Updated January 9, 2009, at 8:27 p.m.

At the conclusion of Wednesday's annual trustees meeting of the Preservation Foundation of Palm Beach, Lisa and Claes Wahlestedt were presented with the Polly Earl Award for the restoration of a Midtown residence dating from the early 1920s.

The Earl Award, named for the late executive director of the foundation, recognizes a Palm Beach property owner for outstanding service to the cause of preservation, specifically through restoration of an existing landmarked property or property of historic significance that is not necessarily a large estate. The recipients receive not only a bronze medal in recognition of their efforts, but a $10,000 check from the foundation.

'One of the oldest standing homes'

The Wahlestedts' landmarked Australian Avenue home is one of the oldest homes on the island, said John Ripley, the foundation's current executive director.

The home is modest by island standards. According to records, the two-level Mediterranean revival-style house was built by noted local architect Ernest Benjamin Walton Sr. for Mrs. E.C. Ramsey of Boston.

"It is within the original Royal Park Addition neighborhood, platted by Cap Dimick, the first mayor of Palm Beach, which was first created in 1911, which predates Town Hall," Ripley said.

"The house today is largely unchanged," Ripley added. "Modifications were made to the windows in terms of placement and materials and an addition was made to the rear of the house."

A street-facing sun porch, adjacent to an original porte-cochère, was converted to use as an entrance hall, though it had been enclosed since 1963, Ripley reported.

The Wahlestedts removed a central entry door and switched the main entry way to the eastern portion of the facade and the newly fashioned, more formal foyer space.

"The Wahlestedt house is a perfect example of what the Polly Earl Award was created to recognize," Ripley said. "It is one of the oldest standing homes in Palm Beach and was restored in a really exceptional way.

"Claes and Lisa Wahlestedt had great vision when they purchased the house in 2004, and it's been a long, but rewarding process for them."

"The owners faced a real challenge here because of house's pretty dire condition when they found it," said John Mashek, foundation president. "They are to be lauded for just taking the project on, one that few would be able to attempt and successfully complete.

"The end result is a wonderful preservation story," Mashek said.

Moved from Sweden

The Wahlestedts purchased the property, which was somewhat run down according to Lisa Wahlestedt, late in 2004.

They moved, with their two children, to Palm Beach from a home in Sweden after Claes Wahlestadt's appointment as the director of neuroscience research and professor at Scripps Florida.

"At the time, we weren't certain as to where Scripps would be located, so we chose Palm Beach as a convenient midpoint," he said.

"We liked the house's location, which is in close proximity to town and the beach, and we liked the fact that it was an old house," said Lisa Wahlestedt, who hails originally from Oklahoma. "A gated community just wasn't for us."

"We couldn't go the McMansion route," her husband added, explaining that he grew up in a 17th-century house in his native Karlskrona, Sweden, and that he and his wife lived just before they came to Palm Beach in a Stockholm building dating from the 1880s.

Project took two years

Lisa Wahlestedt, a medical student, took time off from the pursuit of her residency to oversee the renovation, which was completed about a year and a half ago.

She is back at work, in her last year as a resident with the Palm Beach County Health Department.

"This project took two years out of my life," she said. "I had planned on it being a one-year renovation process, but you know how these things go."

"It was twice the time and twice the money," Claes Wahlestedt said.

The Wahlestedts are pleased with the result.

"We wanted to maintain its historic look while modernizing it to meet our family's needs," Lisa Wahlestedt said.

They expanded the house by about 1,000 square feet, creating a new kitchen and family-dining room on the first level, with a spacious master bedroom suite above. Otherwise, the floor plan did not change.

"We liked the arrangement of rooms," she said. "We just needed some additional space and definitely the new kitchen."

H. Gilbert & Associates, Inc. of Palm Beach was the design/build firm responsible for the renovation work on the Wahlestedt residence.

Universal Engineering Inc was the Engineer of Record responsible for raising and strengthening this 85 years old building and designing a new foundation and perimeter retaining wall.