A waterfront home in Oviedo’s Mead Manor neighborhood designed by noted regional architect Harry Cline Merritt Jr. has come on the market for the first time, and it’s listed at $675,000.
The two-bedroom, two-bathroom home, known as the Hodgin Residence, was designed for Dr. and Mrs. John Hodgin and is documented in the University of Florida’s Harry Merritt Papers, an archival collection housed at UF’s George A. Smathers Libraries that preserves the architect’s design commissions from 1954 to 2015. According to the listing, the home has been evaluated by the Florida Division of Historical Resources as potentially eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. So don’t buy it just to knock it down and build a terrible box McMansion.
Merritt, who taught architecture at the University of Florida from 1960 to 1995, was born in Wilmington, North Carolina, in 1929 and died in 2016. He earned his undergraduate degree from Clemson University and his master’s degree in architecture from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design, where he studied under Walter Gropius and Paul Rudolph. Rudolph later recommended Merritt go work with architect Gene Leedy in Winter Haven, Florida, before Merritt was recruited to UF’s architecture faculty by dean Turpin Bannister in 1960. He went on to design homes across Florida marked by his signature use of Ocala block construction, expansive floor-to-ceiling glazing, and integration of the surrounding landscape, often built directly around mature oak trees.
The listing describes the home as featuring locally sourced cypress interior finishes, including custom kitchen cabinets and a cherry wood dining table, along with a large enclosed courtyard and panoramic views of the property’s largely untouched natural landscape. According to the listing, the current owners are the second generation to own the home and have made a few updates over the years, including updated electric, a newer air conditioning system and water heater, a 2017 roof, and a new insulated garage door, while preserving the home’s original architectural character.
Merritt’s work has drawn increasing attention from preservationists and mid-century modern buyers in recent years. His 1964 Cassisi Residence in Gainesville was nominated to the National Register of Historic Places in 2015, and his 1966 Haynes Residence on Newnans Lake, also in Gainesville, sold after a multiyear restoration for $699,000 late last year.
Mead Manor sits on a lakeside lot in Oviedo, within Seminole County, close to the University of Central Florida and with access to Orlando International Airport, area theme parks, and major interstate routes including I-4, I-95, and I-75.
The Hodgin Residence listing is handled by Dominic Perampiere, Realtor, with Optima Real Estate. Click HERE for the Zillow listing.
