St. Clair Abrams House - Tavares, FL

St. Clair Abrams House - Tavares, FL Restoration and renovation planned for the St. Clair Abrams House! This historic home, the first h Susie La Roe purchased the St. The St. Clair Abrams. St.

Clair Abrams house in October 2011 from the Estate of Harriet Sears (Susie’s grandmother). Clair Abrams house is located two blocks from downtown Tavares. It is a 2,000SF 2-story 2 bedroom, 1 bath house. The square footage includes two sleeping porches, which were added at a later date. The house has the original cast iron plumbing and k**b & tube electricity. There is no central heat and air; how

ever, there is a centrally-located brick fireplace. Significant features of the house are the original wooden parlor floor and the sweeping banister and staircase. Currently, there is extensive damage to numerous ceilings and walls due to water intrusion and insects. Over the next several years, Susie hopes to restore the St. Clair Abrams house retaining the historic elements of the home while incorporating green initiatives. The original structure was the first house built in Tavares, Florida in 1880 for Major Alexander St. Clair Abrams was a writer, prominent lawyer, and State Senator who owned newspapers and railroads in the Southeastern United States. He founded Tavares, located in Central Florida on beautiful Lake Dora, in 1880 with the hope of making it the State Capital. While that did not happen, it was named the county seat and St. Clair Abrams constructed a sawmill, hotel, office building, and opera house and chartered a railroad to run from Tavares to Orlando. In 1888, the business section of town was destroyed by fire caused by train sparks. The fire, coupled with freezes in 1894 and 1895, led to substantial financial losses by St. Clair Abrams, who subsequently moved to Jacksonville where he died in 1931 at the age of 86. Clair Abrams house was purchased by Ken and Harriet Sears (Susie’s grandparents) in 1942. Ken and Harriet raised eight children in the house and occupied the house until Harriet’s death in 2008. The house is located in the center of the recently designated historic district for Tavares.

06/19/2018
12/01/2016
10/31/2016

Love the detail on this photo. Thanks, Bob Grenier (Lake County Historian), for sharing!

FYI - This is what the house now looks like without the hickory tree. :(
11/04/2013

FYI - This is what the house now looks like without the hickory tree. :(

Love the detail on this photo. Thanks, Bob Grenier (Lake County Historian), for sharing!
09/01/2013

Love the detail on this photo. Thanks, Bob Grenier (Lake County Historian), for sharing!

04/12/2013

We're very sad. Found out this week that the huge hickory tree that borders the sidewalk on the Old 441 side is totally dead and will be removed by the City. Ironically, I sent a tree guy over to the house this week to get an estimate to trim it up. Not realizing that it was dead and marked with a big "X"! It had quite a bit of green last fall. The tree guy thinks it might have been hit by lightening, got stressed, and then got an infestation of something (lots of sawdust at the base). Anybody have any idea how old the tree is? Mom said it was pretty big when Grandma and Grandpa Sears bought the house in 1942. Here's what Aunt Elva told me today... "I remember years ago (over 50) when the city was putting in the sidewalk and told Dad they were going to take the tree down. The next door neighbor, Judge Hunter, went to bat for Dad and they put the sidewalk around the tree." Anybody have any special stories? I just remember all the pinatas that we used to hang from the tree!

Check out the video produced (and starred in) by our niece, Rachel La Roe, for a high school project. It features the S...
01/27/2013

Check out the video produced (and starred in) by our niece, Rachel La Roe, for a high school project. It features the St. Clair Abrams house as the setting!
http://youtu.be/t5Sov4ZXQ0E

A short film project inspired by the song Dead Hearts by stars

10/21/2012

Met with the GC yesterday to answer some questions, and plot out where the garage will be. Unfortunately the garage/apartment is going to need to be a smaller that the original design. The positive side of that is that it will be a little more affordable.

Saturday morning we also went to Rennigers (the antique Mecca) looking for some treasures. We figured that we might as well start keeping an eye out. Came up with a couple of ideas, but nothing worth buying yet... I'm sure we'll find stuff soon enough!

10/19/2012

Meeting with the General Contractor this weekend to plot out the garage and apartment to make sure that it fits on the lot so we can start moving forward. The first addition of the Blueprints are complete. Once we find out if it all fits, we can start looking at the preliminary budget... A little nervous on what that first $ mount will look like.

10/14/2012

One year ago today, Doug and I purchased the St. Clair Abrams house in Tavares, FL - a historic Sears family home.

front room ceiling damage discovered after drop ceilings removed
10/14/2012

front room ceiling damage discovered after drop ceilings removed

Address

305 N New Hampshire Avenue
Tavares, FL
32778

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