Leesburg still considering fate of Mote-Morris

LEESBURG — City commissioners and residents were thrilled to hear that the costs associated with last month’s fire at the historic Mote-Morris House will be covered by the city’s insurer, but too many questions remained for city leaders to decide the future of the 126-year-old home.

Up in the air is if the house will be salvaged or demolished pending an evaluation by Brown & Brown Insurance and a structural engineer hired by the city that’s expected to be completed in several weeks. Even if the building can be restored, costs to refurbish the home in its old style would still be left to the city and the Queen Anne-style home’s status on the National Register of Historic Places would be lost, likely forever.

“[The home] is already declassified based on our conversations with the National Register … they say too much has been destroyed already,” Mayor Dan Robuck said at a meeting Monday night.

City Manager Al Minner said the home would not be purely authentic, as many on the National Register of Historic Places are not, but can still “be a historical memorial, I’m sure hoping we can get there.”

At a meeting Monday night, other officials floated the idea of pocketing the insurance payout while choosing not to restore the home or rebuilding it not as a city property but as a privately-owned bed-and-breakfast or restaurant, as ideas for its future.

“This is probably premature,” Commissioner Bob Bone said, “But some people in the community have already started talking about … maybe a re-use of it, a B&B, a restaurant, or something.”

City leaders are waiting for the evaluations from the structural engineer and Brown & Brown Insurance to decide their next step.