Meet Sam Stoltz

Sam Stoltz

A few weeks ago, one of my neighbors graciously gave me a copy of Grace Hagedorn's book Sam Stoltz - Artist. Builder. Decorator:

I had been wanting to get my hands on this book for months, ever since I began researching Sam. It's a wonderful biography of Stoltz and covers many of the Central Florida homes he built. Bill Bean, the previous owner of Pine Green, also dropped off some great photos and documents about Sam - a few of which I'm including in this post.

Sam Stoltz grew up in Nebraska, had his own art studio in Chicago, and moved to Orlando in 1925 at age 50 with his wife Patti to start a second career.

Patti Stoltz

Sam did not have formal architectural training, but he had lots of experience growing up and with Patti's help had designed their first home near Chicago. Sam ultimately contributed a plethora of homes to Central Florida, including homes in Orlando, College Park, Winter Park, Mount Plymouth, and Windermere. Perhaps the most unique of Sam's creations are a series of homes in Mount Plymouth built in a storybook style. These are called the Plymouthonians, and many are still in existence today. It is worth a road trip to get a glimpse of these homes (Mount Plymouth is in Lake County, west of Sanford, on SR 46).

Sam also helped with the rebuild of the Dubsdread Club House in College Park after it had been destroyed by fire in 1934. Although it has since been extensively renovated, the Club House still features Sam's classic pecky cypress beams and Florida fieldstone fireplace, which looks very much like the one in my livingroom, albeit larger.

Sam almost always incorporated wildlife into his works in some way. He was referred to as the "world's greatest poultry painter." Sam had a plaster fresco technique with a whimsical artistry that was ahead of his time, as evidenced by the flamingo scene in my bathroom that I previously posted. On the outside of the chimney at Pine Green, we have slowly begun restoration of his plaster flamingos:

Chimney before

Chimney after cleaning

For now we've done a simple cleaning to remove some of the mildew stains. This alone brought much of the color of the flamingos back to light. Eventually, we may add some subtle color to fill in patches that have chipped away over time. We want to preserve some of the aged character of the chimney, so we don't plan to try to clean it back to pristine condition.

Over the past few weeks, we've continued to begin to implement Joe Brook's landscape plan for Pine Green, removing some plants and transplanting others to open the property up more and to prepare for some new plantings. Meanwhile, the huge azaleas are in bloom, reminding us that spring is about to begin, and we're looking forward to watching Pine Green continue to amaze us:

Azaleas right before blooms opened

Azaleas in bloom

Everything Old Is New Again

So it's been just over six weeks since the closing, and camellias are in bloom (the property has about a dozen, and many are reportedly over 70 years old). We've come a long way in short time all things considered...

Our initial focus was to take care of one big ticket item before we moved most of our stuff in: termites.

Tenting for drywood termites

Although most of the cypress wood is in great condition considering its age (Pine Green was built in 1934), there was enough drywood termite activity and damage to warrant tenting the house as well as the garage and playhouse. We also went ahead and installed Sentricon as a precaution against subterranean termites.

In order to prep the house for treatment, we had to trim away a lot of landscape around the home's perimeter. Even with all the precautions we took, we still lost some plants we wanted to keep once they did the fumigation.

One side benefit of the tenting - the pest control company successfully restored the flamingo sculpture that looked like it had a broken neck when I first saw the place.

Flamingo sculpture before

Flamingo sculpture after

The inside of the home, considering its age, is in great condition.  We've mainly cleaned, moved in some furniture, artwork, and accessories, and have begun updating window coverings.

Living room before

Living room so far

So far we've found one "moneypit" item we didn't anticipate. Turns out the shower pan in the master bedroom had apparently been leaking for years, rotting lots of wood underneath:

What lies beneath revealed (shower area during repair)

It was missed during inspection, but Reid noticed dripping outside a couple of weeks ago, and from there we discovered the problem. It was a significant repair. The tile flooring (but not the wall tile) in the shower was apparently original (or close to it):

Shower before repair

I rather liked it, but since we had to lose the matching flooring in the shower due to the pan repair, we decided to go ahead and retile everything for continuity. We chose a simple natural dolomite marble for an enduring look that would also work with the finishes of the rest of the home. It turned out very nicely:

Shower repaired and retiled

While the shower was out of commission for a few days, we had to use the bathtub in the guest bath... this bath features one of Sam Stoltz's original famous flamingo frescoes:

Guest bath fresco

There is no shower, but I must admit it's quite a relaxing experience being surrounded by the flamingo and weeping cherry scene.

Aside from that, we spent considerable time over the past weeks starting to "contain" the landscape a bit. Pine Green has a marvelous palette of plants... including the largest podocarpus trees (yes, trees) I've ever seen... but it is too overgrown, unmanageable, and a bit of a hodgepodge in some areas. While we love the forest in the middle of the City that is Pine Green, we think the house was a little too hidden, and so, under the guidance of our beloved friend and well respected landscape architect Joe Brooks, we've been selectively removing or thinning some plants in order to reveal and preserve the best that Pine Green has to offer. We've even been giving away a fine stock of plants to friends to use in their own landscapes.

Front view before

Front view so far

Back yard before

Back yard so far

Driveway side before

Driveway side so far

Master bedroom rear side before

Master bedroom rear side so far

Yesterday Joe presented us with a wonderful preliminary plan for updating the landscape and really showing off the place while also respecting its heritage... It will likely be a while (perhaps years) before we fully implement his vision. For now, we've come close to reaching a point where we can pause for a moment and contemplate the future.

Last week one neighbor passing by gave me the greatest compliment: "... it's like watching a present being unwrapped..."

View from driveway before

View from driveway so far
(note the 8+ ft tall professor sargent camellia by the sunroom that was virtually hidden before)

Corner view from street before

Corner view from street so far

Season's Greetings from Pine Green

Happy holidays from the new caretakers! Reid and I have been scurrying about over the past week and a half transitioning to our new home. Only our friend Louis could manage to pull together a Christmas tree within 30 minutes of closing... Reid then arranged the lighting, furniture, and some other touches over the past few days, and there you have it, a Christmas post card from this storybook home!

Pine Green, also known as the Nicholson House, was the longtime residence of Mildred Horne and the architectural vision of Sam Stoltz. Much more on its history and Stoltz's significance in Central Florida later...

For now, welcome to my new blog, which I decided to begin after being inspired by friends and other blogs about various facets of Central Florida. With this I hope to chronicle the home's history and its preservation/restoration as we take on the role as its new caretakers.

Merry Christmas!