Panel allows demolition of historic Mandarin farmhouse

A City Council committee is recommending that a deteriorated, 145-year-old farmhouse in Mandarin be demolished.

The Land Use and Zoning Committee on Wednesday supported the owner’s request to demolish the house, even though it is on the National Register of Historic Places.

The decision, after 90 minutes of testimony and debate, made another bill moot — a request to designate the house as a local landmark.

The tin-roofed farmhouse on Linjohn Road had met four of the city’s seven criteria to get a local landmark designation. But developer Michael Danhour said he spent two years and about $100,000 attempting to preserve the house without success.

Danhour told committee members that the farmhouse sat untouched for 18 months, deteriorating while he tried to get city permits to move it to a potential Sunbeam Road owner who wanted it. He called it “permitting hell.”

When the new owners no longer wanted the home, he said, he had no option but to request a demolition permit. Experts said the structure has deteriorated so much that it might not survive being moved anywhere.

“We struggled to get permits to move the house. I relocated it 1,400 feet to save it, and it barely survived,” he told the committee. “I no longer have a place to move it. … This is not demolition due to neglect on my part.”

Tracey Arpen spoke in an attempt to save the house his great uncle built. He said it was in good shape when placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2019. Even after years of deterioration since then, it deserves protection despite being “in a really bad spot,” Arpen said.

“We are here in large part, I believe, because of the inactions or actions of the developer,” said Arpen, a retired assistant general counsel. “You heard the record from the preservation commission. He moved the house without permit approval; he moved it before approvals were in place for the new location; the chimney was removed; and it was allowed to further deteriorate .”

History of the farmhouse

The two-story wood frame home was built in 1880 on a 17-acre tract on O’Connor Road and farmer Henry Arpen moved into it. Local oral history indicates it was built using materials salvaged from a barge that had beached on the St. Johns River, according to a WJCT News story in 2019.

The construction method of what is often termed a Florida Cracker-style home was one reason why the home meets four of the seven criteria to be designated a local landmark, according to a city planning department report.

When the building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places, it was listed in “excellent condition, retaining the integrity of its exterior and interior features,” according to the bill seeking landmark status.

The house is one of only two buildings in Mandarin to be included on the National Register, Arpen said. The other is the Mandarin Store and Post Office.

Shortly after the home appeared on the National Register, the site off O’Connor Road was rezoned to allow a 33-home subdivision, mandating that the home be preserved by moving it to a new location or relocating it within the development and assuming all reasonable costs, the City Council bill states.

“I reached out to over 50 preservation groups to find an interested party. I offered to pay in full the relocation,” Danhour said. “No preservation groups came forward. Only one group came forward, and they had a plan to manage the renovation and a viable plan to ensure its preservation.”

That proposal would have moved the house to Sunbeam Road. Danhour said he took over ownership of the house in April 2022 and began work to get the city permits. That’s when he encountered what he called a “comedy of errors on all sides with the city.”

Danhour said he had to move the home 1,400 feet to its current rented site since the subdivision was being built.

Danhour said the home “barely survived” the move, then sat untouched for 18 months as he tried to get permits to move it. By early 2024, an engineering review said the home’s ability to survive a 7-mile move to the potential new owner’s site “was questionable, and demolition was a more suitable option given the deterioration.”

The city condemned the structure, and the potential owner did not want the home anymore. Danhour requested permission to demolish it, which the Jacksonville Historic Preservation Commission denied.

The commission also recommended the home for potential local landmark designation, which led to Thursday’s hearing to review that request and Danhour’s appeal of the demolition’s denial.

The committee’s reasoning

City Council Member Michael Boylan, who represents Mandarin, said Danhour made “a good faith effort” to preserve the home. And “with a house that nobody wants” that is falling apart, maybe the best option is to let it be demolished, City Council member Rory Diamond said.

“I think the cleanest thing to do, and the most efficient for the city, and this council and the (committee), is just to say, knock it down and let’s move on,” he said.

The vote to approve demolition was 6 to 1 for approval. The recommendation now moves to the full City Council for a final vote Tuesday.

Boylan said he wondered whether there is any way to document the historic aspects of the house before it is demolished.

“I just want to make sure that we have that kind of documentation available to us,” the Mandarin lawmaker said. “But as to the decision itself, I get it. This was a no-win situation. … I understood the rationale for trying to save it.”

Danhour agreed to allow the documentation of the house before it is demolished.