Winter Garden exhibit examines historic homes

The WGHF takes a look at the city's earliest residential structures, some of which are still standing.

By Amy Quesinberry
| 4:58 p.m. October 11, 2018

This home was built in the style of Frame Vernacular â€œSteamboat Gothic" for Jasper L. Joiner around 1910 at the southwest corner of Plant and Dillard streets. It was moved several times to accommodate the widening of Plant Street

West Orange Times & Observer
Neighborhood

If you live on one of the side streets that lead to downtown Plant Street, chances are you are in a home that has historic importance, or, at least, decades of stories from the residents of yesteryear.

This two-story “Cracker cottage” was a fixture along the West Orange Trail in Tildenville until its demolition in 1999. The dwelling, at 1233 Tildenville School Road, housed employees of grower Arthur Warren Hurley.

The Winter Garden Heritage Foundation has set up a mini-exhibit of many of these houses called “Where We Lived: The Residential Architecture of Winter Garden.” The exhibit examines the architectural differences between some of the city’s oldest homes.

The architectural residential landscape in Winter Garden has been diverse — from the earliest small wooden houses and simple block homes to grandiose mansions.

The exhibit features a selection of images showing various styles of home-grown vernacular architecture that are, in many cases, mirrored in the new developments springing up across the area.

“One of our core missions is the preservation of architecture in the area, specifically Winter Garden,” Cynthia Cardona, WGHF executive director, said. “We’ve written a book about the architecture, but we really hadn’t done an exhibit.”

She and program director Jim Crescitelli selected architecture from the book, “Sundays in the South,” to feature in the exhibit.

“I think it’s important to highlight (this architecture), but it was important for us to note that some of these structures are still standing,” Cardona said. “And not a lot of town with this amount of growth still has structures standing.”

The exhibit also features maps and other ephemera from the history center’s archives.

WGHF program director Jim Crescitelli assisted in the creation of the residential architecture display at the Winter Garden Heritage Museum.

The Frame Vernacular home at 929 E. Bay St. was built in 1940 and purchased by educators William and Juanita Maxey four years later. It is owned by the West Orlando Christian Center, operated by the Church of God in Christ.

author

Amy Quesinberry

Community Editor Amy Quesinberry was born at the old West Orange Memorial Hospital and raised in Winter Garden. Aside from earning her journalism degree from the University of Georgia, she hasn’t strayed too far from her hometown and her three-mile bubble. She grew up reading The Winter Garden Times and knew in the eighth grade she wanted to write for her community newspaper. She has been part of the writing and editing team since 1990.