Photographer David Dickey Jr. had an opportunity today to tour “The Compound,” a sprawling and decaying residence at Frank Lloyd Wright Way and Jefferson Avenue that’s been bought by Florida Southern College, which plans to demolish it. Scroll down to check his photos.
The college, which bought the two–parcel site for $850,000 in June, plans to demolish the conjoined houses on the site to build an early-learning lab. The Lakeland Historic Preservation’s Board Design Review Committee agreed last week the structures don’t merit preservation. (View the staff report here or at the bottom of this article.)
Writer Gary White explored the history of “The Compound,” which dates to the 1920s, in The Ledger on Tuesday.
Dickey toured the buildings with local businessman Gregory Fancelli, who was looking to see if the structures contained historic artifacts worth salvaging.
His conclusion: “The compound is too altered to be able to reasonably retrieve the historic construction elements that are located in the original part of the building, buried under layers of various materials.”
Here are David’s photos:
And here’s a look at the location, courtesy of Google Maps:
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Phenomenal work Barry and David, thank you for telling this story of abandonment and neclect.
Thanks for providing the opportunity to get in and shoot these photos Gregory!
Thanks for the look inside! Still some cool features and stuff inside. The shoe tho!lol.
Hiw can you even attach Frank Lloyd Wright name to this hink of junk? A minor FLW fan, even I can tell this is NOT a FLW building, nor is there any sign of his influence. This looks like a 1960’s rambling ranch house that had multiple renovations and substandard additions. You should be ashamed to state it’s a FLW “compound” with zero details.
Thanks for writing. The combined houses, which became known in Lakeland as “The Compound,” are on Frank Lloyd Wright Way. There was no attempt to say Mr. Wright had any involvement in the structures.