Commissioners Voice Support for Split of Merrywood's Lakefront Lot
A vote on the lot split is scheduled for Wednesday’s City Commission meeting. Whether or not the split is approved, it appears Merrywood will be demolished.
June 22, 2026
By Beth Kassab
The City Commission appears poised to grant special permission this week for a lakefront lot to be split into two when attorney Tara Tedrow asks to divide the Merrywood property to allow for her to build a new house on Lake Osceola.
Three out of five commissioners signaled during a Monday afternoon work session that they favored the lot split that would only apply to the 3.67-acre parcel at 1020 Palmer Ave. where the largest and most ornate residence by architect James Gamble Rogers II stands, at least for now.
The more than 80-year-old house is likely to be demolished after Tedrow solicited help from historic preservation advocates to find a buyer for that half of the lot and no one came forward with an offer.
“We really tried to get the word out nationally, but certainly locally to anybody who was interested,” Tedrow, a land use attorney at the Lowndes law firm, said. “There’s a lot of people who were interested in the idea of it. Then they came, and they said no to the scope and scale of renovation, or just the cost.”
Mick Night of Sotheby’s International Realty joined the work session by phone and said he’s shown Merrywood to 100 or so people, including what he characterized as 15 to 20 people with the potential to buy the property. But no offers came in.
“You’re dealing with, aside from the condition of the house, you’re dealing with functional obsolescence, the design of the house … you know, Gamble Rogers was notorious for building lakefront homes that didn’t even take advantage of the lakefront views,” Night said. “… you’ve got a compartmentalized floor plan, you’ve got a formal floor plan, you’ve got a kitchen that is, you know, 10 by 10. I can go on and on and on, but regardless, you’re dealing with structural issues, mold issues, ongoing water intrusion issues and other things.”
He said he’s been involved in all six home sales in Winter Park that have closed above $10 million and predicted the Merrywood lot would be the seventh. He suggested the value of the land alone would be about $13 million for the 3.76 acres.
Cathy Gilmer, who now owns the house along with her brother after their parents died, wrote a letter to city officials explaining that her parents intentionally kept the house off the city’s historic register and that “the house (and the land it sits on) was my brother and I’s inheritance from them.” She said in recent years the house became “unlivable” after water pipes burst and a lack of heat or hot water because the system still runs on oil.
“Over the last year we have looked into what it would take to restore, preserve or even make the house livable again and the unfortunate fact is that we (and even the most well-intentioned preservationists who have toured the home) do not have the finances to undertake such a project,” she said. “The truth of the matter is that every day the house remains standing costs money we don’t have, falls into further disrepair and is not contributing anything to the community. It is basically a waste.”
She said her family has also been upset by recent break-ins at the home.
“On top of all of this we have had to deal with several break-ins and thefts from people who feel they have the right to take memories and pieces of our family’s history, which for anyone that has experienced anything like this knows, is an emotionally taxing experience,” Gilmer wrote. “While this might just be a house to some people, it was the house I grew up in; my family’s home. A house which everyone now has an opinion on and feels they have a right to, and yet, nobody seems to care about the people that lived and grew up in it.”
Tedrow, who grew up in a house next to Merrywood, has had the property under contract since August. She has said she would like to divide the property in two and sell one lot while building a home for her large family on the other.
The change she is requesting to the city’s comprehensive plan, a state-required document that details how a local government will manage its land and grow over a number of years, would not permit any other lakefront lot splits in Winter Park because no other existing lots meet the size requirements or zoning conditions such as 150 feet of frontage on both the lake and the street.
Commissioner Warren Lindsey, who along with Commissioner Elizabeth Ingram voiced concerns about approving the lot split, noted that there are 360 lakefront lots in the city and at least three others are also larger than three acres. Fifteen or so are greater than two acres, he said, referring to statistics he asked Planning & Zoning Director Allison McGillis to research.
While he said he cares about historic preservation, Lindsey said his larger concern is that more lakefront homeowners will come to the city seeking comprehensive plan amendments to divide their valuable lots. He called the prospect a “slippery slope.”
