FOR SALE: Beach Side Victorian Mansion. Two Homes In One! C. 1858/1898

Welcome back to Preservation Travels with Lane and Kevin here at Our Restoration Nation. Today we are in the beautiful beachside town of Fernandina Beach, Florida. Once again we're giving you the opportunity to see inside a home that otherwise you would never get a peek of. And why is that? That's because every week here at Our Restoration Nation we take you on a private tour inside a private home. So if you want to make sure that you never miss one of these incredible behind-the-scenes tours, make sure you click that subscribe button, give the video a like, hit that little bell icon that you see so you'll be notified of every time we're going to be taking you behind the curtain to see inside a private historic home. We're so excited to be bringing you what is no doubt one of the iconic landmarks of Fernandina Beach or Amelia Island, Florida. They're the same place we used to live here. If you've followed us for any time you know that for four years we lived here on Amelia Island in a home that we restored that we lovingly called Fern. And this was always one of our favorite homes to drive by and see. It's an architectural wonder for several reasons, but again as an architectural historian this one holds special interest for me. Why is that? Because this is actually two homes converted into one home. I'm standing on the porch of what was the Hedges House, originally built in 1858 as a carpenter gothic. It's one of the only examples of carpenter gothic here on the island. In 1899 the house was purchased by Dr. Wass. When he purchased the house he added on that huge Queen Anne extension to this simple carpenter gothic home. So both on the exterior and the interior we have incredible Queen Anne design. A tower on one side, the beautiful fret work across the front, this Queen Anne front porch that envelops both structures. But on this end we still have the gorgeous carpenter gothic architecture. The arched windows, the bargeboard on the front, and all of the trim inside is very distinct from one period to the next. So let's go inside and take a look at this one home that holds two very distinct periods. The Wass family owned this home from 1899 to 1996. So whomever ends up being the next caretaker of this home will only be the fourth owner of this property. That is unbelievable. 1858 to 2026, four owners. Dr. Wass was a bit of character in town. He was known for years as being the only person in town who had an automobile. It was a 1902 Ozmobile that he would drive around town and give people rides in. It was quite the spectacle at the turn of the 20th century. And he was beloved. At Christmas time he would decorate his wagon and ride around town as Santa Claus. So this home has a lot of cultural importance to Fernandina Beach as well. As is so often the case, right here in the entryway of the Wass house is where we have some of the most spectacular architectural elements that we see in the entire property. Behind me, the grand staircase, which goes up to this triptych mishrabia. Absolutely spectacular. But one of my favorite elements in this property are these beautiful molded brick fireplaces. There are three. They are all intact. Absolutely spectacular pieces. This one you'll see runs floor to ceiling, meant to impress. I do think it's funny that here in the Wass house there are eight fireplaces in Fernandina Beach, Florida, which gets maybe two weeks of cool weather every single winter. Another gorgeous and special, incredibly rare architectural element in this entryway is the intact stained glass frontispiece. You'll notice the beautiful flame design, a symbol of life. Absolutely stunning. There are no breaks in this glass, which again, in an area that is prone to hurricane and had a huge hurricane in 1887, is almost unheard of. You'll see all the beautiful art glass that's used in this piece and these incredible little rondelles that scatter the light throughout the home. Just stunning. We're going to talk about some of the symbolism that you'll find in this incredible chimney breast. Again, I'm absolutely in love with this. The egg and dart design, it's so common in this period. It is symbolic. You'll get some people arguing over whether or not it is. I am of the school that ascribes to the fact that this is symbolic because of course the Victorians were very much into symbology. They had an entire language of flowers. So it makes sense that they would include symbology in their architecture as well. The egg and the dart, the egg for new life, the dart for death. So it represents the entire span of life. Now this appears from a distance to be a Greek key design, which it is. It is a Greek key pattern. It follows around, but you'll notice in the center, and I know somebody's going to point this out and panic. We have what we now know as a swastika, which of course was co-opted by a group that really should remain nameless. But in the 1890s when this home was built, this was a symbol used by indigenous people. We actually see it really frequently in homes here in Fernandina. We've seen it in other homes in Fernandina Beach that we filmed, and it was a symbol for good luck. So we have the symbols for life and luck right here in the entryway at the Watt House. This is one of the rooms that we have a picture from the 1890 period of the home. So you can see what this home looked like when the home was first converted from its Carpenter Gothic style into its High Queen Anne style. We are so fortunate to have these room views. So you can really take a look and see what this room should look like if you want to live in it more as a period structure. The Meshrabia over the bay is original. Originally it was not painted. Much of the woodwork in the house that you see painted today was not painted originally. And we know that for certain because of these photographs that we have. But there's one element in this house that I think is original to the 1850s period of the home, and it's very important and very rare. And it's this mantelpiece behind me. It appears to be an Egyptian marble mantelpiece. And you would think, well, obviously it's not Egyptian marble. We're in Florida. It doesn't feel or sound like marble. Maybe it's cast iron, because cast iron was very commonly used in these mantelpieces. It's neither. It's not marble, it's not cast iron, and it's also not slate. So there are three options that it's not. This is a Scagliola fireplace. Scagliola is a very rare material to see today. It did not make it through to the 21st century intact very often. So this is a very valuable piece of architectural history. Scagliola was one of the first faux marbles. It was really invented to allow commercial governmental-type buildings to have monumental pieces that appeared to be marble. So banks or post offices or courthouses that wanted monumental columns or facades, but they didn't have the budget for marble. So it's basically concrete and a little marble dust