{"id":4546,"date":"2026-06-18T11:33:30","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T11:33:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/?p=4546"},"modified":"2026-06-18T11:33:30","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T11:33:30","slug":"winter-park-trying-to-save-more-of-its-historic-homes-from-wrecking-ball","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/?p=4546","title":{"rendered":"Winter Park trying to save more of its historic homes from wrecking ball"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The city of Winter Park touts itself as a community with unique character, due in large part to its historic architecture. But some residents are worried builders and bulldozers are chipping away at its past, one home at a time.<\/p>\n

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Among the endangered buildings are works by the city\u2019s most-famous architect, James Gamble Rogers II. The owners of homes he designed at 1020 Palmer Avenue (the Merrywood House built in 1939) and 250 Virginia Drive (also 1939) have filed for city permits to demolish them, although it\u2019s unclear when they would be razed.<\/p>\n

In the wake of an outcry over the possible teardowns, city commissioners recently tasked their Historic Preservation Board with a new directive: How can Winter Park save more of its iconic houses in a town where property owners fiercely value their independence?<\/p>\n

At the center of the controversy is the Winter Park Register of Historic Places, a list of properties with special protections because of their heritage value. But placement on the list comes only with the consent of the property owner, meaning many iconic buildings aren\u2019t on the register.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t do like some cities and say, \u2018I\u2019m sorry, it\u2019s a historic house, you\u2019re not allowed to tear it down,’\u201d board chair John Skolfield, owner of Skofield Homes, said last week during the preservation board\u2019s first work session on the issue. \u201cIt\u2019s a property rights thing, it\u2019ll never happen here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Skolfield said one major challenge is that the value of bare land in the city can exceed that of a developed parcel. A property could be worth $1.2 million as \u201cdirt,\u201d he said, while a lot with a preserved home might only be worth three-quarters of that amount, creating a strong economic incentive to tear it down.\u201d<\/p>\n

Board member Rhett Delaney, who works in finance and mortgages, pointed to how some cities with successful preservation efforts \u2014 St. Augustine; Savannah, Ga.; and Charleston, S.C. \u2014 center their efforts around tourism. But Winter Park is more of a residential community, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cUntil we \u2026 decide whether we want to be a destination location or just another municipality, you\u2019re going to have to give such a huge benefit to homeowners to want to put their stuff on the registry,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd every time we bring that up, all we hear is that we don\u2019t have the money.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Board member Margie Bridges, who works in real estate, said the city needs to better educate its residents.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe homeowners are \u2026 petrified to offer up their homes for historic preservation because of the misinformation, misunderstanding and confusion,\u201d Bridges said.<\/p>\n

Allison McGillis, director of the city\u2019s Planning & Zoning Department, noted that there are about 200 residential properties on the historic register now.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe common misconception is that if you historically designate your home it freezes it in time,\u201d she said. But, she said, \u201cYou can add onto it, you can change your windows, you can change your roof, you can change your siding.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Property owners can also still add additional square footage to homes and request approval for variances or modifications to required setbacks.<\/p>\n

Listing a home on the register, she added, also doesn\u2019t restrict what owners can change on the inside.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf someone\u2019s interested in how a house looks but they don\u2019t like the floorplan or the pink-and-blue bathroom tiles in there, none of that has to stay,\u201d McGillis said.<\/p>\n

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But it\u2019s not enough to limit restrictions, some say. The city needs to give its property owners strong incentives to put their homes on its voluntary register. The existing incentives are modest.<\/p>\n

The city typically sets aside $100,000 annually to encourage property owners to join the register, including up to $18,000 in matching grants for exterior renovations. Owners on the list can also build a\u00a0secondary house with a separate address and utility meters on their land \u2014 something prohibited on other residential lots \u2014 that offers a potential source of rental income. In return, it\u2019s more difficult to get approval to demolish homes on the register.<\/p>\n

Skofield offered other ideas to make preservation more enticing, including faster permitting, priority inspections, waiving all or part of fees and a dedicated staff liaison to help homeowners through the process.<\/p>\n

The fate of Merrywood, the largest home designed by Rogers, remains unsettled. A prospective buyer wants to split its almost 4-acre lot, build a home on half the property and sell other half with the building to someone who wants to preserve and restore it.<\/p>\n

The Planning & Zoning Board voted earlier this month to recommend the city grant the lot split, even as the city\u2019s comprehensive plan prohibits splitting lakefront lots.<\/p>\n

Owners of a home at least 50 years old who want it to get on the city\u2019s historic register can start by filling out the free one-page application on the city\u2019s website. Staff would then confirm it meets one of several criteria, such as ties to significant events or people from the past. The city gets five to 10 applications each year.<\/p>\n

But board member Kelsey Wolfe, a real estate investor, said no amount of education will alter the reality that property owners can find it hard to see beyond their own return on investment.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know how much change in the ordinance would be accepted,\u201d Wolfe said. \u201cI think that people with a lot of money are the ones that are against it.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said \u201csince we are going to lose things,\u201d the city might fund a real estate photographer to document properties \u2014 inside and out, with photos and video to create a virtual tour \u2014 before they\u2019re demolished.<\/p>\n

Skolfield said while Wolfe\u2019s idea might be practical, \u201cThere\u2019s kind of a sadness to say we\u2019ll just have a digital memory.\u201d<\/p>\n

While there are individual lots across the city on the register, Winter Park has four historic districts \u2014 two locally-created, College Quarter and East Virginia Heights, and two nationally-created, Downtown and Interlachen.<\/p>\n

When the local districts were formed, the city designated homes as either \u201ccontributing\u201d (they have historical value) or \u201cnon-contributing\u201d (usually newer or heavily-altered homes). \u201cContributing\u201d homes are subject to similar rules as properties on the register.<\/p>\n

Betsy Rogers Owens, executive director of Friends of Casa Feliz, and granddaughter of James Gamble Rogers II, cited the successful movement to save his Casa Feliz mansion in 2001 and turn it into a museum. The past is now repeating itself, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s kind of death by a thousand cuts,\u201d Owens said. \u201cYou lose one or two a year and everybody says, \u2018What a shame, but we\u2019ve still got these other places.\u2019 But it is a measurable decline.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Class of 2026: Lake County\u2019s valedictorians & salutatorians<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Commissioners task volunteer panel with recommending ways to improve city’s preservation efforts<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4545,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4546","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news"],"yoast_head":"\nWinter Park trying to save more of its historic homes from wrecking ball - Orlando Relocation Report<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/?p=4546\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Winter Park trying to save more of its historic homes from wrecking ball - Orlando Relocation Report\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Commissioners task volunteer panel with recommending ways to improve city's preservation efforts\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/?p=4546\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Orlando Relocation Report\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-18T11:33:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/orlandorelocationreport.com\\\/?p=4546#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/orlandorelocationreport.com\\\/?p=4546\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/orlandorelocationreport.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/47d95744296542489ff5c4bd403450f8\"},\"headline\":\"Winter Park trying to save more of its historic homes from wrecking ball\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-18T11:33:30+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/orlandorelocationreport.com\\\/?p=4546\"},\"wordCount\":1162,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/orlandorelocationreport.com\\\/?p=4546#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/orlandorelocationreport.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/5539376455f49bda45166b23e087e45e.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"Local News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/orlandorelocationreport.com\\\/?p=4546#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/orlandorelocationreport.com\\\/?p=4546\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/orlandorelocationreport.com\\\/?p=4546\",\"name\":\"Winter Park trying to save more of its historic homes from wrecking ball - 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