“Other properties may not be exactly the same,” he said. “But they could make a credible argument that they should receive consideration.”
Ingram said she was disappointed by what appeared to be a doomed fate for Merrywood and the idea that the decision came down to money rather than historic value and character.
“People just want to get the most money out of it,” she said. “Personally, I feel that can be a misconception for these houses … it does contribute to people not wanting to put their house on the historic register.”
Mayor Sheila DeCiccio along with commissioners Kris Cruzada and Craig Russell appeared in favor of the lot split and persuaded by the idea that keeping the lot at its current size would allow a buyer to knock down Merrywood and build a more than 56,000-square-foot home in its place. That would be larger than the house just down the street at 926 Palmer Ave. — dubbed “The Odyssey” by owners Marc and Sharon Hagle — that is some 40,000 square feet.
“What you’re going to get is if you get a mega house on there, you’re going to get those great big green boxes, like in the front of the Hagle’s house, that are commercial … that are so noisy that that’s the whole thing you can see when you come down the avenue,” DeCiccio said referring to the utility boxes installed on Palmer to support the large home.
Russell said he agreed that such a large house out was generally out of scale with most of the other development in Winter Park.
“It’s very delicate and unfortunate,” Russell said. “So it stinks that it’s come to this. A 56,000-square-foot-house? That’s like Drake’s house or 50 Cent’s house.”
Cruzada said he “struggled” with the decision, but ultimately reasoned the lot split is good for the city’s tax base as well as keeping home sizes in scale.
DeCiccio said she hoped a survey underway by an architecture firm for the city to catalog what historic houses remain and what has already been demolished will help in formulating a plan to save other significant homes before they “get to the point Merrywood did.”
“That’s what I see as the goal,” she said. “And this is a hard lesson that we’re having with this house, but at least it woke us up that we now have to do something.”
A vote is scheduled on the lot split request at Wednesday’s City Commission meeting.
P&Z Board Approves Controversial Split of Lakefront Merrywood Lot
One board member called the outcome a ‘special favor’ for the buyer of the ornate estate that appears fated for the bulldozer
June 4, 2026
By Kathryn Brudzinski
A split vote by the Planning & Zoning board this week gave the go ahead for one of the largest lakefront lots in Winter Park to be split in two, a move that at least one board member who opposed the split called a “special favor” for the buyer and one others decried as the probable end of the nearly 90-year-old estate known as Merrywood.
Tara Tedrow, who has the property under contract, asked the board to amend the city’s comprehensive plan to allow the 3.7 acre property at 1020 Palmer Ave. to be split into two lots. Tedrow, a land use attorney at the Lowndes law firm, has said she would like to build a home for her family on the new lot and sell the portion that includes the old vacant home that preservationists have tried to save in recent months.
The vote was 4-2 on Tuesday with Bill Segal, Alex Stringfellow, Charles Steinberg and Samuel King in favor of the amendment to allow the lot split and Michael Dick and Jason Johnson opposed. Board member Vashon Sarkisian was absent.
A sign at the edge of the driveway on Palmer Avenue helped cement the estate’s name among locals. (Beth Kassab)
The matter will next go to the City Commission for final approval.
While much of the discussion centered on if the home could be saved, Johnson said to him the issue was never about that.
“The question for me is whether the new policy that’s being proposed by the applicant is either the right way to go about getting the relief she wants or good for the city of Winter Park,” Johnson said, just prior to the vote. “My answer to both of those is no.”
He said the city’s comprehensive plan includes a policy to preserve lakefront lot estates in order to “perpetuate the unique character of Winter Park that sets it apart from other cities throughout Florida.”
“I think that policy exists for a very good reason,” Johnson added. “…The applicant is seeking a new policy that she acknowledges would apply to one single parcel of real property in the city of Winter Park. That, to me, screams special favor for one property owner, and I’m just generally against that from a policy perspective.”
