Protecting our history; starting on Charles Street

The EWF Stirrup House at 3242 Charles Avenue was built in 1897, it is the oldest house in Coconut Grove, other than the Barnacle, across the way, which was built in 1891. And while the Barnacle is revered and protected and used and appreciated, the Stirrup house has been sitting for years, rotting.

For some years now, a few people asked me to get involved but I always felt there was nothing I could do. After so many years, the Stirrup family gave up the house, which was given historic designation in 2004.

Ebenezer Woodbury Franklin Stirrup, a Bahamian immigrant who settled in the Grove, built the two story house, shown here from the back and east side. Mr. Stirrup ended up being one of the largest land owners in the Grove and ironically, the house is now in the hands of the Aries Group, another large Grove landowner. Stirrup lived in the house until his death in 1957, at the age of 84. It remained in the hands of the Stirrup family all these years. Until now.

The Stirrup House on Charles Street, backs up to the Aries Group's other properties: Calamari, La Botegga and The Taurus. They had planned to turn the property into a restaurant or a bed and breakast. At the other end of Charles Street is The Charlotte Jane Memorial Park Cemetery, named for the love of Ebenezer Stirrup's life. It's a very historic street with most if not all of the houses built by Stirrup to house fellow Bahamians who settled here. That is Mr. Stirrup at left.

Charles Street is one of the most historic streets in Coconut Grove. It should all be protected by more than just designating it all historic. This is the front porch of the Stirrup house. Not good today. The houses could be turned into small art galleries, coffee shops or more. Right now, people live in the shotgun style houses and maybe that's even better than businesses taking over. But in any case, the Stirrup house should be restored and protected. I wrote about this in 2009.

The great part about the Stirrup House is that it's right there. It's across from the Playhouse, on the path basically between The Barnacle and Plymouth Congregational Church, another historical gem and it's part of the life, or could be, of the Calamari set of restaurants. There's really no logical reason for it's current condition. Here you can see the wood front decaying and the windows are broken.

We're losing too much of our history around here and this one can easily be saved if the owners just cared a little bit more.