'Wonderful, magical property': Historic Dixieland building begins 'mammoth' renovation

LAKELAND — On the inside, the nearly century-old structure could be a museum representing the destructive power of fire.

Deepest black covers the charred wood of walls, studs and floors like a thick coat of paint. Electrical fixtures are melted into place. Unidentifiable remnants crunch underfoot.

Amid all the structural carnage, though, the aroma of fresh lumber invades a visitor’s perceptions. On the second floor, a glance upward reveals newly installed roof trusses, topped by wood panels enclosing a building whose top had been open to the sky for two years.

Crews from Mark Brown Construction are working to revive the two-story residence at 914 S. Missouri Ave., two years after a fire ravaged the structure. The rebuilding of the quirky dwelling in Lakeland’s Dixieland neighborhood attests to the determination of its previous and current owners to prevent what seemed its likely fate, demolition followed by replacement with something far less distinctive.

“It’s good,” former owner Rick Soto said of the project. “It warms my heart.”

Gary Hyde bought the 4,300-square-foot structure last year from Soto, his longtime friend.

“I'm quite excited about it,” Hyde said. “I never had seen the house until Rick bought it, and he and I have been friends for probably over 40 years now, and I fell in love with it immediately. But I knew he would never sell it (before the fire happened).”

Soto bought the property in the late 1980s, having been intrigued by it for years before it became available. The damaged dwelling is one of two buildings on a combined lot, both of which carry plenty of history. The second building, separated by a small courtyard, housed the long-defunct Child’s Garden of Learning, a private elementary school founded in the 1920s at a different location.

The damaged building, occupying the south end of the tract, dates to 1925, according to the Polk County Property Appraiser’s records. The structure, built in a Tudor Revival style, was divided into three apartments, two downstairs (one of them inhabited by Soto) and one on the second floor. Soto also converted the upper floor of the “cottage” — the former school building — into an apartment.

Though located only a block west of South Florida Avenue, Lakeland’s main thoroughfare, the property retains an aura of seclusion and mystery. The main building can barely be seen from Missouri Avenue, concealed by a large magnolia and other trees, hidden behind an arched entrance gate with a rock facade and contained within a concrete wall topped by a railing.

The exterior of the main house presents a mixture of adornments, such as ceramic tiles and large, metal figures of standing lions and a coat of arms set against an arched web of bricks. Hyde said he has been told the house’s builder had a son-in-law from Morocco, which he said helps explain the structure’s eclectic appearance.

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Avoiding demolition

The fire occurred just past midnight on Sept. 3, 2021. The Lakeland Fire Department responded quickly, but the flames spread through the structure, feeding on the wood of the interior walls and floors.

Hyde’s daughter, Shelby Hyde, said a firefighter friend reported seeing water boiling in the courtyard’s two fish ponds. But the fire did not spread to the former school building, and a mature magnolia tree in the brick-lined courtyard escaped with no significant damage.

Soon after the fire, Soto began receiving offers on the property. To his dismay, it seemed that all the would-be buyers wanted to demolish the remains of the burned house and build something new.

Hyde attended Southeastern University and lived in Lakeland for seven years before settling in Washington, D.C. in 1985. A retired information technology executive and one-time FBI employee, he said he has restored about 15 historic homes in Washington’s U Street Historic District, where he lives.

Hyde and Soto talk by phone regularly. Following the fire, Hyde raised the possibility of buying the property and renovating the structure, one that he had long admired.

“I'm a big, big proponent of reusing and not destroying history,” Hyde said. “And that house is part of Lakeland’s legacy and heritage. And there have been so many people, both through the time that Rick owned it and even the time I owned it, that have wandered in and were just marveled by it. And having spent seven years in Lakeland, I really had never seen anything quite like it. It's really just such a wonderful, magical property.”

But Hyde initially didn’t think he could put together the finances to take on such a project, and he delayed making an offer. After more than a year, Soto said he was ready to list the property for sale. The friends talked on a Friday night, and Hyde asked Soto to hold off so that he could deliberate on what he wanted to do.

