The Gonzáles House and the De Hita Houses are located at 33 and 35 St. George Street,

St. Augustine, Florida St. Augustine ( ; es, San Agustín ) is a city in the Southeastern United States and the county seat of St. Johns County on the Atlantic coast of northeastern Florida. Founded in 1565 by Spanish explorers, it is the oldest continuously inhabit ...

. Both houses are reconstructions of First Spanish Period (1565-1763) homes built on their original foundations.

History

A 1763 Spanish map shows that at the same lot stood a coquina house belonging to Bernardo Gonzáles and a tabby house belonging to Gerónimo de Hita. Both of these men served in the mounted dragoons and lived near the

Castillo de San Marcos The Castillo de San Marcos (Spanish for "St. Mark's Castle") is the oldest masonry fort in the continental United States; it is located on the western shore of Matanzas Bay in the city of St. Augustine, Florida. It was designed by the Spanish ...

. When the two left Florida at the start of the Florida’s British Period (1763-1783), the properties went to

Jesse Fish Jesse Fish (1724 or 1726–1790) was a shipmaster, merchant, and realtor who lived in St. Augustine, Florida under both Spanish and British rule, and is infamous in the town's history to this day. He was a schemer involved in contraband trade and ...

, who in turn sold them to Captain Andrew Rainsford. The lot was vacant for much of the 19th century.

Historic St. Augustine Preservation Board

The Historic St. Augustine Preservation Board purchased the land where the De Hita House once stood with funds donated by Elizabeth Towers, a member of the board. The Board (at that time called the St. Augustine Historical Restoration and Preservation Commission) won a condemnation suit to acquire the Smith boardinghouse (Gonzáles House) at 33 St. George Street for $17,500. Within thirty days, the Smith property was to be demolished and restorative work continued at both sites. The city of St. Augustine had granted the Commission condemnation powers in 1959 at its inception. After two years of failing to negotiate a selling price for the Smith boardinghouse, the Commission decided to go to court, as a last resort. Archaeological digs led by Dr. Kathleen Deagan of

Florida State University Florida State University (FSU) is a public research university in Tallahassee, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida. Founded in 1851, it is located on the oldest continuous site of higher education in the st ...

revealed the original foundations. The reconstruction of the two homes was completed in 1979 with funding from the Florida Bicentennial Commission.

Present day

Today the Gonzáles and De Hita Houses operate as the Taberna del Caballo, a Spanish themed restaurant that is part of St. Augustine’s Colonial Quarter Museum. It is managed on behalf of the state by University of Florida Historic St. Augustine, Inc.

References

{{reflist Houses in St. Augustine, Florida