Dunedin houses set to become city landmarks

DUNEDIN — City Commissioner Moe Freaney said she was proud to make a motion to designate the home of Allen and Deborah Kynes at 265 Edgewater Drive as a historical landmark.

“It’s an honor to make a motion for this one since we know Deborah is the queen of the arts and the queen of historic preservation,” Freaney said at a City Commission meeting June 20.

Deborah Kynes served as a city commissioner from 1999 to 2009 and from 2014 to 2022.

“It’s an exciting night that we can do something for her (Kynes) when she has worked so hard for everyone else in the community and supporting and advocating historical preservation,” Commissioner Jeff Gow said.

The Kynes, who have lived at 265 Edgewater Drive for 45 years, were out of town and couldn’t attend the commission meeting.

“We raised our children in this home,” Deborah Kynes said in an email. “We have opened our home for many causes, charitable organizations, and diverse political candidates at the local, state and federal level. It is our ‘home-place.’”

The property was developed beginning in 1947 and occupied in 1948. The house consisted of a two-story single-family residence, which was known as “The Lamp House” because the living room was bordered by three large picture windows.

Walter and Eta Hendershot built the home. She was a kindergarten teacher at South Ward Elementary for many years. He was a community activist, involved in environmental issues in assessing the proposed development of Moonshine Island.

The Hendershots remained in the home until their deaths in the mid-1970s. John McGinnis bought and lived in the home from 1975 to 1978. The Kynes bought the home in 1979.

The home was known as “The Lamp House,” because the living room was bordered by three large picture windows, each containing a single table lamp, readily visible from Florida Avenue on the north and Edgewater Drive on the west.

There are two old oaks on the northeast side of the property covered with the vines of slow-growing cacti planted in the 1950s. The cacti are of the Night Blooming Cereus variety, also known as the Queen of the Night. It blooms in June, and each flower opens only in the late evening, displaying a fragrant and palm-sized bloom that closes forever before sunrise.

“It is our wish to honor this old, unique environmental event by calling our home, ‘The House of the Night Blooming Cereus,’” Kynes said.

Over the years the Kynes have made additions to the property. All additions, city reports say, were designed to maintain the character of the original structure.

Allen Kynes practiced law in Clearwater and Dunedin and was a former assistant county attorney in Hillsborough County.

Deborah Kynes is on the Florida Council on Arts and Culture, the Board of Trustees of Mease Life, the Dunedin Historic Preservation Advisory Committee and the Dunedin Local Planning Agency among her numerous current civic activities.

Many civic and charitable events have been hosted at the property, such as the Dunedin Fine Art Center’s Garden Party and the Dunedin Youth Guild’s Tour of Homes.

“There’s a lot of memories in that house for me,” Freaney said.

628 Wilkie Street home

Also at the meeting, commissioners approved the designation of a historical landmark for the property at 628 Wilkie St.

The owner of the property on 0.23 acres is listed as Oceans 3 Properties, Inc./Jolene Marotta. The applicant was not able to attend the meeting.

Formerly known as the Mease Nurses Home, the home was built in 1925 in the craftsman architectural style. This property was once owned by Dr. J.A. Mease, who opened Mease Dunedin Hospital in 1937.

“Dr. Mease and his wife, Gladys, have dedicated their lives to the hospital and its residents for 50 years,” said city planner Frances Leong Sharp at the meeting.

The current owner wanted to designate the property as a historical landmark to commemorate past owners’ significant contributions to the community and to celebrate the architectural style of the home.

“I love the simplicity of the construction and how they left it the way it is,” Commissioner John Tornga said.

Two ordinances formally designating 265 Edgewater Drive and 628 Wilkie St. as historical landmarks will come before the City Commission for final approval on July 25.

The Historic Preservation Advisory Committee unanimously recommended that both the properties receive the landmark designations.