“And Sunday morning at 7:30, my phone rang and it was Gary,” Soto recalled. “He says, ‘Rick, I want to buy that house.’ ”

County records show that Hyde paid $450,000.

Hyde said that Soto held on to the property in hopes of finding a buyer who would try to preserve the burned building.

“He was adamant about that, and I was equally adamant when he and I talked about whether I could buy it, what the terms would be,” Hyde said. “I said, ‘By all means, I want you to understand my intent would not be tearing it down’ — unless it was deemed so unsafe that we couldn't save it.”

Hyde is careful to call the project a renovation, not a restoration. While the exterior will remain largely unchanged, he said the fire left little that could be restored on the interior.

Hyde said that the contractor ordered an inspection before beginning work and determined that the building was structurally sound. He said the project is broken into two phases: installing a roof to get the house “dried in from the weather” and then doing the interior renovation. While the contractor continues to work on installing the roof, a set of wooden panels now blocks out the elements.

Hyde said he hopes to have the work completed within about 18 months. He estimated the projected cost at about $664,000 — $214,000 for the roof and about $150,000 for each of the three units.

“I don't know how in the world I'm going to pay for it,” Hyde said ruefully.

Reflecting its era, the building features hardwood floors in concentric patterns, along with tile in some areas. Hyde said all the flooring will probably have to be replaced. The contractor must also reconstruct the electrical system and plumbing.

The work is complicated by the setting of the building, tightly enclosed as it is by the concrete walls.

“So that's a mammoth, mammoth undertaking,” Hyde said. “I mean, it's hard to get there with it being walled in like it is.”

'It was heartbreaking'

Hyde plans to replicate the previous floor plan of two apartments downstairs — the smaller of which he will reserve for his own use — and a two-bedroom apartment on the second floor.

The owner’s geographic distance from the work site adds to the challenges. Hyde relies on his daughter to check regularly on the progress of the renovation.

On Tuesday morning, Shelby Hyde led a reporter and photographer on a tour of the burned building. Outside, metal scaffolding surrounded much of the house. Inside, the lack of electrical power left the first floor in darkness.

Even so, extensive damage could be seen throughout both floors. Temporarily installed two-by-fours angled against walls added stability amid scorched wood structures that would clearly need to be replaced.

The front apartment on the first floor contained two fireplaces. Hyde said the chimney for the fireplace on the wall facing Missouri Avenue had to be removed because its foundation was unstable, but he plans to have it rebuilt.

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Shelby Hyde recalled visiting the house soon after the fire.

“It was heartbreaking, a little bit, seeing such a lived-in, well-loved place be turned into nothing, almost,” she said.

The Dixieland Historic District gained national recognition in 1994, and all structures are subject to design guidelines developed by the city of Lakeland. The house on Missouri Avenue is considered a contributing structure, based on its age and architecture, but the city’s Historic Preservation Board likely would have approved demolition because of the extensive damage from the fire.

The board’s Design Review Committee and city staff evaluate proposed alterations to existing buildings in historic districts, and Hyde said he has been communicating with the city on his plans. After deciding to have a tin roof installed, a departure from the norm in Dixieland, Hyde had to make his case to the committee, which approved the material.

“I would have to say it went very smoothly,” Hyde said of his discussions with the committee. “They were very cooperative and very helpful.”

For a time after the fire, Soto lived in a rented property across the street from his former home. He has since moved to North Lakeland, but the retiree said he still makes regular trips to Missouri Avenue to check on the house.

“It’s going to be a beautiful project,” Soto said. “I can see the vision. Gary doesn’t hold back. When he restores, he restores to the best he possibly can.”

Gary White can be reached at gary.white@theledger.com or 863-802-7518. Follow on X @garywhite13.

This article originally appeared on The Ledger: New owner of historic Lakeland dwelling begins renovation after fire