SHH (Signature Historic House, born 1909) seeks a person, couple, or family to rent and enjoy as their home as much as has my current person.
Over the years, the mayor has lived here, and children have run laps on the heart-pine hard-wood floors around the kitchen island and through the family room and dining room and built secret cubbies in my attic beneath a sturdy metal roof. As part of the DeLand, Florida, Northwest Historic District, I’ve helped my town earn a Preserve America Community designation by the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation and a Great American Main Street Award from the National Trust for Historic Preservation. And kids like our street—hundreds come from all around every Halloween night.
My 2/3 of an acre is unusually large for a city lot, with room for yard play or gardening—in fact, the back has organically grown vegetables in a few raised beds designed by an expert in sustainable agriculture. Back there, I also have a half basketball court, parking for at least 6 cars, two storage sheds, and solar panels reducing my electricity and water heating bills; closer to the house there is a 75-gallon cistern, a 5-foot-wide staghorn fern, a pond with yellow lilies, and a patio big enough for a large table and chairs.
My person has relished living near Stetson University and Downtown DeLand, with a 10-minute walk to an extensive library, frequent world-class lectures, museums, concert venues, playhouses, shopping, restaurants, and a gym, even as my focus has been on my fence which has kept my person’s dogs from running away.
I have so many rooms that my person’s sister says she will visit and let my person know a week later. I love my piano, which my person is willing to leave here if so desired, and same goes for my full freezer and my well-crafted curtains on almost all the windows. With all my historical features, I am structurally sound. I contain 5 bedrooms, including 3 with beds, 2 for offices or crafts, 2 living rooms, a laundry room, and 2½ baths, and my large front porch has a swing big enough for two.
I’ll miss my person, a historian and my caretaker for over 34 years—I always felt appreciated for my age and character. I am looking forward to historically minded visitors. For more information, please contact my current person.