As a resident of this city for over 40 years, and as a person who has a deep appreciation for history, it’s both shocking and sad to read the old boarding house called The Gladstone, owned by the state, is about to be demolished.
Living in Tallahassee, we are surrounded by history. From the Old Florida Capitol, to Goodwood, the nearby Grove Mansion of Gov. LeRoy Collins’s day, the Riley and Knott houses of old to the newer Dorothy Oven property, and the Tallahassee Museum that showcases a pioneer house of the 1800’s. The state and this city has sought and preserved these structures of yesterday for all to visit today and gain insight and appreciation to the past.
Somehow, The Gladstone missed the mark for preservation. How sadly ironic that in the middle of Tallahassee’s bicentennial celebration year, the state is on track to demolish this Victorian-era boarding house that has been part of Tallahassee’s history on North Monroe Street since 1897.
Since the compelling reason to get rid of it is security concerns to the governor’s mansion, four things need to happen to save this old house.