ground up, polished to a high shine. It actually is cool, not cold like marble would be, but cool to the touch and then painted to look like marble. So a very rare, very early, and very important piece of architectural history here in the Watt's house. Something else I want to draw your attention to that really delineates between the original Carpenter Gothic home and the Queen Anne edition are the entablatures and architraves that we have here. Do you see this curved molding? This is extant only in the earlier part of the house. So as we're moving through the and we're looking for clues as to what might be from that 1858 period and what is from the 1898 period, we can look at the trims and see. This stops where the old house stops. We also have these incredible wide pine floors in the original part of the home with stretches of 20 feet or more. When we get into the Queen Anne extension, we see shorter, thinner boards in the runs. So little fun details that tell us what is the oldest part of the house and what is the new part of the house. Come with me to the new part. We're about to go into the dining room, which as you know, always my favorite room in the house, but look what I have. Some beautifully operational pocket doors with their absolutely beautiful Eastlake inspired hardware still present and it still works. I love it. Did you see that? Come into the dining room with me. Well, it is incredibly rare that I get to hold a historic photo of a room standing in the room with the photo. This is the dining room here in the Watt's house. This is what it looked like probably in 1898, 99, just after it was built. You can tell from this photo that the crown in this room is not original, but that the wainscoting and of course the beautiful fireplace behind me are original. So let's take a look at this fireplace as well. Another absolutely gorgeous molded brick fireplace. I love these. They're so rare and they're even more rare to find unpainted over 130, 40, 50 years. This one has a traditional Greek key design you'll see. And again, that egg and dart molding. Now come over here with me. Here we have another original Meshrabia. You'll see it in that original photo in the tower room. Remember, we've talked many times about the difference between a turret and a tower. A turret is going to start above the level of the first floor and extend to the second and often above the roofline of the second floor, or even third floor. A tower goes basement to roofline and beyond. So this is a tower and this is the first floor tower room. The current owners of the home have owned it since 1996. That's the year that Kevin and I got married. So 30 years. As you can tell, the kitchen is a large space. It probably needs a little bit of an update, but you have a monumental area to work with, which as we've discussed many times in the past, is very rare to find in a home of this period. And off of the kitchen space, you have this absolutely gorgeous breakfast room, sun room that when we had these doors open a minute ago, we got that ocean breeze just rushing through the house. Really wonderful space to work with. Now we're standing inside what would be one of the original front parlors of the original part, the old part of the house, 1858. In here, we have a lot of original finishes. You'll see again, those beautiful curved moldings. We do have original cornice work, original crown in this house, deeply coved. We rarely see those deep coves in modern trim. And then we have this very, very simple mantelpiece. It has more of a Greek revival feel to it, which was another very popular style at the time. And we see these very simple mantelpieces all throughout the original part of the structure, even into the second floor, where there are several rooms that have these mantelpieces that are the original bedrooms up there. Okay, now I'm going to get to go up this incredible, beautiful main staircase. Can't you just see brides coming down and getting married right here in this entryway? I certainly can. We're going to go up this staircase and we're going to show you all of the bedrooms that are on the second floor. And then when we get to the last bedroom, I'm going to point out some more incredible architectural details for you. So come with me. We've just shown you the absolutely extraordinary light fixture that sits at the head of this hallway, purely aesthetic movement in its design. Those gorgeous etched glass panels. And then we have this. What is this? This is a 1930s door, probably 1933, but definitely before 35. We see that in really 29 to 35, this flat double panel door with this exact hardware on it. It's really fun to come into these historic homes and see how they have evolved over time. This is a huge clue to its evolution, this crystal 1929 to 35 door and hardware right into this 1858 bedroom. You can see the beautiful arched Gothic window and all of the incredible original trim and mantelpiece in there. Well, here we are in what was probably the main bedroom after the 1898 expansion, just from the size of the space and the elements that are in this space behind me is another molded brick mantelpiece. Now you can see this one has been the victim of gallons of plastinated white paint, but do not fear. Hope is not lost. There's a wonderful product that you can make yourself out of lye, lime, flour, and water. Smear it on here, put some Saran wrap over it. It'll pull all that paint right off. You're going to neutralize it with a little bit of water and vinegar, and you can get this beautiful mantelpiece back looking like those downstairs, or at least close to how those downstairs look. It's in fabulous condition. I can't imagine why it was ever painted. The ceilings in here have also been lowered. I have a feeling that above me, above this drywall, you've actually got a much higher ceiling, but behind me, we also have the top of that tower room. I would love to see this transitioned back into a beautiful primary bedroom. Well, we hope you've enjoyed this look inside the Wass house here in Fernandita Beach, Florida. We know we have. The entire time we lived here, we were dying to come into this house, but the owner is elderly and ready to move on. And so he's looking for a new caretaker of this home. So we're going to take this opportunity to remind you that we are not realtors. We do not represent or guarantee this home in any way, but it is for sale. If you want to live in the world's most magical beach town, and I am not kidding, this place is absolutely the thing that dreams are made of. In one of the most iconic homes in town, then you can click the Zillow link in the description below. You can find out the price, the square footage, all of the answers that only a realtor can answer for you. Otherwise, thank you for being with us on Preservation Travels with Lane and Kevin here at Our Restoration Nation, back in our old stomping grounds of Fernandita Beach, Florida. We hope you've enjoyed this tour and we hope to see you next week.