JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 The historic Horace Drew Mansion, which has remained vacant and rundown for decades, now has a new owner.<\/p>\n
Springfield Preservation and Revitalization, also known as SPAR, is now the new owner of the Drew Mansion on West 3rd Street. The previous owners who live overseas racked up more than $2 million in code enforcement fines after they purchased the mansion but failed to bring the structure up to city code or prevent it from further becoming a public eyesore.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe spoke with the owners, and they were able to deed the property over to us, which helped to resolve the issue they had with the city and allowed us to take on the property as a non-profit to rehabilitate it,\u201d said SPAR Executive Director Michael Haskins.<\/p>\n
The historic Horace Drew Mansion, which has remained vacant and rundown for decades, now has a new owner. (Copyright 2025 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.)<\/p>\n
SPAR already has short and long-term plans for the mansion that sits at the corner of 3rd Street and Pearl Street.<\/p>\n
\u201cStep one is securing the property, then protecting it from outside weather elements. Once we have that taken care of, we\u2019ll work on our bigger vision which is turning the first floor into a community space. It will be open to the public, and people will be able to see archives about Springfield,\u201d said Haskins.<\/p>\n
Haskins said he hopes to eventually register it as a museum.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo we\u2019ll start with a display and graduate from there. We would love to have a Springfield museum,\u201d said Haskins.<\/p>\n
Plans for the first floor also include a space for visitors to eat.<\/p>\n
\u201cHopefully, we\u2019ll have a vendor that can sell coffee, hot chocolate and pastries and people can enjoy themselves,\u201d said Haskins.<\/p>\n
Plans for the second and third floors include building office spaces for small businesses.<\/p>\n
\u201cSmall businesses that want to invest in Springfield can get below market-rate office spaces with us and they can get support from our small business association, which SPAR also runs, said Haskins.<\/p>\n
News4JAX was granted a tour of the mansion that began in the massive dark basement that was vandalized with graffiti from the years of intruders who have illegally entered onto the gated property and snuck inside. <\/p>\n
The main floor had a large room and showed signs of unfinished renovations by previous owners, as well as graffiti on some of the walls that were still intact. There was also an old piano in one of the rooms that has been there for decades.<\/p>\n
Springfield’s Drew Mansion was built in 1909 by Dr. Horace Drew, a renowned physicist and grandson of Jacksonville pioneer Columbus Drew. At the time, the mansion was considered unique due to the blending of architectural styles. (Copyright 2025 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.)<\/p>\n
The second and third floors had even larger rooms, signs of unfinished renovations, graffiti and flooring that has seen better days. In fact, there were areas of the floor that were either rotted away or had holes big enough to see into the rooms below.<\/p>\n
The third floor had a turret with large arched openings that provided a clear view of Klutho Park across the street and downtown Jacksonville in the distance.<\/p>\n
Rehabbing the mansion won\u2019t happen overnight, and there\u2019s a chance the $1.5-million renovation cost could increase. Despite that reality, Haskins said SPAR is determined to turn the historic mansion into something Springfield residents can be proud of.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe wanted to step in and prove that even those very difficult properties, there is still a future for them, and we can still make a solution, even when it\u2019s difficult,\u201d said Haskins.<\/p>\n
The historic Horace Drew Mansion, which has remained vacant and rundown for decades, now has a new owner. (Copyright 2025 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.)<\/p>\n
Back in July<\/a>, News4JAX spoke with Jacksonville Dept. of Public Works Manager, Al Ferraro, who oversees the city\u2019s blight initiative, a program designed to end blight throughout Jacksonville. He said that\u202falthough the property was listed as one of the most endangered historical structures in Jacksonville, it had become so blighted that the city considered demolishing it because the owners at the time were not doing anything to keep the property up to code, as fines were mounting in the millions of dollars.<\/p>\n \u201cIf it were not under historic preservation, we would have moved forward on tearing it down already,\u201d Ferraro explained. \u201cBut because it\u2019s under historic preservation, or landmarks, there\u2019s another set of criteria we go under,\u201d said Ferraro.<\/p>\n RELATED | Springfield Spooky Tales: Learn about the Drew Mansion, where history meets horror<\/a><\/p>\n Part of the criteria included a meeting with the owners to discuss an alternate option. The city recommended that the owners speak with SPAR, and after some negotiating, SPAR took over ownership of the property with the understanding that SPAR would renovate the mansion into a community space.<\/p>\n SPAR wants to restore the structure to what it looked like during its glory days.<\/p>\n The mansion was built in 1909 by Dr. Horace Drew, a renowned physicist and grandson of Jacksonville pioneer Columbus Drew. <\/p>\n At the time, the mansion was considered unique due to the blending of architectural styles.<\/p>\n The Drew Mansion was eventually abandoned in the late 1960s through the early 1970s until another family purchased the home. The family renovated and lived in the mansion until 2006. Over the years, others have purchased and sold the property. At one point, hundreds of thousands of dollars were previously pledged to restore the mansion, but restoration stopped and the mansion became unsightly to neighbors.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s an eyesore. You know that at one point in time it was a gorgeous mansion, but we\u2019ve lived here in Springfield the last nine years, and it\u2019s just become an eyesore,\u201d said neighbor Jamey Evoniuk.<\/p>\n The historic Horace Drew Mansion, which has remained vacant and rundown for decades, now has a new owner. (Copyright 2025 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.)<\/p>\n Multiple neighbors told News4JAX that it was common to see drug addicts, human traffickers, and homeless people sneaking in and using the mansion for shelter and illegal activities. They also said it was common to walk past the mansion at night and see flashes go off inside from people taking pictures to prove they were inside the \u2018haunted mansion.\u2019<\/p>\n The property has a troubled past involving events that have fueled claims of the mansion being haunted.<\/p>\n