I worked with some good friends (and clients) of mine for the past few months, helping them find their dream house.  And find the house they did – a great old two story house in the Old Northeast neighborhood with original oak hardwood floors, a great fireplace, lots of fun little nooks and crannies, a third story attic high enough to stand up in (and it has a real staircase going up to it), and a full sized extra lot next door.  Negotiations, inspections and financing taken care of, we closed on the house exactly two weeks ago today.  But with all of the walk-throughs and visits, there was something that none of us had noticed – an undocumented, hidden feature.  Until last week, when my friends spotted the hives.  Three of them.  Active hives, with honeybees.  Lots of honeybees!

At first, they were concerned that the bees might pose a threat.  So they called a beekeeper who came out and inspected the hives.  The beekeeper told them that there is no cause for concern, and that the bees should be welcomed with (almost) open arms.  After all, we need bees to pollinate flowers and keep the cycle of life going, right?  And the fact that there are several beautiful citrus trees in their yard gives even more reason to celebrate the presence of these bees.

I was visiting them at their new home today, and I brought out my tripod and telephoto lens and set up for a picture.  It was truly a remarkable sight to me.  I’ve seen videos of hives before, and photos, and I’ve seen hives in controlled settings, like science museums, but I’ve really never seen them out in ‘the wild’.  Anyway, I wanted to share the photographs with you and assure you that, at least in St. Petersburg, there are some healthy, happy honeybees that appear to be doing just fine!  Please be sure to click on each photograph below so that you can see the full-sized image in a separate window – the smaller images just don’t do justice to the bees and their hive…

The first house was built in 1926, in the boom years of St. Petersburg’s early development.  It was a smaller house than many of its grand neighbors, but even so, it was a two story beauty with rough stucco exterior, a great fireplace, original oak floors, and all the charm it needed to hold its own against its bigger, grander neighbors.  But, aside from being a bit smaller than its neighbors, there was another difference.  This house was a wood frame house with slats of wood lath nailed onto the framing and stucco applied over the wood lath.  Most of the neighboring houses were constructed of stucco over hollow tile.  And, as it turns out, the second method is a more stable construction method in the long term.

So, although the house was a great house and it had a good, long life, by the time it reached its 75th birthday in 2001, it was no longer a stable house.  Although many repairs had been done over the years, the aging process was unstoppable and the house was nearing the end.

Within a couple of years the house was sold to a developer who had originally hoped to revitalize the house and add more square footage to it, bringing it back to health.  But at each step along the way, new problems were found and it was finally determined that the house simply could not be saved.  Because Granada Terrace is such a beautiful neighborhood and it’s only a block from Coffee Pot Boulevard, the lot was valuable enough to allow the original home to be demolished and a new home constructed.  But the developer ran into an interesting obstacle – Granada Terrace is a Historic Preservation District, and that means that any significant change in the features or appearance of a house have to go through a process of review and approval by a board before they can be carried out – even changing the color of paint on the exterior walls requires approval.  So you can imagine that the idea of demolishing a house and building a new one was daunting.

Eventually, approval was given and a new house was constructed – a modern, energy efficient, solid, beautiful home with all the features one might desire in a new home.  And, in addition to all of that, the new house has something else that’s actually very unique and makes it even more special – because of the guidelines of the Historic Preservation District, the new house had to be constructed with an exterior that matched the ‘flavor’ and the ‘look and feel’ of the original 1926 house.  It did not have to look identical, but it had to have a similar look. 

The first photograph below is a shot of the original house that occupied the lot at 2408 Brevard Road Northeast.  The second photograph below is a shot of the new house, constructed in 2006 – 2007.

Without wasting any more words, I’ll leave it to you to see for yourself how nicely the architect and builders did…

2408 Brevard Rd NE Original (click for larger image)

2408 Brevard Rd NE 2006/2007 (click for larger image)