Dr. Horace Drew Mansion – Abandoned House

In Jacksonville, Florida’s historic Springfield neighborhood, the Dr. Horace Drew Mansion sits at 245 West 3rd Street overlooking Klutho Park. The eclectic residence was built in 1909 by Dr. Horace R. Drew, a renowned physician, and grandson of Jacksonville pioneer Columbus Drew. The Horace R. Drew Mansion features a mix of design styles from the early 20th century, including Tudor Revival, Queen Anne, and Spanish Colonial Revival. The house was built using two different stones. The majority of the house is smooth concrete blocks, while the front hexagonal porch was built with Ashlar stone.

Among the unique features of the Drew Mansion are the third-story porch and the rear second-story “crying porch”, where a mother could rest a crying infant at night without disturbing her husband. Dr. Horace Drew converted the third-floor attic of his home into a billiards room in the early 1900s. He would play pool here with actor Oliver Hardy during Jacksonville’s days as a silent film capital. Hardy moved to Jacksonville in 1913 and worked as a cabaret and vaudeville singer at night and at the Lubin Manufacturing Company during the day. The home was designed by Leroy Sheftall who, along with Earl Mark, also designed the Moulton & Kyle Funeral Home on East Beaver Street.

Dr. Horace Drew and his brothers owned a successful printing business, H. & W.B. Drew Company, once located on West Bay Street in downtown Jacksonville. The H. & W.B. Drew Company provided engraved office stationery to businesses across the country. Dr. Drew would remain the company president until his death in 1926. Throughout the 20th century, the printing business would remain in the Drew family, eventually garnering the distinction as the “oldest family business” in Jacksonville. In 1997, Wells Legal Supply Inc. acquired the company and formed the Wells & Drew Companies. Dr. Horace Rainsford Drew died on May 28, 1951. After his death, the Drew family home was occupied by the Mears family until the 1960s.

The three-story stone masonry home sat abandoned between 1967 and 1973 and became known locally as the “haunted house”. In March 1970, eleven students from Jacksonville’s Ribault High School ventured into the rundown mansion around 11PM on the night of Friday the 13th. As described by United Press International, “two young negroes” barged into the home, one with a knife and the other with a sawed-off shotgun wanting to know if the teenagers had any “reefers”. When they were told no, a hat was passed around demanding the teens put their money in it. They picked two girls out of the group and herded the other teens into a bathroom, taking a set of car keys from one of the boys with them. They drove the two teen girls in the boy’s car to another abandoned house where they were joined by three other men. The girls’ sweaters and blouses were pulled over their heads and then they were sexually assaulted multiple times. The girls were then driven a short distance away and released, and the car returned to the Drew mansion.

Several months later, on a Saturday afternoon in July 1970, two kids discovered a black plastic bag containing a human head in the backyard of the vacant home. They ran to the street and told two teenagers who called the police. The head had been buried in an 18-inch hole and police speculated that overnight rainfall had washed away dirt that had been covering it. The discovery made newspaper headlines across Florida.

It was reported that the head was stolen from a body at Duval Medical Center in November 1969. An informant told investigators that the head was taken by an orderly at the hospital, who buried it in the backyard and occasionally took friends to show it to them. Detectives said the head, of a man in his 50s, was kept in an airtight germicidal bag which prevented it from decomposing. On July 12, 1970, 18-year-old Michael Tiliakus was arrested when he arrived at the medical center for his hospital shift and charged with dealing in dead bodies, a misdemeanor in Florida. In another odd twist, apparently, Tiliakus knew the man who had given his body to become a teaching cadaver and wanted to keep a part of his friend since the body was set to be cremated. He slept with the head the first night before burying it in the backyard of the Drew mansion out of fear of getting caught.

In the 1970s, the property was sold to the Massey family, who renovated and occupied the house until 2006. The Horace Drew Mansion was added to the National Register of Historic Places as a contributing property to the historic Springfield neighborhood in the 1980s. As a result of financial difficulties, Margaret Massey sold off most of her belongings at an estate sale and abandoned the property. A few long-time residents claim Massey lived the rest of her life in a nursing home. City Code Enforcement began citing the property in 2011 at $250.00 per day for the overgrown yard among other violations. The fines continued to mount until they reached $450,000. Over the years, flooding from nearby Hogans Creek has caused the foundation of the home to slowly sink. The floors have slanted several inches causing severe structural issues. In 2012, the Jacksonville Historical Society listed the Drew Mansion as one of the most endangered historic structures. In July 2013, the property was foreclosed on by Deutsche Bank.

Several neighbors began watching the property after vandals broke in, stole copper wiring, and broke out windows. To slow the decay process, local historical society members secured the home. However, years of neglect have left the roof in disrepair. In February 2015, Michael Bourre, owner of Bourre Construction Group and former president of the Northeast Florida Builders Association, announced that he had bought the house for $40,000 with the intent of restoring it. Bourre proposed an $800,000 renovation project and planned to use the home as a model to promote the historic Springfield neighborhood.

Months turned to years, and little to no work had been done. Springfield residents began to believe the lack of progress was purposeful, and the property would eventually be sold to GNP Development Partners LLC, which was planning a mixed-use development on the same block. A grassroots campaign was started demanding Bourre to start construction or sell the house to someone who would. After the home was sold in 2018, restoration work began, including gutting the interior and replacing the roof. After the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, all progress has ceased, and no work has been done.

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