RAP’s Spring Tour of Homes will be held April 16th and 17th, offering visitors a rare opportunity to step inside several of Riverside Avondale’s most beautiful and interesting residences. We invite you to learn more about the wonderfully diverse structures on this year's tour. The window for buying Early Bird discounted tickets ($15, as opposed to $20 day of tour), closes this Friday at 5 p.m., so buy your tickets online now. (Thank you to River City Restoration
for making this event possible!)
for making this event possible!) |
| 1776 Challen Avenue photo credit: Kirk Chamberlain |
The houses of the Historic District have many stories, but few are as fascinating as those of this utterly unique Mission-style structure. The home’s original owners, Casper and Ida Beerbower, built it by hand in 1909, constructing it from coquina stone they gathered off the beaches near St. Augustine then rowed across the St. Johns river.
At the time, the lot was well out in the country; Challen Avenue was not yet named and the area was a favorite place to hunt wild game. Fabricating block forms in what would become the home’s front yard, Casper and Ida mixed the crushed coquina with concrete to form not only the structure’s building blocks, but also its patio stones and flowerpots.
A few years later, the Beerbowers added two striking towers, one just over the porte cochere and the other at the rear, for their young relative, Elsie Janis, a noted singer and actress known as the “sweetheart of the American Expeditionary Forces.” (As famous in her day as Al Jolsen or Flo Zieglfield, Janis became the first popular American artist to entertain troops on the frontlines of a war fought on foreign soil, creating the model for the modern USO.) Janis used one tower room as a bedroom, and the other as a rehearsal hall.
When Ginger Harris bought the house in May 1996, she became only the third owner in its 102-year history, beating out 20 other people who were on a waiting list to buy it. Read More Here.
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| 2959 Riverside Avenue photo credit: Kirk Chamberlain |
2959 Riverside Avenue
This year’s Spring Tour of Homes offers a very special opportunity to explore the gardens and ground floor of one of the district’s true historical treasures: the 140-year-old Cheney/Cummer house.
Edward M. Cheney was one of the original developers of Riverside. He and partner John Murray Forbes platted the subdivision in 1868. (Cheney also was the owner and editor of the Florida Union newspaper—progenitor of today’s Florida Times Union.) He completed this large two-story home in 1870 on what now is the site of the Cummer Museum’s Art Connections wing. The structure was oriented so that its two stories of porches faced the river 200 feet away, catching river breezes scented by the orange, lemon and fig trees that dotted the surrounding farm land.
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| 2065 Oak Street photo credit: Brad Stookey |
Designed by H. J. Klutho, Jacksonville's most prominent early twentieth century architect, this landmark building has Mediterranean Revival style detailing representative of Florida architecture in the mid 1920s. In both its extraordinarily ornamental façade and surprising interior layout, the structure represents a marked departure from the Prairie School idiom of Klutho's earlier work.
Klutho designed the house for two bachelor doctors, R.H. McGinnis and James Love, Jacksonville's first pediatricians, as a combination residence and office. Built in 1926 at a cost of $28,000, the first floor featured a common reception area, examination room and laboratory, with individual entrances and offices on the northeast and southwest sides. The second floor had a common kitchen and dining room, each doctor having his own sitting room, bedroom, and bath, and separate access to the common balcony on the front of the house. The building’s unique trapezoidal shape is carried through the interior in an impressively efficient and pleasant use of space. Rooms radiate from a central spiraling walnut staircase within the pentagonal stairwell, similar to the hub of a wheel, with doors in all points of the compass.
Cited in the Jacksonville Historical Survey as one of the 100 most significant structures in Duval County, the building today serves as the offices of the Pinkston and Pinkston law firm. Owner David Pinkston was attracted to the historical landmark’s wonderful architecture, even though he recognized the interior would require a complete renovation. The investment, he knew, would be worth it in an historic district where homeowners take such pride in the neighborhood. Pinkston lauds RAP for “making sure both new and old buildings are maintained and built with the understanding that the architecture is historically appropriate for the neighborhood.”
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| 2736 Herschel Street photo credit: Brad Stookey |
This delightful house is a classic example of Riverside’s most prominent architectural style, the bungalow, of which Riverside has more early-twentieth-century examples than any neighborhood in Florida. Popularized in magazines of the period, and touted for their functional simplicity, bungalows became the house of choice for middle-class homeowners from the early 1900s through the 1930s. Although elements are often borrowed from other building styles, the basic plan of a bungalow is fairly consistent: it has one-and-a-half stories, with a gently pitched gable, typically facing the street. There is always a porch, often supported by tapered piers and a secondary gable. Interior layouts are practical and efficient.
