Secretary Detzner Announces the Designation of Five Florida Properties on the National Register of Historic Places

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. –

Secretary of State Ken Detzner announced today that the Golden Gate Building in Stuart, the Longwood House in Greenwood, the Monticello Hotel in Miami Beach, the Richloam General Store in Webster and the Sopchoppy Depot in Sopchoppy have been listed on the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places.

“Florida has a rich and diverse history, which is fully displayed through the wide variety of properties and sites in our state that are listed on the National Register of Historic Places,” said Secretary of State Ken Detzner. “I am pleased to see five more Florida treasures receive this special designation.”

The Golden Gate Building in Stuart, Florida

The Golden Gate Building, located in Stuart, Florida, served as the administrative offices for the Golden Gate Development Company, which built the surrounding community of Golden Gate during the height of the Florida Land Boom of the 1920s. From 1925 to 1936, the building also served as the post office for the town of Port Sewall. The Golden Gate Building’s Mission Revival architecture is characteristic of the period of its construction, featuring a prominent parapet, a red clay barrel-tile roof and a smooth stucco finish. The building will soon be reopened as the Golden Gate Center for Enrichment, which will provide vocational training and life skills to the community.

The Longwood House in Greenwood, Florida

The Longwood House, located in rural Greenwood, Florida, is a locally significant example of Greek Revival architecture, which is best demonstrated in the balanced floorplan, prominent full-height portico with cornice lines, decorative pilasters on the corners  of the building, and its prominent main entrance with sidelights and transom lights. The floorplan at the historic core of the building is Georgian, with a central hallway separating two rooms on each side. The building was for much of its history associated with prominent merchant families within the town of Greenwood. The building gets its name from the Long family, who owned it for roughly 80 years. In the 1860s, Napoleon Bonaparte Long acquired the building, and it remained in the Long family until 1947. The building is currently owned by Ms. Brook Bowman, who along with her mother, Phyllis, have been stewards of the building since 1981.

The Monticello Hotel in Miami Beach, Florida

The Monticello Hotel, located in Miami Beach’s North Shore area, is a Neoclassical Revival resort hotel that is a locally significant example of a style popular in Miami Beach after the Second World War. The hotel was first opened in 1947 by Louis Levy, a Pennsylvanian hotelier who was interested in capitalizing upon the city’s post-war glitz and glamour. The hotel closed in the 1990s and was left abandoned for decades. With the support of federal historic tax credits, the Monticello Hotel has been rehabilitated and re-opened. The Monticello Hotel’s flat roof and simple, slender square columns are character-defining features.

Richloam General Store and Post Office in Webster, Florida

The Richloam General Store and Post Office, located in the vicinity of the town of Webster, is the last remnant of the former settlement of Richloam. Richloam was founded as a turpentine camp, but was converted during the 1920s Florida land boom into farmland. The building was constructed in 1928, after the settlement’s former general store burned to the ground. Its metal siding was a conscious design decision to prevent future fires. The Richloam General Store was the short-lived settlement’s only general store and post office, and it provides a tangible connection to a long-gone community. The Richloam General Store has been reopened today as a store, providing a window into the historic architecture and the types of goods that would have been sold in the early twentieth century.

The Sopchoppy Depot is a historic railroad warehouse and depot located within the historic downtown of Sopchoppy. Built in 1894 as a stop along the Carrabelle, Tallahassee, and Georgia Railroad, the Sopchoppy Depot was a centerpiece of the town as it was originally laid out. The depot was in active use until 1946, and today serves as a museum of local history. The Sopchoppy Depot, like many contemporary train depots, was instrumental in the development of its community, easing the transportation of goods and people.

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About The National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is a list maintained by the National Park Service which includes historical or archaeological properties including buildings, structures, sites, objects, and districts, that are considered worthy of preservation because of their local, statewide and/or national significance. Nominations for properties in Florida are submitted to the National Park Service through the Florida Department of State’s Division of Historical Resources. Florida has over 1,700 listings on the National Register, including 292 historic districts and 174 archaeological sites. There are more than 50,000 sites contributing to the National Register in Florida. For more information, visit flheritage.com/preservation/national-register. For more information about the National Register of Historic Places program administered by the National Park Service, visit nps.gov/nr.

About The Florida Department of State’s Bureau of Historic Preservation

The Bureau of Historic Preservation (BHP) conducts historic preservation programs aimed at identifying, evaluating, preserving and interpreting the historic and cultural resources of the state. The Bureau manages the Florida Main Street Program, and under federal and state laws, oversees the National Register of Historic Places program for Florida, maintains an inventory of the state's historical resources in the Florida Master Site File, assists applicants in federal tax benefit and local government ad valorem tax relief programs for historic buildings, and reviews the impact that development projects may have on significant historic resources. For more information, visit flheritage.com/preservation.V