A demolition application was already filed for Merrywood by owners Cathleen and Raymond Gilmer, siblings who inherited the estate from their parents, who bought the 1939 home on Lake Osceola in 1977. Tedrow facilitated the demolition permit, she said, to initiate an earlier conversation with the Historic Preservation Board to see if any ideas emerged for saving the house.
She also said extensive efforts had been made to work with “preservation-minded and historic designation-minded groups in the city and outside of the city” to find a potential buyer for the home since August. But no one stepped forward to buy the house with the goal of restoring it.
“We have put forth a significant amount of effort,” Tedrow said. “…We’ve had nearly 100 people, not open houses that anybody could come to, but nearly 100 vetted people who wanted to save this house come, and not one of them submitted an offer afterward. Everybody just wanted somebody else to do it, and that’s the unfortunate reality that we’re in.”
A view of the front entrance to Merrywood. (Beth Kassab)
In addition, she said she commissioned a structural engineering report to see if the house could be “made realistically livable,” though never submitted the report for fear of being accused of “tainting the water” regarding the sale.
“Our report shows that the foundation is settling,” Tedrow added. “There are incredible structural problems that the recommendation was not to save the house, and this company could have profited from the efforts to save a house, and it was recommended to not.”
According to the city staff’s report, Tedrow’s justification statement for the split argued the current comprehensive plan prohibition on splitting lakefront lots was “intended to prevent excessive subdivision of lakefront properties, but that the subject property represents a unique circumstance due to its size and zoning.”
Staff noted that the property’s 1938 residence was listed on the Florida Master Site File, but is not designated on the city’s historic register, leaving city officials without any power to stop demolition.
“Although the applicant’s proposal would facilitate the creation of an additional lakefront lot, staff has concerns regarding the potential demolition or loss of the historic residence, as well as the broader precedent associated with permitting additional lakefront lot splits,” the staff report reads.
Instead, staff recommended an alternative modification to the city’s comprehensive plan to allow for certain lakefront lot splits if the change is tied to the preservation and designation of historic homes constructed prior to 1950.
Johnson asked Tedrow if it’d be “safe to say” she would not be in favor of the city’s alternate proposed policy change as she’d know she’d have to designate the home as historic and would “never be able to sell that.” She said yes.
“I received an unsolicited call from a historic homeowner in the city of Winter Park, who said, ‘Just so you know, when you get your historic house on 1020 Palmer, you won’t get home insurance’,” Tedrow replied, adding the caller had said her home insurance was cancelled on her own historic home.
Some Winter Park residents disagreed with Tedrow’s claims of troubles with home insurance, like Aimee Spencer, a former member of the city’s Historic Preservation Board, who said her own 100-year-old house was able to be insured without issue. The sentiment was later echoed by John Skolfield, who serves on the historic board, who said his own home is insured despite being built in the 1920s and that Tedrow’s claim was “just not true.”
Tedrow addressed the disputes about homeowner’s insurance, stating she’d brought up the call she received as an example of issues people had presented to her as part of the home buying process.
She added that she understood the desire for the house to be saved, emphasizing that perhaps pieces of the home could be preserved if the estate is demolished.
“If the reality is this house is coming down, if there’s anything you want to save … if there’s parts you want to salvage and take for something, we are open to all of that,” Tedrow said.
Others spoke in support of the lot split, like resident Scott Peelen who said he resides about 1,000 feet from Merrywood and believed the proposal to be a good solution for the “blighted area.”
“It’s been run down for a long, long time,” he said. “I know everyone in this room is here because they love Winter Park…All of us want what’s best for it.”
Support also came from some on the board, such as board member Bill Segal who said he understood the love for the city’s historic homes but that the board’s job was to do what’s best for the city.
“They mean a lot in Water Park, but the public doesn’t own it — it’s privately owned,” Segal said. “Some members of the public really strongly want to preserve this thing, and we heard some of them tonight, but I walked through this home…it’s just in terrible shape, so I think we just need to get rid of this idea that [it’s going to be saved].”
