Leesburg mulls future of burned Mote-Morris House — can it stay or must it be bulldozed?

Orlando Sentinel (FL)

March 13--LEESBURG -- City commissioners and residents were thrilled to hear that the costs associated with last month's fire at the historic Mote-Morris House will be covered by the city's insurer, but too many questions remained for city leaders to decide the future of the 126-year-old home.

Up in the air is if the house will be salvaged or demolished pending an evaluation by Brown & Brown Insurance and a structural engineer hired by the city that's expected to be completed in several weeks.

Even if the building can be restored, costs to refurbish the home in its old style would still be left to the city and the Queen Anne-style home's status on the National Register of Historic Places would be lost, likely forever.

State Archives of Florida

A T.A. Youngblood & Sons truck moves the historic Mote-Morris House in Leesburg in 1988.

A T.A. Youngblood & Sons truck moves the historic Mote-Morris House in Leesburg in 1988. (State Archives of Florida)

"[The home] is already declassified based on our conversations with the National Register... they say too much has been destroyed already," Mayor Dan Robuck said at a meeting Monday night.

City Manager Al Minner said the home would not be purely authentic, as many on the National Register of Historic Places are not, but can still "be a historical memorial, I'm sure hoping we can get there."

At a meeting Monday night, other officials floated the idea of pocketing the insurance payout while choosing not to restore the home or rebuilding it not as a city property but as a privately-owned bed-and-breakfast or restaurant, as ideas for its future.

"This is probably premature," Commissioner Bob Bone said, "But some people in the community have already started talking about ... maybe a re-use of it, a B&B, a restaurant, or something."

Leesburg's Queen Anne-style Mote-Morris House burns, 'a loss for the city' »

Leesburg weighs future of historical gem, fire-ravaged Mote-Morris House »

City leaders are waiting for the evaluations from the structural engineer and Brown & Brown Insurance to decide their next step.

[email protected] or 352-742-5927; Follow him on Twitter at @JasonRuiter1.

CAPTION

CenturyLink customers say they have been systematically overbilled, and they want Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate.

CAPTION

CenturyLink customers say they have been systematically overbilled, and they want Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate.

CAPTION

Two jacked up mega trucks chained together, go full throttle in opposite directions in a tug-of-war to predict who will win the Lombardi Trophy in Minneapolis.

CAPTION

The Villages' newest neighborhood neared its final approval Monday in Leesburg as it continues to expand outward.

CAPTION

Robert Bennet, structural engineer for RS&H, talks about what is to come as construction continues on the 6 miles of the Wekiva Parkway that will be elevated as a part of State Road 46, from the 429 interchange to near Longwood-Markham Road in Sanford, Friday, Jan. 19, 2018. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel)

CAPTION

T.J. Fish has been selected as the interim director of Lake-Sumter Metropolitan Planning Organization. This came after he resigned from the executive director position following a scathing audit that detailed the misspending of tax dollars.

___

Visit The Orlando Sentinel (Orlando, Fla.) at www.OrlandoSentinel.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.