Friday, November 30, 2012

Dow Museum of Historic Houses - St. Augustine, FL

This is a diagram of the property that I found online.
149 Cordova St,
Some background: Within the borders of the Dow Museum of Historic Houses, one city block contains more than 400 years of St. Augustine history. Among the courtyards and gardens, visitors can view archaeological records of a sixteenth-century hospital and cemetery, an eighteenth-century Spanish Colonial defense line, and the site of the 1863 reading of the Emancipation Proclamation which freed all of the slaves in Florida. Kenneth Worcester Dow was born in 1911. He first travelled to St. Augustine in the 1930s. Thoroughly enjoying his visit, he made St. Augustine his permanent home - and purchased the oldest house on the property, the 1790 Prince Murat House. By the early 1950s, Mr. Dow had acquired all nine historic homes on the block. Mr. Dow generously donated his entire collection of artwork, furniture and other antiques to the Museum of Arts & Sciences in Daytona Beach, FL, in 1989. The Dow Museum of Historic Houses was opened in late 2000 after 11 years of restoration. 
Link:  http://www.moas.org/dowmuseum.html 

Here are the pictures that we took:



The second-oldest structure on the property is the Dow House. This house was constructed by Antonio Canova in 1839, and was originally located where the William Dean Howells House currently stands on St. George Street.
In 1906, the Dow House was moved to its current Bridge Street location by Mary Hayden, the widow of a presperous hotel proprietor. She moved the structure so she could build the Howells and the Rose Houses as winter cottages for St. Augustine visitors.
Mr. Dow purchased the Dow House in 1941 from the oldest living resident in the city, Sarah McKinnon. At the time, Sarah McKinnon was 98 years old and the deal stated that Mr. Dow would grant her life tenancy in the house in exchange for ownership. The agreement was approved and Ms. McKinnon lived to be 103.
Dow House [1839] also above

See the face?

The Carpenter's House is characterized by its unique lean and mismatched building materials which were left over from the construction of the Spear and Worcester Houses. The tilt, however, is not a consequence of poor construction techniques; rather, it is a result of the house being detached from its foundation. This event most likely occurred during a hurricane and flood that struck the city in October 1944.
The house was built for Alberta Johnson, who was the sister of Marie Louise, wife of John Henry. Johnson's husband had passed away at an early age, leaving her with their two young daughters. John Henry arranged to have the house built for them to provide care for the family.

I popped my head inside and took this picture [Carpenters House]

and this one [Carpenter's House]

In 1906, the Worcester House was the second house constructed on the property by John Henry. When originally built, a large one-story porch wrapped around the front of the house but it was partially removed by Kenneth Dow in 1949. Shortly after the house was divided into apartments; one of which was occupied in the 1950s by Susan Alice Worcester, who was Mr. Dow's Aunt.

1906 [Worcester House]

[Worcester House]

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