Skolfield, who owns the construction and renovation firm Skolfield Homes, disputed the idea that the home couldn’t be saved, saying it simply came down to price.
“Merrywood is realistically livable — maybe not for $15 million, but it can be done,” Skolfield said. “…It is possible. It may not make the world’s best financial sense. But you know, when we’re on our deathbed, is that really what’s going to matter? Maybe the art matters, too.”
Historic Preservation Disagreements Pile Up: Spend Money on a Consultant? Offer Tax Incentives?
The City Commission this week touched off what is likely to be a contentious debate over how — or even if — property owners should be encouraged to place historical assets on a local register to help protect them from demolition
May 29, 2026
By Beth Kassab
Preservationists pleaded with City Commissioners this week over what is likely to be only the first disagreement as Winter Park endeavors to save more houses from the bulldozer: Whether the Historic Preservation Board should be able to spend money on a consultant as it works to make recommendations tasked by the commission.
The request was simple: Hire an expert to help evaluate what’s been lost, what’s still worth saving and how to go about keeping more old homes off the rubble pile.
But preservation debates in the city have a long tradition of drawing entrenched camps in which one side argues private property rights trump all else and that public dollars shouldn’t be used on private assets while another side says each teardown irreversibly erases a piece of the charm, eclectic architecture and history that makes Winter Park so unique and desirable.
The latest round of preservation talks are complicated by the backdrop of the Florida Legislature’s special session next week that could result in a proposal to significantly decrease property taxes collected by local governments such as Winter Park to pay for needs such as police, fire rescue, parks, roads and more.
“I don’t think history can just live on a plaque or marker, it has to be seen and observed,” said Commissioner Elizabeth Ingram, who said during the discussion at Wednesday’s commission meeting that she supported hiring an expert to focus on the task of forming a historic preservation strategy for the city. “I don’t believe the Historic Preservation Board can do this on their own … they could put out a call for guidance and start planning for creating this position for historic preservation.”
Ingram noted that other cities have designated historic preservation officers with specialized expertise that members of the volunteer advisory board may not have.
Mayor Sheila DeCiccio almost immediately threw water on that idea.
“But how are we going to pay for a person, Commissioner Ingram? Where do we get the money?” DeCiccio asked.
Earlier in the meeting the mayor said the property tax reform being pushed by Gov. Ron DeSantis could mean, “We’re not going to have any more taxes … I don’t know how we are going to keep the roads going … keep City Hall going?”
Betsy Owens, executive director of Friends of Casa Feliz, countered that local governments make funding choices all the time when something matters.
“We find room in the city budget for a lot of things we value,” she said. “We spent $200,000 today to undo a mistake that was made on the golf course … Heaven help us if we can’t find a few thousand dollars to hire a respected consultant to guide us through this process and help us out of this quandary.”
Earlier this month the city shut down the Winter Park Nine after the wrong chemical was applied to the course, killing off the grass. On Wednesday the commission approved a $197,000 course maintenance contract for four months — or nearly $50,000 per month. City Manager Randy Knight said the purpose was to test whether staff should farm out golf course maintenance or keep it in house.
The longtime owners are selling the property and the contracted buyer is seeking special permission to split the lot in two so that the Merrywood portion can be sold off again and a new home can be constructed on a new lot next to it.
Without a buyer willing to restore Merrywood, it appears destined for the bulldozer whether or not the Planning & Zoning Board approves the lot split request at a hearing scheduled for next Tuesday at 5 p.m. And, so far, no buyer has emerged, Owens said.
People who showed up to speak on the matter at Wednesday’s meeting lamented the potential loss.
Carolyn Gould, who has lived in the city 70 years, said she recalls riding her bike down Palmer Avenue past Merrywood and the wonder it inspired even from the driveway gate.
“When it’s bulldozed it’s gone,” she said. “You need to walk through those rooms and look through those windows … the moldings and appointments are just one-of-a-kind … I’m on fire about this for some reason. We have to get busy and do something.”
