The Mullet Farm in the Driftwood area of St. Petersburg holds a lot of history.
- New house to keep old charm of historic Gandy House
- Gandy House unrepairable, torn down
- Owner says new house will pay homage to Mullet Farm name
Built in 1910, the Gandy House was in Kim O’Brien’s family for generations before they sold it last year.
"My grandfather was "Gidge" Gandy, George Shepherd Gandy, Jr.,” O’Brien said. “He worked with my great grandfather and my uncle in building the Plaza Theatre and also doing the Gandy bridge."
New owner, Janna Ranney says they hope to maintain that history.
"We had wanted to remodel the house from the inside and keep the exterior but it just wasn’t going to happen and so we did have to tear it down,” Ranney said. “And we were very sad about that."
The house was demolished this week.
"The overwhelming emotion is primarily sadness at the loss of not only my memories but also, it really was an important structure," O’Brien said.
The new owner says the house could not be saved.
"Termites ate the foundation, they had made their way well up the second floor, had pretty much eaten all the framing on the first floor," she said. “We had to abate the house for asbestos and that exposed all the damage that the termites had done, rodents had eaten all the insulation off the electrical wiring."
"We knew there were some issues. I take exception to the fact that it had to be taken down," said O’Brien.
Ranney says the new house going up will complement the community’s charm.
"This has to look as though it was born on the property and so it will be a Florida cracker-style house, one-story. It will pay homage to the Mullet Farm name," Ranney said.
As the property moves into the future, the hope is the past will live on.
"Hopefully the history will still be apparent to people, so I hope they will continue to enjoy it from that point of view," said O’Brien.
O’Brien lives close by and is pushing for that area to get historic designation, which would not include where the Gandy House once stood.