TO Howey’s mansion in the hills attracts day-trippers

BY MARIA SONNENBERG

Very few historic houses allow visitors the opportunity to stay at the property. The Howey Mansion is one.

For about $300, guests can stay overnight at the carriage house or the gardener’s cottage of the show home citrus magnate William Howey built in 1927.

For approximately 10 times that amount more per night, you and 18 of your closest friends can avail themselves of the entire property, which include the one bedroom/one bath cottage, the two-bedroom, one bath Carriage House and the fivebedroom, four-bath mansion.

The residence, tucked away on bucolic Howey-in-the-Hills, is worth a visit even for day-trippers, for the 24-room mansion Howey built is both architecturally and historically significant.

“You step back in time,” estate manager Frances O’Keefe Wagler said.

The house once stood among the 60,000 acres of orange groves Howey purchased in Lake County in 1920. To make their dream of a Mediterranean Revival home a reality, Howey and his wife, Mary, enlisted architect Katherine Cotheal Budd, one of the rare female architects of the time.

While Henry Flagler and Henry Plant own the name recognition factor as the entrepreneurs who shaped Florida, William Howey was no slouch in helping the state develop.

“He is the most famous person you know nothing about,” O’Keefe Wagler added.

The Illinois native started his career at age 16 selling insurance but was soon developing land and towns in Oklahoma. Always looking for a new road to success, he opened the Howey Automobile Company at age 27. After producing all of seven cars, he closed the business and headed to Mexico, where his goal of developing pineapple plantations died with the Mexican Revolution.

Florida citrus proved much better than pineapples; Howey began planting citrus on Lake County acreage, buying the raw land for less than $10 an acre and selling it for up to $2,000 an acre. The Florida Land Boom was a boon to Howey, who served as mayor of the town named after him from the time it was incorporated in 1925 until 1936.

To celebrate the completion of his 7,200-square-foot Florida residence, Howey hosted all 100 artists of the entire New York Civic

Opera Company. More than 4,000 automobiles carried the 15,000 opera lovers that showed up for the outdoor performance. The event made Howey many friends. According to a newspaper at the time, “the greatest applause was when W. J. Howey was introduced, the applause was ringing and ringing until it echoed for miles around.”

Howey survived the collapse of the Florida Land Boom, the Stock Market Crash and the ensuing Great Depression, but his health suffered. He died of a heart attack in 1938 at age 62.

The unique two-story mansion he built, however, lives on for visitors to enjoy for a day tour or an overnight stay.

Tickets for tours of the Howey Mansion cost $25 for guests five and older and can be purchased at thehoweymansion.com, where overnight stays can also be arranged.

Tours are limited to 20 individuals per tour. Reservations are required.

Howey Mansion is at 1001 Citrus Ave., Howey-in-the-Hills. For more information, call 407-906-4918. SL

By Randal C. Hill