Go back to Winter Park's future with Colloquium

When you think of historic properties in Winter Park, the names James Gamble Rogers, Ralph Adams Cram or Harold Hair likely come to mind. The Friends of Casa Feliz, the non-profit organization that maintains and operates Winter Park’s historic home museum, hopes to add mid-century homebuilders Jack Sorenson and Stan Fletcher to this list.

“Back to the Future” is the theme of the Casa Feliz-sponsored Sixth Annual James Gamble Rogers II Colloquium on Historic Preservation, scheduled from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 21. As the name implies, this year’s event, which includes a morning panel discussion, food truck lunch and afternoon home tour, will focus on the importance of preserving structures built between the 1940s and 1960s.

Such buildings from the “recent past” are frequently overlooked by preservationists because they have a contemporary look to them, with clean lines and sometimes modern-looking facades, unlike their more ornate counterparts from earlier in America’s history. People think that these structures are “too new” to merit serious preservation efforts.

On the contrary, not only do mid-century buildings meet the National Register of Historic Places’ age requirement of 50 years or more, they define an important era of our history.

Helping to bring the issue to the public agenda is Christine Madrid French, former director of the Modernism Program at the National Trust for Historic Preservation, who last year moved to Orlando to teach Architectural History at the University of Central Florida. French will speak at the Colloquium, along with preservation experts Jeanne Lambin, adjunct professor of Historic Preservation at the University of Florida, and local architect Richard Reep, adjunct professor at Rollins and immediate past president of the Orlando Area AIA.

Preserving these buildings is particularly important in Central Florida, according to French, because the state “is unique in its economic role at the mid-century and celebrated its prosperity with a fantastic array of interesting architectural statements, from residences to civic centers.”

Efforts to preserve these buildings are abetted by the runaway success of the television show “Mad Men,” set in the early 1960s, as well as periodicals like “Atomic Ranch,” which showcase the striking fashion and architecture from the period.

In Winter Park and North Orlando, the design-build partnership of Jack Sorenson and Stan Fletcher contributed more to the residential landscape in the 1950s than perhaps any other builders. Sorenson and Fletcher houses, 11 of which will be showcased during the “Back to the Future” house tour, are typically single-story ranch houses with shallow-pitched or flat rooflines, carports, terrazzo floors and open floor-plans.

While many have been destroyed over the past two decades to make way for larger homes, Sorenson and Fletcher houses are enjoying renewed popularity among today’s budget-minded, eco-conscious buyer. Winter Park interior designer Margie Sorenson says the houses her father built help to “define an era that we don’t want to lose…they take us back to a simpler life of clean and uncluttered living.” While you can no longer acquire one for the original 1950s asking price of about $20,000, the homes are still relatively easy on the budget, and appeal to younger people who want to live a lifestyle that is “not pretentious, but still modern,” according to Sorenson.

Betsy Owens is the executive director of the Friends of Casa Feliz. Tickets for the Sixth Annual James Gamble Rogers Colloquium: Back to the Future are $20. The event will take place at the Winter Park Community Center, 721 W. New England Ave. Register online at casafeliz.us or by calling 407-628-8200, ext. 1.