Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Lake County ‘castle’ faces demolition or preservation
FRUITLAND PARK — Ivan “Honest John” Yeftich was known for wearing white three-piece suits, a saber rattling at his side. He told people he descended from a ruling-class Serbian family.
Yeftich, who gained his nickname through numerous businesses he owned, built a home that reflected his outlandish personality. What he called his “castle” stood out because of its unusual appearance, described by residents as a combination of “old Russia” and “art deco.”
But the quirky piece of Lake County history has deteriorated since Yeftich’s death at 90 in 1972. Fruitland Park deemed it unsafe last year and recently ordered the current owner to have it fixed by April 1 or tear it down within the next six months.
“If we can save the building and make [it a] historic thing … ,” said owner Dusan Jevtich, 81, a nephew of Yeftich’s who moved to the United States in the 1960s. “If we cannot, no way I can stop them.”
Because Jevtich lives in Lansing, Mich., he has been unable to care for the Dixie Avenue home that shows the accumulation of decades of neglect since it was handed to him in 1973. Some residents of the city of 7,300 are lamenting the possible demise of the house, which property records show was built in 1930.
“It’s such a shame — here is heritage, and Fruitland Park is always saying ‘we really need history,’ ” said Fred Clark, 61, a resident for 42 years. “Let’s quit tearing down this [expletive] and get history.”
The 1,164-square-foot single-story home with distinctive mini-turrets was constructed with yellowpainted concrete blocks interspersed with horizontal red-brick stripes. When building the castle, Yeftich had his wife, Emma, carry the blocks up a ladder so he could lay them. He dotted the entrances with embedded tiles, and in the bathroom — above where the toilet or tub used to be — is a painting of hypnotizing concentric circles on the wall.
Signs of squatters, such as empty Miller Lite bottles and empty cracker packs, litter the property, and sunlight pours into the house after a tree fell and collapsed the roof years ago. Many considered it an eyesore and lodged complaints to the city about its condition.
Joe Greene, 65, who moved into the house next door last April, has worked to tidy it up.
“I cleaned it up because it’s a Picasso,” Greene said. “There were literally decades of vines growing all over.”
In January 2017, a city inspector wrote in his report that “even the vibration of a large truck could cause these walls to collapse.”
“It’s had homeless people and vagrants there, and it’s not safe,” Mayor Chris Cheshire said.
Jevtich did not know what brought Yeftich to the U.S., first to St. Louis in 1911 and later to Fruitland Park, from Serbia, other than a vague disagreement he said Yeftich had with his father.
Yeftich graduated from an agricultural college in Kraljevo, Serbia, and in 1898 received a veterinary diploma. In Fruitland Park, he ran a gas station, a library and an art gallery and once wrote a letter to the Orlando Sentinel advocating for a “Public Thought Club.”
“He had his hands in everything; he was an entrepreneur,” said Chrissie Jaje, 53, who grew up down the street from him.
She recalled “Honest John” as a friendly presence in the neighborhood.
Fruitland Park officials said they would love to let the house stand, but Jevtich has not repaired it since it was declared unsafe last year. The city has extended the demolition deadline for the home once already.
“We don’t want to see it go,” Cheshire said.
He said he is not in favor of the city purchasing the house because the “city shouldn’t get involved in stuff like this … I’m a libertarian.”
Bob Grenier, curator of the Lake County Historical Museum in Tavares, said he believes government can have a role in preserving a community’s history.
“I don’t understand how they wouldn’t want to take it over and utilize it in some way,” said Grenier, a Tavares City Council member. “Fruitland Park is trying to keep their identity as The Villages is creeping in. I would think history and heritage would be the way.”