‘Archtober’ opens new window to area’s diverse architecture
A decade ago, the Center for Architecture in New York City declared this month “Archtober,” in celebration of the variety and heritage of the structures in which residents live, work, and play.
It’s a good time to appreciate our architectural heritage, which constitutes “something of a structure in itself,” Chuck Twardy, noted almost 30 years ago. Removing elements from that structure “threatens a kind of spiritual collapse.”
In the three decades since, efforts to appreciate and preserve historic architecture have grown across the nation, fostered by groups including the National Trust for Historic Preservation and, in Central Florida, Orange Preservation Trust, the Friends of Casa Feliz and Central Florida Modern.
Nowthe Orlando Foundation for Architecture also offers resources on itswebsite, which highlights historic and contemporary architecture).
In its OFApedia section, thewebsite includes examples of various historic architectural styles in Central Florida. It’s a work in progress. Here’s a bit about two of the many styles.
Spanish Mission
Central Florida is relatively rich in Spanish Mission-style buildings, many dating fromthe 1920s. One of the best examples, Orlando’s Amtrak Station, is remarkable for having served railroad passengers continuously for more than 90 years.
Built in 1926 by the Atlantic Coast Line, with an official opening in early 1927, the station was hailed as “one of the most beautiful in the South,” the Orlando Morning Sentinel reported at the time. Its cost: nearly $500,000.
One of its finest features remains the word ORLANDO, arched over the entrance to the station facing the trains. Each letter was hand-designed by the architect, A.M. Griffin.
Inspired by the early 20th-century vogue for Mission Revival architecture, the railroad’s top brass sent Griffin to travel the Pacific Coast to study the Spanish colonial missions for which the style was named.
And, so, with its twin bell towers, arches and tile roof— an homage to missions in San Francisco, Santa Barbara, Carmel, San Juan Bautista and other California cities— the station became the Atlantic Coast Line’s very Pacific Coast-style gift to Orlando.
Queen Anne
With their abundance of decorative detail, corner towers and expansive porches, “Queen Anne buildings are often considered local landmarks, ornate and showy attention-getters,” a field guide to Pennsylvania architecture notes.
It’s true, too, that Queen Anne survivors are more prevalent in northern states such as Pennsylvania than they are in Florida, where hurricanes and termites are hardly hospitable to venerable wooden buildings.
One fine Orlando example of a Queen Anne turret graces the PoyntzO’Neal House at 614 Lake Ave., which has a place on both the National Register of Historic Places and the register of Orlando Historic Landmarks.
Newlyweds Oliver and Matilda Poyntz built the two-story house around1884 as an L-plan frame vernacular house; apparently the Queen Anne gussying up came a little later. It has a special place in Orlando lore as one of two survivors from “Honeymoon Row” on Lake Minnie, now Lake Cherokee— in the 1880s considered to be out in the country from downtown Orlando.
In1909, the homewas sold to a widow, Jessie Mallory Thayer, who in 1914 married William O’Neal, a well known Orlando an who had also been widowed.
Jessie O’Neal was an active suffragist, and in 1919, after the Florida Legislature approved votes for Orlando women in municipal affairs, she marched around lakes Cherokee and Lucerne in celebration, carrying a large American flag and ringing a bell.
It’s fun to picture her coming down the steps of the big porch facing Lake Cherokee and heading out on her march, waving her flag. Her story offers a good reminder, too, that buildings have value both for their architecture and the lives that have enfolded within their walls.