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Michael and Annalee Mutz have been building a home for the last few years. In the midst of a major renovation and rebuild of an early-1900s Lake Morton house, they’ve also been building a family, going through two pregnancies during the same time.
The work on the house, at 1022 Success Ave., brought them a Lakeland Historic Preservation Award on May 7, while the pregnancies have added one child to their family of three, with one more on the way.
The Mutzes joined the team of Gregory Fancelli and Albert Moore this year as Historic Lakeland award winners for Outstanding Residential Renovations.
“We’re the owners of the home, and it’s also our residence,” Annalee Mutz said via email.
“This wasn’t a flip or an outside project — it was a very personal renovation for our own family.”
Waiting for a unique opportunity: The Mutzes’ home, in the South Lake Morton Historic District, has gone through many iterations since it was built in 1908.
When Michael Mutz first saw it, he wasn’t interested. But a year later, in 2021, Annalee said, the timing was better and the couple had “a unique opportunity to bring this beautiful old home back to life.”
Architect Jon Kirk — a principal at Straughn Trout Architects — helped execute the revival, with a floor-plan design for the 2,600-square-foot property that at one point was divided into four rental units.
Annalee said she and Michael were committed to honoring the home’s original character.
“I think what made the project stand out was the balance,” she said.
“We respected the home’s history while making it livable, safe and functional for the future. We didn’t go in trying to create a showpiece — we just wanted to do right by the house and the neighborhood.”
A big move: In 2021, while the Mutzes were making design decisions for their newly acquired property, Gregory Fancelli, a real estate investor and historic preservationist, was trying to decide what he wanted to do with a vacant lot he owned at 722 E. Lime St.
One block north, on East Orange Street, the developers of the new Valencia at the Park apartments had a dilemma of their own with a 101-year-old historic house they had to work around.
Fancelli’s solution to both problems was to move that house to his Lime Street property.
Once the structure was prepared to move, utilities unhooked and a path from start to finish cleared, the house was lifted on a steel beam through a system of hydraulics and then towed to its new location.
“Otherwise, the construction itself and even the restoration of the house’s features were not complicated for us,” Fancelli said of the 2,500 square foot bungalow.
“My contractor, Albert Moore, and I planned on restoring the building to the way it was originally. We added an extra room in the back part of the building, to make it more in line with today’s usage needs.”
Fancelli said he and Moore were honoring the past by preserving features that future generations can enjoy.
“Any time we can retain original architectural character,” he said, “we are making an effort in the right direction of historic preservation.”
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