This Craftsman Style bungalow at 2736 Herschel was designed and built by J.W. Hill, and occupied in 1922 by Howard Vaugh, a foreman for the Post Office carriers. The living room, dining room and kitchen are situated on the right side of the home, and two bedrooms and a sunroom are set along the left side, in an arrangement common for the bungalow style. Martha and Chauncey Lever purchased the house three years ago and use it as a “getaway” and art studio (affectionately called The Red Door) for Martha, who is a mixed-media artist, calligrapher and teacher.
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| 2961 Herschel Street photo credit: Kirk Chamberlain |
Jeanne Miller, an attorney, discovered the Riverside Avondale area upon returning to Jacksonville from college in New England some twenty years ago. “The neighborhood reminded me of traditional New England neighborhoods and towns, but with its own unique Southern twist. I immediately fell in love,” says Jeanne, who has since owned three homes in Avondale, all within about 8-10 blocks of each other.
Jeanne’s latest home, a petite one-and-a-half story bungalow built in 1919, is notable for its multiple French doors, lateral clipped gable roof, shed dormer, full-width porch and massive round columns on the porch and side. The home has been extensively renovated, including a new roof, new plumbing and electric, expanded closets and custom French doors. However, several intriguing original details remain, including the bungalow’s solid concrete front and side columns; the columns are actually pier pilings, installed by bungalow’s original owner who built ship piers for the bustling St. Johns river trade.
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| 2962 Herschel Street photo credit: Kirk Chamberlain |
Christina and Jeff Starmer own this charming Craftsman Bungalow, which was built for E.G. Rogers in 1919. Originally a 2/1 with just 1,600 square feet, the home grew cramped for their family of four and in 2009 the couple decided to add a 600-square-foot addition. Selecting the right company to do the work was a no-brainer: Christina and Jeff own Centerbeam Construction, which specializes in historic renovations and additions. Once work got underway, they discovered that the roofline was much higher than originally thought, which allowed them to open up 400 additional square feet of space for a charming loft. Now the home is a comfortable 2,400 square feet, with four bedrooms and three baths.
The family is thrilled with the results—and the neighborhood. “We wanted our two children to grow up in a small-town environment--hard to do in a large city such as Jacksonville,” notes Christina. “We’ve been here twelve years and don’t plan on leaving the neighborhood anytime soon. Home is home!”
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| 1028 Osceola photo credit: Brad Stookey |
This rusticated block structure dates to 1917 and features a wonderful two-sided wrap-around porch that’s perfect for parties, projects or just lounging. Interior features include hardwood floors, three fireplaces, high ceilings with picture molding, and a great circular traffic pattern downstairs.
The story of Trish Calhoun’s path to ownership of the house on Osceola is as special as the home itself. When she first discovered the place in 1982, it was a “tattered, broken-down shamble of a house that reached out and touched my heart as surely as if it was part of my destiny.” Although the home looked as if it was abandoned, it wasn’t; a sweet old man who had no family and little money to care for himself--let alone the house--had lived there since 1920, but he wasn’t interested in selling.
So Trish and her then husband Jim bought a little bungalow on Dellwood and adopted “Uncle Raymond” into the family. Trish describes him as a “dear sweet man from another time and place . . . born in 1917, his parents died in the 1930s and he never got married, never drove a car, and rode the (original) trolley and bus all his life.”
After a stoke, Raymond came to live with Trish and Jim because the house on Osceola had broken windows and no heat; then, after her marriage failed, Trish and Raymond needed a place to live. Returning to Osceola Street, they became joint owners of the house. Trish renovated the home, and cared for Raymond until his death in 1996. “I still miss the thump of his cane on the hardware floors,” she notes. Renovations have continued on a very limited budget and with years of steady work, creativity and resourcefulness; the result is a cozy, lovingly cared-for home of which Raymond would undoubtedly have been proud.
Trish is thankful that RAP “adds character and oxygen to a very needy society, and is a constant reminder (I hope) to folks of another place and time that we all came from. Many people admire and long for what we have,” she explains. “They just drive through and momentarily indulge themselves, not realizing that they’re missing out on some of life’s best lessons—courage, commitment, preservation, conservation and, best of all, a sense of pride and duty to family, home and community.”
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| 2970 St. Johns Avenue photo credit: Brad Stookey |
Christopher Jensen, who owns a salon in Wisconsin, was looking for a pied-à-terre in a warm-weather climate when he found Riverside three years ago. The area had everything on his wish list: a beautiful neighborhood, proximity to restaurants, shopping, art museums, and residents who continue to invest, both financially and aesthetically, in the neighborhood’s success. The condominium he found in the Beau Rivage Tower promised convenience and terrific river views, but also needed a gut renovation.