Daryl Carter, who purchased and renovated a Gamble Rogers house on Palmer Avenue in recent years, said most people who looked at the home considered tearing it down.
“We did not,” he said. “Our house doesn’t have a historic designation. We did what we did voluntarily … we love beauty, but we’re also private property owners and believe in private property rights. I hope this board will take that into consideration and not take private property rights from owners.”
While some cities designate properties as historic without an owner’s consent, no one is suggesting such a policy change in Winter Park.
The discussion is more about how to offer additional incentives to urge more people to seek historic designation if their property qualifies. The city has the ability in its code already to provide tax exemptions to historic properties, though no one appears to be taking advantage of that as of now, said Planning & Zoning Director Allison McGillis. The city also offers a 50 percent matching grant for renovation work that qualifies, up to $18,000, she said.
The local historic register and designated historic districts do not outright prohibit demolition in Winter Park. But the request must be approved by the Historic Preservation Board. The board does not have control over interior renovations — only major changes to the facade of the structure.
Those who designate their homes often receive special permission for variances during a renovation that wouldn’t be allowed in a non-historic structure and they are also allowed to add accessory dwelling units (such as a small rental or mother-in-law suite) to their properties.
“We have the easiest to skirt around ordinance in the entire state of Florida,” said Aimee Spencer, a former member of the Historic Preservation Board who lives in a 102-year-old house. “Even Quincy, Florida out does us in their preservation standards,” she noted of the Panhandle town of fewer than 8,000 people.
She said Winter Park needs better rules and also education against misinformation circulating about historic homes such as how they are ineligible for financing or insurance.
“I have a typical mortgage and homeowners insurance with State Farm,” she said. “It’s not a problem to insure or finance.”
Kelsey Wolfe, who serves on the preservation board, noted the board is all volunteers with related skills and a passion, but not necessarily the professional expertise needed to prepare a comprehensive strategy to shift the direction from tear downs to preservation.
“We’ve spent countless hours making changes to the ordinance already and we are waiting on a survey that hasn’t been done in 20 years and we brainstorm every meeting and work session about the very thing you’re officially charging us with,” Wolfe said. “The vast majority of our ideas and requests don’t get implemented because we don’t have the help or the budget.”
She noted that the McGillis, the staff person devoted to the Historic Preservation Board also oversees all of Planning & Zoning for the entire city.
The commission remained unmoved, however, and voted 4-0 to charge the advisory board with formulating recommendations without, at least for the time being, any additional resources.
WinterParkVoiceEditor@gmail.com
CORRECTION: This story has been updated to reflect Winter Park’s current property tax exemption and matching grant program for historic properties that qualify.
Preservation Advocates Say Winter Park Must Do More to Save Historic Homes
With three John Gamble Rogers II homes under threat of demolition this year, advocate says dwindling assets should serve as ‘wake up call’
May 14, 2026
By Beth Kassab
With three homes designed by James Gamble Rogers II currently under threat of demolition, historic preservation advocates pleaded with the City Commission on Wednesday to make meaningful changes to the way Winter Park protects its historic assets.
Betsy Owens, executive director of Friends of Casa Feliz and granddaughter of Gamble Rogers, said she hopes the potential loss of three significant houses — all more than 85 years old — in a single year will serve as a “wake up call” for the city to strengthen its historic preservation ordinance. She said the city’s ordinance is among “the weakest in the state.”
“These are not anonymous old buildings,” Owens said. “They are irreplaceable works by the architect who more than any other helped define the visual character of Winter Park.”
None of the three homes are listed on the city’s historic register, meaning there is no protection from demolition. The register is voluntary and many owners deliberately opt to keep homes off the register under the theory that the home will be worth more without demolition restrictions.
Owens, and other advocates who spoke at the meeting, including Jack Rogers, said it’s time for Winter Park to get serious about preservation.
They are recommending the commission consider adding incentives such as property tax breaks or rehabilitation help for people who list their homes on the register. They are also calling for new ideas such as an investment fund to help with purchasing and then reselling historic homes to people who are willing to invest in and preserve them.
