Betsy Owens leaves Friends of Casa Feliz to pursue another cause

One of Winter Park’s most prominent champions for historic preservation is leaving her post.

Friends of Casa Feliz Executive Director Betsy Owens announced last week that she would be stepping down from her position, taking a full-time job as director of marketing and communications for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Florida and bringing her 12-year tenure with Casa Feliz to an end.

Owens had helped lead a movement in the community to preserve historic buildings and neighborhoods, culminating in a public fight to save a home built by one of the city’s founders.

Owens told the Observer that her last day as executive director will be this Friday, adding that she had been contemplating the next step in her career for some time.

“Casa has really been my baby for 12 years, because I’ve been here from the ground floor,” Owens said. “I think you reach a time where you have to make a decision … ‘Is this something I intend to do forever or are there other things I’d like to do in my professional life?’”

“I feel like I’ve contributed what I can to Casa Feliz and its time for me to think about doing something else.”

Owens said she has been a long-time supporter of Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Florida, who provide academic resources, recreational activities and emotional support to children with less opportunities.

“It’s hard for me to think of who does more important work than organizations like this,” she said.

Taking Owens’ place as executive director will be Christine French, who oversaw the recent community effort to save the historic Capen House as the project director.

Owens said there’s no one more competent and qualified to take the position than French.

“She has a fabulous background, both educational and professional, in preservation,” said Owens, adding that French will be continuing Preservation Winter Park, a blog by Friends of Casa Feliz.

“She is more familiar with historic preservation issues in Winter Park than just about anybody I know.”

Owens played a significant role in shaping Casa Feliz into what it is today. She took up the mantle as executive director in 2004, just a few years after the historic brick home was saved from the wrecking ball and relocated through a community effort.

The nonprofit, which has an agreement with the city to manage the building without financial assistance, has gone from a fledgling organization hoping to stay afloat to a thriving institution that gives back to the community. Casa Feliz presents live music every Sunday during Music at the Casa and has hosted more than 1,000 weddings since the home opened to the public.

But most importantly, Owens said, Friends of Casa Feliz has become a beacon for historic preservation, not only within the city but throughout the state. The organization was pivotal in starting up the project that rescued the historic Capen House from demolition. Hundreds of residents watched in amazement as the home was floated on a barge in two pieces across Lake Osceola to its current home at the Albin Polasek Museum and Sculpture Garden.

Friends of Casa Feliz also hosts the James Gamble Rogers II Colloquium on Historic Preservation, an annual event that celebrates historic architecture and preservation.

But historic preservation in Winter Park is at a turning point today, Owens said. City Commissioners recently reversed a recent strengthening of a historic preservation ordinance that had only been in place for a few months.

Within historic preservation districts, any alterations, additions or demolitions involving historic resources have to go before the Historic Preservation Board for review – a fact that left City Commissioners and residents fearing that property rights could be infringed upon.

The city must decide where its priorities are when it comes to its historic homes, Owens said. Winter Park has already changed its own moniker from “city of culture and heritage” to “city of arts and culture” in its new vision statement, she said.

“In the coming years the city is going to have to decide whether it really values its historic resources and whether it benefits from its reputation as a historic city or whether it wants to put its eggs in a different basket,” Owens said.

“We are on the ragged edge of losing what makes Winter Park such a unique place.”