“Basically, we had to transform a 1970s condo into a more open space to maximize views of the landscape and river,” said Jensen, who happily took up the challenge. He hired Darren Dollard of J.D. Designs to revamp the space and give it an updated modern feel. Now, with work complete, Jensen can escape those Wisconsin winters whenever the mood strikes. “The view of the river from the front living space is very comforting and relaxing,” observes Jensen—especially because there’s never any snow to obscure it.
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| 3536 Pine Street photo credit: Bill Stookey |
Dan Tice, an implementation consultant for a software company, and Brent Vance, Vice President at a mortgage loan servicing company, looked all over the city for the perfect location to plant roots. The couple found it in Avondale. “For every beautiful home or plot of land we saw, nothing could compare to [Avondale’s] rich architecture, diverse people, quaint tree-lined streets and sense of community,” said Brent. “We love the rich tradition and sense of pride that fellow residents have in the historic neighborhood.” They purchased this two-and-a-half story Tudor Revival style home, their second in the Avondale, in 2007, and share it with two rescued Golden Retrievers, Lucy and Cricket.
Built in 1929 for the General Postmaster of Murray Hill, the house’s exterior is characterized by the use of half timbering, eyebrow dormers, steeply pitched roofs, curved eaves and arched doorways. Inside, renovations large and small have touched almost every room, including that most rate of features, the Florida basement. Indeed, it was the “scary, dingy” basement that underwent the biggest transformation. The foundation’s exposed brick walls and concrete floors provide great texture and character for the space that serves as Dan’s home office, as well as an extra guest room and laundry area. Brent describes it as “the perfect place for a cozy nap or reading nook away from the hustle and bustle of the main floors. Lucy and Cricket love it as well, and are often found curled up under the desk.”
Today, the home’s décor is a blend of custom pieces, family antiques and flea market finds, all artfully arranged with inspiration and elbow grease. Dan and Brent admit to having ”pushed the capacity limits of the house” many times, with summer family reunions around the pool, holiday parties, special dinner parties and hosting out-of-town guests “who come to enjoy our Florida weather and certainly end up falling in love with our neighborhood.”
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| 3222 St. Johns Avenue photo credit: Brad Stookey |
When this majestic 5,300-square-foot Colonial Revival home was built in 1904, it was originally located on the river. In 1914, a team of oxen moved the house one block over to its present location on the corner of Seminole and St. Johns Avenue so that its new owner, Frederick McConnel, could subdivide the large river lot into what would become the Elizabeth Place subdivision.
At the time, St. Johns was a narrow unpaved road and there were only half-a-dozen houses in the area; with no city water service, homeowners shared a common well. In a 1970s interview, Mary Alice McConnell, who grew up in the home, recounted a blissful rural childhood with pony cart rides down Edgewood Avenue, fresh milk and eggs from the cow and chickens the family kept in the backyard, the occasional baptism in the river, and walking to school at West Riverside Elementary. (This century-old neighborhood school is also on this year’s tour.) She recalled how people used to drive out from the city on Sunday afternoons to pick phlox and blackberries in the huge field across the street.
Although the area’s rural atmosphere disappeared with the development of Avondale in 1920 and the subsequent extension of the streetcar line, the McConnells remained. The 106-year-old home stayed within the family until Terry and Bonnie Dennis bought it five years ago. Terry is a retired Fire and Rescue Battalion Chief who once was stationed on McDuff Avenue; “Avondale was my territory,” says Terry, “and it felt like I was home, so we decided to invest in the neighborhood.”
The couple’s hobby is restoring old homes—a fortunate pastime given that the subsequent renovations were a multi-year job. Contemporary millwork that had replaced some of the fine old mouldings was removed, and copies of the original period casing were milled and installed throughout the house. The addition of a third-floor 1,100 square-foot entertainment room, complete with Irish Pub, surely provided a pleasant place to rest after long days spent restoring the original hardwood floors.
First shown on the Riverside Avondale Tour of Homes three years ago in its pre-renovation state, this stunning home is now meticulously restored and ready for its “Grand Reveal.”
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| 3338 Riverside Avenue photo credit: Brad Stookey |
To say that old homes are built better than new homes is almost a cliché; the hand-built houses of yesteryear, with their superior details and careful attention to quality, put modern mass-produced construction to shame. But sometimes it takes something dramatic to prove this point. Such was the case for Peggy Holt, whose Tudor Style home survived a terrible fire four years ago: “It really made me appreciate how well-built the house was,” she said, “to sustain something that devastating yet for the damage not to be recognizable from the outside of the house.”
