{"id":409434,"date":"2026-09-24T17:12:08","date_gmt":"2026-09-24T17:12:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/409434\/"},"modified":"2026-09-24T17:12:08","modified_gmt":"2026-09-24T17:12:08","slug":"architect-to-oversee-rehab-of-springfields-horace-drew-mansion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/409434\/","title":{"rendered":"Architect to oversee rehab of Springfield\u2019s Horace Drew mansion"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 117-year-old Horace Drew mansion on Third Street<\/a> in Springfield is getting closer to getting a second life, as Springfield Preservation and Revitalization hires an architect to oversee a rehabilitation plan for the historically significant property.<\/p>\n

SPAR plans to convert the boarded-up home across from Klutho Park into what it calls a \u201ccommunity living room.\u201d<\/p>\n

The nonprofit acquired the abandoned home in late 2025 to ensure its preservation. It says JAA Architecture will oversee its rehabilitation.<\/p>\n

\u201cJAA\u2019s proposal offered a comprehensive plan and the most responsible use of our donors\u2019 funds,\u201d SPAR executive director Michael Haskins said in a news release. \u201cJAA has extensive experience in historic preservation, including a number of recent projects in the Springfield Historic District. We couldn\u2019t be more excited to work with them.\u201d<\/p>\n

JAA President John Allmand said it is an honor to be part of the team \u201centrusted with bringing the historic Drew Residence back to life.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe look forward to the rehabilitation of this remarkable piece of Jacksonville\u2019s history and seeing it begin a new chapter as a meaningful space for the Springfield community,\u201d he said in the SPAR statement.<\/p>\n

\"\"The Horace Drew residence in Springfield as it stands now, with boarded-up windows. | Google<\/p>\n

The home was built in 1909 and was first occupied by physician Horace Drew. The Drew family continued to live there into the 1930s. It remained a private residence through the1970s, and then was occupied again until 2006. The building has since been mostly abandoned and was listed in 2012 as one of the city\u2019s most endangered historic structures<\/a> by the Jacksonville History Center.<\/p>\n

The three-story corner property is boarded-up and badly deteriorated, receiving some repair work under another owner in 2018 until that worked stopped a few years later, according to abandonedsoutheast.com<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Now SPAR officials say they will avoid its \u201cdemolition by neglect.\u201d That includes making it a publicly accessible community space with a small-business incubator in the form of low-cost office space for businesses receiving support from Springfield\u2019s business association.<\/p>\n

The rehabilitation work will be funded, in part, through the Cultural Council of Greater Jacksonville and the state\u2019s Division of Historical Resources. But fundraising for the $1.5 million construction campaign is ongoing<\/a>.<\/p>\n

SPAR is also working to secure national, state and city grant funding, as well as donors to support grant match requirements. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 117-year-old Horace Drew mansion on Third Street in Springfield is getting closer to getting a second life,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":409435,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[162547,558,43323,116,118,117,115,480,24182],"class_list":["post-409434","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-arcitecture","tag-business","tag-distribute","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news","tag-news","tag-real-estate","tag-springfield"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409434","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=409434"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409434\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/409435"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=409434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=409434"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=409434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}