Mayor Sheila DeCiccio recommended a discussion about potential changes be added to the next City Commission meeting on May 27 and the other commissioners agreed. The commission would likely send the matter to the Historic Preservation Board for further evaluation before making a final decision on changes.
The homes currently under threat are:
1020 Palmer Avenue, also known as Merrywood, which is under active demolition permit and could be demolished by the end of May. The home is one of the largest and most ornate in the dwindling collection of Gamble Rogers homes. Tara Tedrow, the prospective buyer who has the property under contract, facilitated the demolition permit in March and is also asking the city to amend its comprehensive plan to allow the lakefront property to be split into two lots. Under that scenario, she said, she would attempt to find a buyer interested in restoring Merrywood while her family could build a new home on the other portion of the property. A Planning & Zoning Board hearing on the request was delayed at Tedrow’s request until June. “Despite enormous public interest and dozens of interested investors touring the property, no buyer has yet emerged able to reconcile the nearly $10 million (estimated) asking price with the substantial restoration needs of the house, conservatively estimated at more than $3 million,” Owens said in an email to supporters.
250 Virginia Drive sits on a large lot overlooking Lake Virginia. The home was sold last year for $2.6 million and a demolition permit was filed by the new owner last month. The home is considered an example of the Colonial Revival style with strong New England influences, including shaker shingles.
617 Interlachen Avenue is possibly “the most eclectic and artistically ambitious of Rogers’ Spanish Eclectic residences. There is no demolition permit filed yet, but Rogers said the home is expected to go up for sale soon and in one of the city’s most expensive neighborhoods. “History has shown that when the dirt beneath a home becomes worth many multiples of the structure itself, it is time for that home to get its affairs in order,” she said.
Orange Signs Herald May as Historic Preservation Month
Residents display their yard signs each year in support of maintaining what’s left of the pockets in Winter Park where 100-plus year homes are commonplace
May 1, 2026
By Beth Kassab
It’s that time of year when orange yard signs start sprouting up in yards all over Winter Park to mark May as Historic Preservation Month.
The signs are a longstanding tradition among preservationists who want to remind Winter Parkers of the benefits of preserving historic architecture and the eclectic charm that keeps the city at the top of the charts when it comes to home values.
Historic districts in the city include College Quarter, Virginia Heights East, Interlachen Avenue and the downtown area centered on Park Avenue.
The city encourages those with designated homes or those who live in the districts to display their signs.
People who need a sign can pick one up at Casa Feliz on any Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., said Betsy Owens, executive director of the Casa Feliz Historic Home Museum and a leading preservation advocate in Central Florida.
The sprawling Winter Park estate — among the largest and most ornate homes designed by architect James Gamble Rogers II — could be demolished in as soon as 90 days unless preservationists can find a buyer willing to save it.
A demolition application has been filed for the property at 1020 Palmer Ave. by owners Cathleen and Raymond Gilmer, siblings who inherited the estate from their parents, who bought the 1939 lakefront home in 1977. The 3.67-acre property overlooks Lake Osceola.
City officials have limited power to stop the demolition because the home is not listed on Winter Park’s Historic Register. But because it appears in the Florida Master Site File, city rules automatically trigger a 90-day delay before a demolition permit can be issued, giving preservationists time to seek alternatives.
That countdown prompted a packed discussion before the city’s Historic Preservation Board this week that drew a who’s who of Winter Park names.
Everyone seemed to have an opinion — from Marc Hagle, known for traveling to space with his wife aboard a Blue Origin suborbital flight and for constructing what is currently the city’s largest home, a 31,000-square-foot residence just a few doors down from Merrywood, to local preservation advocates and the granddaughter of the home’s architect.
“I think, as a community, this is one of those defining moments,” said Margie Bridges, a former city commissioner who now serves on the Historic Preservation Board. “… this is one of those special homes … We have a short time to rally and step up and take care of this in any way that it’s most efficient for the buyer and preserves something special in our community.”
