Florida Governor's Mansion

About this property

The Florida Governor's Mansion (also called the People's House of Florida) is a historic U.S. residence in Tallahassee, Florida, and the official residence of the governor of Florida. On July 20, 2006, it was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. The mansion, which was designed to resemble Andrew Jackson's Hermitage, was designed by Marion Sims Wyeth. The building has 30 rooms and 15,000 square feet (1,400 m2) of living space on 1.5 acres (6,100 m2) of land. The mansion's furnishings are managed by the eight-member Governor's Mansion Commission, established by the Florida Department of Management Services. The commission is responsible for cataloging and maintaining a descriptive, photographic inventory of the antique furnishings and articles of furniture, fixtures, and decorative objects used or displayed in the state rooms of the Governor's Mansion. Half-hour, public tours of the Florida Governor's Mansion are available year-round. The guided tours, led by trained volunteers of the Governor's Mansion Docent Program, also welcome school groups. The Governor's Mansion curator coordinates all tour requests. == Entrance park and Florida's Finest sculpture == The focal point of the park directly across the street from the mansion is the bronze sculpture, Florida's Finest, which was unveiled in April 1998 by then Governor and Mrs. Lawton Chiles and was dedicated to the children of Florida. The sculpture features five life-size children and a dog playing a game of "Follow the Leader" atop three logs of a nearby fallen tree. From 1845 (the year Florida was admitted to the Union) to the beginning of the 20th century, governors of the state usually lived in hotels or boardinghouses. In 1905, the state legislature appropriated $25,000 to construct an official residence for the governor, and the home was finished in 1907. George Saxon, a banker from Tallahassee, donated four lots on which to build the residence. Henry John Klutho designed the home, with a Neoclassical exterior and a 14-room Georgian interior. The 1907 mansion attracted at least one candidate for governor. In the fall of 1915, West Florida Baptists held their annual convention in Tallahassee. Local Baptists agreed to have as guests in their homes the delegates, or messengers as they were called, to the convention. A messenger named Sidney J. Catts, from DeFuniak Springs, was assigned by the convention committee to be the guest of Governor and Mrs. Trammell. Reverend Catts, during dinner the first night there, asked many questions about the mansion and inspected the entire premises, including the attic and stables. At the last meal before leaving, the Reverend Catts asked Governor Trammel, "Governor, how much rent does this place cost you?" Governor Trammel replied, "Reverend, it is provided rent-free by the taxpayers of Florida." A few weeks later, the Reverend Catts announced his candidacy for governor and was elected in 1916. Reverend Catts brought a pig, milk cow, and chickens to the mansion during his tenure as governor.

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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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