RIVERSIDE AVONDALE PRESERVATION

Jacksonville recently lost one of its preservation pioneers this week. Hazel Margaret "Dolly" Chitty Day, a lifetime resident of Avondale and Ortega, died early Tuesday at her home after a long illness. She was 85.

In the early 1970s, Mrs. Day restored, rescued and renovated many homes in Riverside and Avondale in partnership with community activist Helen Lane, who was credited by Wayne Wood, Riverside Avondale Preservation founder and author, for starting the preservation movement in Jacksonville.

"They became a duo," said Wood, "buying up derelict homes where they saw qualities that others might have missed."

Rather than for financial gain, Mrs. Day and Lane preserved these homes because they wanted to save the neighborhoods they loved, Wood said.

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