Oviedo’s Lawton House undergoes updates to potentially host community events

Over a century after it was built, Oviedo’s beloved Lawton House could once again look like a 19th century residence, and possibly host community events.

Residents of Oviedo regularly pass by the historic home’s wrap-around porch, a few steps from Friendship Park on Broadway Street. Its butter yellow walls and charming white window frames won’t be changing anytime soon, but the Oviedo Historical Society hopes to update the inside of the museum into a space where the community can come together to enjoy in time for its annual holiday market on Dec. 20.

The house is the location for monthly farmer’s markets, hosted by Oviedo Historical Society, and is currently only open to the public during its regular farmer’s market hours on the first Saturday of the month from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. and for special events such as the holiday market. 

“Its potential usage as a community center or as a place for book clubs, a place where people can come to appreciate the city of Oviedo and its history and its future, that’s what I like most about it,” Zack Surrette, the society’s historian, said. 

Surrette began planning changes to the front room’s design last month when preparation for the Lawton House’s Christmas event.

“Basically, I wanted to feel like an old-fashioned family Christmas inside of an old home with a fake fire going in the fireplace, a tree, rugs, love seats, everything to make it feel more cozy. And then I started to think, ‘Oh, well, wait, this is how we need to do it.’”

Collecting these homey items inspired Surrette to consider a long-term goal of updating the rest of the home. For now, his goal is to update the front room and use it as a concept for the rest of the house since “that’s all we can do for right now.” 

Surrette said that the history behind the Lawton House resonates with the community because it reminds residents of simpler times where people could focus on the importance of community and “just hosting” others in their homes without the distractions of technology.

“I think it comes from a place in our past that we don’t have anymore, where you could just live in a simpler time and you would just be able to sit down without phones … without any of the things that distract you from just being able to talk to the person in front of you,” Surrette said. 

In the future, Surrette hopes to host guests in the Lawton House by free hourly appointments, and intends for the space to be somewhere people can view the archives and other historical materials for research purposes or possible photo opportunities.

Charming changes

Surrette, a lover of antiques, old houses and old properties, is basing the design off another house in Oviedo that was the same time period as the Lawton House – Theodore Mead’s Wait a Bit Cottage by Lake Charm. Surrette said he has been using pictures of the inside of that cottage since there are no pictures of the inside of the Lawton House when it was in use.

“It’s exactly the kind of house that would be in the area at that time. The furnishings, the simple setup and the location … that’s not far away from where Lawton House is,” Surrette said.

Some of the changes include updating the displays and switching out mismatched frames to “become more professional.” The society has added rugs, rocking chairs, a vintage dining room table with four matching chairs and love seats, and are on the hunt for additional era-appropriate items such as curtains. 

The updates are possible through donations from the community and through the Oviedo Historical Society’s budget for the updates. 

While attempting to balance the historic home’s cozy feel and the museum aspect of the property, Clara Fiskerud, the historical society’s president, said they have temporarily taken down pieces to achieve the 1890s residence experience they are after. 

“But right now, how we’re deciding is we want it to be really a living room feel and in someone’s living room, there wouldn’t be a bunch of pieces about other people, other than the family,” Fiskerud said.

Surrette said he has been scavenging Facebook Marketplace every day trying to find free items that would match the vibe of the 1890 home. He has contacted the Old Red Barn, the Museum of Seminole County and Coop Antiques looking for donations.

“It’s not all original furniture. This is piecemeal, but time period correct, and we still incorporate all of our existing furniture and historical items into it. So we’re trying to replicate the look as best as we can.”

Surrette said he would like the house to undergo deeper renovations such as painting and “actual work to the house,” but a timeline and budget has not yet been formally discussed.

“I’d like them, but we’re an old volunteer society, so it takes kind of forever to get anything done.”

However, Surrette said he is aiming to complete the front room, which is the largest room, before the Holiday Tree Lighting event on Dec. 20.

Potential future development

Eric Holt, a member of the Oviedo Historical Society and small business owner, has been a vendor at the Oviedo Farmers Market since 2019. He said the property’s location and history leave potential for creating a “historic garden type area and museum worthy of visiting.” He plans on working with the city to propose further updates to the property to develop the grounds into what they could have looked like in 1915 if they had been built up.

“I’m picturing a place where you could have a wedding, where you could have a tea event, like a party event for a small business or holiday affair,” Holt said. “The house itself would be redeveloped into its former glory.”

Holt said he hopes to meet with the city in January to present some sketched out ideas of the property, and if they agree, to begin fundraising efforts and have an architect develop a site plan.

Holt said he believes renovating the property would bring more interest to Central Florida due to the history-rich city’s proximity to I-4 and the University of Central Florida.

“I see it as a cultural aspect of the community. So it’s more like a historical piece of the downtown Oviedo area, because it’s nestled right near where the original downtown of Oviedo was … So I see it as a cultural center,” Holt said.

The home’s history 

The Lawton House was built in 1890 by J.H. Lee Sr. and was originally located near the old downtown crossroads on South Central avenue. Twenty years later, Lee gave the home to his daughter, Charlotte “Lottie” Lee and her husband Thomas W. Lawton Sr. According to the Historical Marker, the house was then moved on rollers to its present location.

Once guests entered the home through the cozy, wrap-around porch, they were greeted by seven rooms and a deep well that supplied water to an elevated wooden tank. In the 1920s, a battery lighting system was installed in the home.

Charlotte and her husband raised three children in the historic home. Thomas was the principal of a school in Oviedo from 1905 to 1907 and was elected in 1916 as the Superintendent for Seminole County Schools. He retired in 1952 and remains the longest-serving Superintendent in the county. In 1968, the Oviedo School he worked at was renamed T.W. Lawton Elementary in his honor, five years after he passed away.

Now, the Lawton House is owned by the city and serves as a museum, showcasing relics of notable figures who helped shape Oviedo over the past century. The historic home is open to the public the first Saturday morning of every month during the Oviedo Farmers Market and during special events.

Fiskerud said that the house has been renovated since its original build, but this is the first time the society has tried to make the property “more so cozy-ish than just a museum.”

With no plans set in stone, Surrette hopes the small design updates could one day lead to the property becoming a community center for residents and visitors to enjoy post-renovations.

“They’ll be very impressed,” Surrette said. “And it will be if we advertise it right and we get word of mouth, people will want to go to it and experience what it used to be like back in the day.” 

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