This stately two-story masonry home was built in 1925, and designed by architect Roy Benjamin, who also completed the Park Lane and the Bisbee Building downtown. Its owner was L.M. Lippman (one of the sons of Gabe Lippman, who lived directly behind this house and owned the Independent Drug Company, the leading drug store in Jacksonville in the 1920s). It features steeply pitched gable roofs and half-timbering, as well as concrete lintels above the casement windows on the front façade. As for the interior features, every room got a makeover after the fire.
It started in the sleeping porch off the master bedroom, destroying both rooms as well as the master bathroom. Extensive smoke damage throughout the house meant Peggy had to move out for over a year while it was being restored and repaired. Now the home features new solid mahogany doors and wood baseboards, modernized bathrooms, gorgeous hardwood floors, a totally renovated kitchen, Venetian Plaster walls, and a freshly landscaped backyard and pool. Peggy is grateful to be back in the home: “Although [the fire] was a traumatic experience,” she notes, “the house got a facelift that it normally wouldn’t have gotten otherwise.”
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| 2842 St. Johns Avenue photo credit: Brad Stookey |
This substantial 5,700-square-foot Mediterranean Revival home was built in 1915 for Lorenzo Baldwin in the Phillip’s Replat subdivision. As the suburban expansion of the 1920s began blurring the lines beside Riverside and its neighbors, many small subdivisions (this one was platted by Frederick Phillips in 1911) got gradually absorbed into the larger neighborhood we now define as Riverside. In 1967, the home was converted into a boarding house, a use that persisted until Ginger Harris purchased the home in 2003.
Harris, who has renovated well over 20 homes in the Avondale area, then tackled perhaps her biggest challenge yet. The home’s elegant and spacious rooms, chopped up during its boarding house era, were restored during an extensive renovation that required two years of serious sweat equity. Today, the home features an updated foyer and kitchen, updated baths, a media room, an exercise room, a gleaming chef’s kitchen, a climate-controlled wine cellar and a fabulous master bedroom suite that stretches the entire width of the house. Several original features remain, including the grand staircase and a gracious dining room with Venetian plaster walls and an eight-foot-wide Adams fireplace. An unsightly metal stairway was removed from the rear of the property, and a two-bay garage added that meticulously mimics the main structure’s architecture.
Serving as this year’s Art House, and curated by the R. Roberts Gallery to feature the work of skilled local artists, the home’s soaring 10-foot-ceilings provide the perfect frame for the diverse works of art on display. Tour-goers also will enjoy sweet treats from Let Them Eat Cake and fresh brews from Bold Bean Coffee.
Plus, this year's visitors will have a special opportunity to tour two of our district's historic schools. We're so fortunate that this is that rare community where children can still walk to school; alumni from West Riverside and Lee High School will be on hand at each location.
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| West Riverside Elementary photo credit: Brad Stookey |
West Riverside Elementary celebrates one hundred years of service this year, making it the oldest continuously operating elementary school in Florida. This nationally registered historic landmark structure has seen more than 25,000 students pass through its doors, but its earliest pupils might not recognize today’s building, which was dramatically remodeled by noted architect Henry J. Klutho in 1916 and again in 1922.
The original 1911 building (architect unknown) was a Neoclassical Revival brick structure with four monumental Doric columns, similar in style to the Annie Lytle School. Klutho enlarged the building in 1916, nearly doubling the width of the façade along Herschel (the dividing line between original and addition can be seen by the setbacks on the façade and the differing roof ridges). He also added two novel open-air classrooms on the second story of the Park Street side. (These were enclosed in 1936, no doubt to the dismay of students.) Klutho again revamped the building in 1922, adding Mediterranean Revival features; the columns and portico were removed and an ornate Spanish-style central façade added; the brick was stuccoed over, and wings added in rear.
Visitors to West Riverside Elementary today will find a vibrant, modern institution where echoes of the past (including four huge Lee Adams botanical murals that once graced the Florida Pavillion at the 1964 World’s Fair in New York) only enhance the art and love of learning that is the school’s century-old legacy.
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| Lee High School photo credit: Brad Stookey |
Robert E. Lee High School is one of the two oldest high schools in Jacksonville. Dedicated in January 1928, it is named for the Confederate general, Robert E. Lee. With its courtyard, roomy stairwells, ample hallways and numerous windows, the school reflects the Open Air Style popularized by Progressive Education Movement from 1875 to 1955. Lee High School’s diverse alumni include Ronnie Van Zant, who was the lead singer of the band Lynyrd Skinner, a former mayor (Hans Tanzler), a sitting congressman (Ander Crenshaw) as well as Leroy Butler and Edgar Bennett, both members of the Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers. The Duval County School Board is undertaking a multi-million project at Lee High that includes the demolition of all of the building's interiors so if you attended Lee this would be a great opportunity to see the school’s historic interiors!
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| Robert E. Lee High School, circa 1928 |
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