JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A historic Mandarin farmhouse is one step closer to being demolished after the Land Use and Zoning Committee approved the demolition permit on Wednesday night. Meanwhile, a surviving family member of the original builder is advocating to preserve the home.
The 145-year-old home on Linjohn Road is called the Henry C. Arpen farmhouse, and it’s sparking controversy after preservationists want to save the home and its new owner wants to demolish it.
According to our news partners at Jax Today, the house is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and meets four of the city’s seven criteria to be designated a local landmark.
Retired Deputy General Counsel Tracey Arpen, whose great-uncle built the home, is fighting to keep it.
“If someone came forward and said ‘We’d be willing to have the home move to our property,’ that might create a path for the house to be preserved and for the vote on the final vote on the demolition to perhaps be influenced,” Arpen said.
While he admitted that the design and architecture are a little outdated, he pointed out that it is one of only two Mandarin buildings remaining on the National Register.
Dr. Wayne Wood, historian at large for the Jacksonville History Center said the area itself has so much history, from ties to the Civil War to Harriet Beecher Stowe who had a house in the area, and added that it’s important to keep it preserved.
“This building, which is one of the 20 or 30 or so of these old houses left in Mandarin, becomes all the more valuable just because there are so few of them left. The house is preservable. It should be preserved.”
While Arpen and others are hoping to preserve the home’s history, the current owner wants it demolished.
An evaluation by Bordan Development found that the cost to repair the home is much more than the home is worth.
The final vote for the demolition will take place next Tuesday and Arpen said he hopes that either someone steps up to take the property or their vote is swayed.
“Hopeful that the developer would still be willing to continue the move to a new location and make the home available for someone to save,” Arpen said.
For more on the history of the home, visit JaxToday.org.
