Lake Lucerne landmark began as gift for bride

A recent Flashback about a formidable, feathered figure in Orlando's past, Billy the Swan, inspired thoughts from readers — first, about whether Charles Lord, who lived on Lake Lucerne, imported the city's first swans from England or from Connecticut, as one account suggests, and, second, about a grand survivor by the lake: the Dr. Phillips home that's now part of the Courtyard at Lake Lucerne.

On the origin of the swans, ace researcher Herb Piper of Orlando writes that he'll go with shipment from England. “On December 1, 1910, Charles Lord was reimbursed $95 for expenses incurred in shipping two white and two black swans,” Piper writes. “That translates to about $2,540 in 2017 dollars, according to an inflation calculator. I can't see it costing anywhere near that amount to ship them from Connecticut by rail.”

Thinking about Lake Lucerne in the early 20th century, Father Anthony Borka of Orlando notes in an email that the Lord home, now gone, was not the only one on Lake Lucerne. “I have often wondered what the Phillips house must have looked like back in the day,” he writes. “Now, you can't even see it from the road. State Road 408 really has the area obscured.”

To see the house, exit the 408 from the west at Orange Avenue, turn left (north) onto Delaney and immediately take a hard left back onto North Lucerne Circle East, which parallels the exit ramp. The Dr. Phillips House is at the end of the block, at No. 135, next to two other historic properties that make up the Courtyard at Lake Lucerne (see orlandohistoricinn.com).

Solitary splendor

Now painted a distinctive yellow, the home has been a landmark on Lake Lucerne since it was built in 1893 and stood in near solitary splendor on the lake, judging from postcard views.

Col. Peleg Peckham gave the house to his daughter, Minnie, as a wedding gift when she married Judge Archibald MacCallum, an 1893 arrival to Orlando from St. Louis, Mo.

Originally from Rhode Island, Peckham also hailed from St. Louis and probably only wintered in Orlando. Born in 1818, he was 14 years older than his wife, Eliza, and 40 years older than his daughter, Minnie, for whom the house was built.

He didn't leave many other traces in Orlando's historical record, except that when work began on a railroad line between Orlando and Winter Park on April 11, 1887, Peckham tossed the first shovel of earth.

Census records suggest a possible source of his popularity in being chosen for this honor. In the 1870 census, Peckham is listed as a wholesale liquor distributor in St. Louis; in 1880, “saloon” is noted for his occupation. However he made his money, in 1893 he sunk the kingly sum of $37,500 into the house on Lake Lucerne for Minnie's wedding present.

When citrus baron Philip Phillips and his wife, Della, bought the house in 1912, they hired architect L. Percival Hutton to remodel it, adding a Greek Revival portico and converting the gas lights to electricity. Hutton's credits,

Beginnings in a bungalow

The Phillipses didn't always live in mansions in Orlando. In an oral history, their eldest son, Howard, recalled “living hard” in 1907, in a bungalow at a grove by Lake Mann (see OrlandoMemory.com).

From there, Howard walked to first grade at Orlando's new schoolhouse (near present-day City Hall) — which must have taken more than an hour. The city's only paved street then was Orange Avenue — and only a couple blocks of it were paved.

After his father “struck it rich” about 1910, Howard recalled, and the family moved in 1912 to Lake Lucerne, the Phillipses began the custom of hosting music recitals in their home. They encouraged local musicians and also brought top-flight national artists to Orlando — a tradition that continues, of course, at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts.