651 Commercial Street, by David W. Dunlap (2008).
“Weirs,” by Richard Florsheim, from the Provincetown History Preservation Project.
Richard Florsheim of Chicago obtained his arts education during a grand tour of Europe financed by his father, Leonard, an executive in the well-known transportation empire of John Hertz. (It was Richard’s first cousin, once removed, who founded a certain well-known shoe company.) Richard and his wife, Helen (Porfirieff) Florsheim, bought this property in 1957. Refraction and distortion engaged him, so it’s fitting that we can’t be sure now how much of what we’re seeing is his house and how much is a 2003 renovation by Paul Krueger for Robert Steinberg and Lise Motherwell, a psychologist who is the vice president of the Provincetown Art Association and Museum, and a board member of the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation.
More than 2,000 buildings and vessels are searchable on buildingprovincetown.com. The Building Provincetown book is available for purchase ($20) at Town Hall, Office of the Town Clerk, 260 Commercial Street, Provincetown 02657.
