{"id":402370,"date":"2026-09-17T09:48:14","date_gmt":"2026-09-17T09:48:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/402370\/"},"modified":"2026-09-17T09:48:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-17T09:48:14","slug":"a-battle-is-brewing-over-this-140-year-old-central-florida-house","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/402370\/","title":{"rendered":"A battle is brewing over this 140-year-old Central Florida house"},"content":{"rendered":"

LONGWOOD, Fla. \u2013 A century-old home in Longwood is the center of a new initiative aimed at bringing it back to life.<\/p>\n

In a release this week, the Longwood Historic Society discussed the project, which involves the 1880s Lewis House<\/a> \u2014 one of the oldest surviving structures in the county.<\/p>\n

According to the group, the city voted to save the building and put together a budget to relocate it to Reiter Park, though when the city issued a formal request for proposals, only one bid came back. <\/p>\n

\"\"The 1885 Lewish House, seen at the terminus of West Jessup Avenue (Jason Byrne)<\/p>\n

That bid was substantially over budget, putting a stop to the city\u2019s plans.<\/p>\n

Per the LHS, municipal procurement can often be much pricier, so the group is now planning to execute the project itself.<\/p>\n

WHAT IS THE LEWIS HOUSE?<\/p>\n

The building \u2014 named for its first two inhabitants, brothers J.D. and N.J. Lewis \u2014 was originally built at 202 Wilma Street, where the Longwood Community Building is today.<\/p>\n

\"\"A plaque commemorating the J.D. & N.J. Lewis House (Jason Byrne)<\/p>\n

While little is known about the brothers themselves, several families have lived there in the decades and century to follow, according to LHS President Jason Byrne<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But when the Longwood Community Building was eventually constructed in 2002, the home had to be relocated to 116 West Bay Ave. to avoid being demolished.<\/p>\n

The LHS reports that the home faced being torn down yet again in 2015 when a developer wanted to build a new house on the lot, sparking another relocation to an empty lot at the end of Jessup Avenue, behind Christ Church and the police station.<\/p>\n

THIRD TIME\u2019S THE CHARM… OR NOT?<\/p>\n

Proposals pushed to renovate and move the building to Reiter Park in 2018, and later to Clock Tower Park. However, both of these plans ended up falling through.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn addition to the enormous amount of necessary funds, the restoration\u2019s result would be replacing virtually all of the wood,\u201d the LHS writes. \u201cSome said any restoration would essentially be building a replica, and it would be cheaper to build a replica.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"A photo of the Lewis House taken in 2021 (Jason Byrne)<\/p>\n

And with the city\u2019s plans last year again falling through, the LHS is now taking action to achieve restoration and relocation on its own.<\/p>\n

WHAT\u2019S THE PLAN NOW?<\/p>\n

The release reveals the LHS\u2019 proposed framework for saving the building:<\/p>\n

Title Transfer: The city of Longwood deeds the Lewis House directly to the LHS.<\/p>\n

Society-Led Campaign: The LHS manages community outreach, corporate\/educational partnerships, additional fundraising, and project management of the restoration.<\/p>\n

Campus Integration: After the restoration is finished, the LHS will transfer ownership of the building to Christ Episcopal Church to join their campus on Church Avenue, where the church will handle ongoing maintenance and use the building as a classroom, Bible study and small events space.<\/p>\n

\"\"A layout demonstrating the relocation plans for the Lewis House (Jason Byrne)<\/p>\n

\u201cThe society envisions using the restoration as a \u2018living laboratory,\u2019 with plans to explore educational collaborations with regional high schools, technical colleges, and universities to offer students real-world, hands-on learning experiences in construction trades, design, and public history,\u201d the release continues.<\/p>\n

\"\"An A.I. render showing what the structure could look like after being restored (Jason Byrne)<\/p>\n

Byrne also told News 6 that the initiative has already received support from contractor AC Cowboys, which has pledged to donate and install the HVAC system for the project.<\/p>\n

\"\"Another layout of the proposed house following restoration (Jason Byrne)<\/p>\n

Now, LHS leaders are building the restoration committee, trying to cement more partnerships for the project, and meet with city staff to finalize the logistics before bringing the formal plan to the city commission.<\/p>\n

If all goes as planned, the LHS estimates that the initial phases of exterior restoration could be finished in time for the Christ Episcopal Church\u2019s 150th Anniversary in 2029.<\/p>\n

\"\"An A.I. render showing what the rear of the building may look like following restoration (Jason Byrne)<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, you can find more information on the project, volunteer enrollment, and sponsorship opportunities at the LHS\u2019 website here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by WKMG ClickOrlando – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LONGWOOD, Fla. \u2013 A century-old home in Longwood is the center of a new initiative aimed at bringing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":402371,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,4566,30,29,2457,3573,1014],"class_list":["post-402370","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-florida","tag-florida-fables","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-history","tag-longwood","tag-seminole-county"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402370","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=402370"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402370\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/402371"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=402370"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=402370"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=402370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}