. Lauderdale landmark described as “South Florida’s finest Architectural achievement.”  Click here to read Mr. Whitehead’s remarks and photos of the Church.

At 1:00 pm Ed Levinson led the stalwart band of Yorktown touristas to the Ft. Lauderdale waterfront on Las Olas Blvd. where we boarded the Carrie B.  Prior to boarding, Ed Levinson gave each tourista a sketch of Ft. Lauderdale from Las Olas Blvd.  Click here to view Ed Levinson’s sketches.

The good ship Carrie B took us past the earliest residence in Ft. Lauderdale known as the Monaghan House.  Though designed for middle class families—the first houses along Ft. Lauderdale’s canals were priced at$5,000—today waterfront homes range in price from $3 to $50 million.  In 2009 the Ft. Lauderdale, technically known as Port Everglades, is ranked Number 32 of all US Ports and annually serves 4,200 ships and more than 3 million passengers on cruise ships. 

Yorktown University extends its thanks to Ed Levinson and John Whitehead for an educational tour of this jewel of south Florida.