On Wednesday morning, directors of Winter Park’s Albin Polasek Museum Sculpture Gardens gathered to break ground on the site that’s set to be the future home of the historic Capen House.
A day earlier, the city was served with a lawsuit that aims to keep the home, which traces its origins to 1885, from making its planned voyage across Lake Osceola to the museum grounds.
The suit was filed on behalf of a group of city residents calling themselves “Concerned Citizens for Historic Preservation” who live near the home. It also names as a defendant 520 N. Interlachen LLC, the entity formed by the home’s owners, John and Betsy Pokorny.
The couple wants to build a new home on the lot, and agreed to postpone demolition until the house could be moved.
The plaintiffs are represented by Orlando attorney Richard Wilson, who stepped in after Howard Marks stepped aside. Marks did not respond to requests for comment on why he left the case.
Wilson said the suit — which alleges the home’s historic designation was improperly removed, making it vulnerable to demolition — aims not only to keep the home on its lot at 520 N. Interlachen Ave., but to undo any changes made to prepare it for the move across the lake by barge.
Those changes are already moving along, said contractor Frank Roark. Landscaping and paving have been removed, and workers have been taking out electrical and plumbing connections.
Mark Terry, president of the Polasek board, said work would continue despite the suit. Under the museum’s agreement with the Pokornys, the house must be removed by year’s end. “If we don’t move forward,” Terry said, “we risk it being demolished.”
Commissioner Carolyn Cooper, while sympathetic, called the suit “baseless.”
“The lawsuit grew from frustration, and I understand that frustration,” she said.
dbreen@tribune.com
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