Tara Tedrow, the prospective buyer who has the property under contract, facilitated the demolition permit and is also asking the city to amend its comprehensive plan to allow the lakefront property to be split into two lots.
Under that scenario, she said, she would attempt to find a buyer interested in restoring Merrywood while her family could build a new home on the other portion of the property.
A Planning & Zoning Board hearing on the request was delayed at Tedrow’s request until June.
In the meantime, she said filing the demolition application was intended to start a conversation about saving the home.
“The purpose was to get folks here and to have folks talk about this so that we could at least open a 90-day window to get some creative solutions to see if there is something that can be done to preserve the house,” Tedrow told the board.
Toward the end of the meeting she added: “I want to be clear: we’re not tearing the house down on Day 91. My husband and I have no intention of actually demo-ing the house ourselves.”
Betsy Owens, executive director of preservation advocacy group Friends of Casa Feliz, said she is working to help Tedrow tap a network of preservationists and reach potential buyers for Merrywood in Florida and across the country.
Owens, the granddaughter of the home’s architect who recently walked through the property, said the structure is significant for its “remarkable level of craftsmanship” in masonry, plaster, wood and tile that would be “nearly impossible to replicate.”
The front door of the home at 1020 Palmer Avenue.
“Merrywood contributes to the historic character of our community, helping to tell the architectural story of what makes Winter Park such a distinctive and economically prosperous place,” she said. “Together with our cherished tree canopy and chain of lakes, our beautifully designed historic homes are the goose that laid the golden egg in Winter Park … Once a building is gone, it’s gone forever. Preservation is not about nostalgia. It’s about stewardship of the cultural resources that define a community.”
She noted past examples of the community rallying to save homes threatened with demolition such as Casa Feliz, which was moved to sit on the Winter Park Nine, and the Capen House, which was floated across the lake to find a permanent home as an event space next to the Polasek Museum.
Christy Knobloch, executive director of the Winter Park History Museum, said preserving real pieces of the past is just as important as preserving archives.
“It’s hard to tell the stories of what it was in a photograph,” she said.
Other speakers noted the potentially high costs of restoring such a home and questioned whether such a buyer exists.
“I think we all love the house,” said John Skolfield, chairman of the Historic Preservation Board. “Most of us find the house very attractive and we want to find a way to preserve it. But these are big dollars, and these are not my decisions. These are the people with the big dollars who can purchase a property like this.”
Hagle, the one-time astronaut who recently completed years of construction at 926 Palmer Ave. after tearing down an older home there, said he has mixed feelings about saving the house but opposes the idea of splitting the lot.
“We just had a party at our house this last weekend — I apologize for the noise if y’all heard that,” he said. “But we had people from all over the world for a fundraiser at the house, and they all commented how gorgeous the city of Winter park is. And that’s who we are … Unfortunately, we’re in a difficult situation because it’s not fair to the homeowner to be burdened with having to save a house that was built in the 1920s that is difficult to repair.”
Aimee Spencer, a former member of the Historic Preservation Board, said she is weary of the narrative that maintaining an old home is too costly.
“I implore this board to begin to help dismantle the myth that preservation of our historic resources is cost prohibitive,” Spencer said. “It is disingenuous to continue the comparison of high quality restoration and rehabilitation to the type of new construction that generally plagues this city. Certainly there are high quality new builds, but on a whole, the comparison is that of apples to steak. True masterpieces are few and far between in Central Florida, and certainly we have already lost many. This remains an attempt at an end run around to produce two empty parcels. Lot splits are not a right in the city of Winter Park, but rather at the discretion if value is added to the city.”
The 90-day demolition delay is expected to expire around the end of May. The Planning & Zoning Board is scheduled to consider the comprehensive plan amendment that could allow the lot split in June.
We Depend on your support, make a tax-deductible donation here.
Mission
The Winter Park Voice is a trusted nonprofit journalism site that covers our City Hall and beyond. We endeavor to engage, inform and connect citizens on all sides of issues affecting the quality of life in Winter Park.
Recent Comments