Larry Bailey knew he had to act quickly when he discovered tiny wings on two floors in the turret of the Mote-Morris House in early March.
Bailey said the discovery of termites in the 134-year-old, four-story, all-wood turret was the latest chapter in the story of a community’s effort to preserve one of its oldest and most historic homes.
“In my previous work history, for about 30 years, I was doing property management and property repairs in West Palm Beach, so I was experienced with termites,” said Bailey, of the Village of Palo Alto. “When I noticed that there were little opaque wings up on both of the floors on the turret, I knew what it was.”
The City of Leesburg contacted an extermination company to mitigate the situation and save the historic home, Bailey said.
“There are no other houses like that in Leesburg,” he said. “It’s quite ornate and we need to preserve the history of these old homes because once they’re gone, they’re gone forever. Nobody builds houses like that anymore.”
A bright pink tent covered the home for three days before being removed March 19.
“They decided that it was termites and they needed to tent the house, because just spraying doesn’t do it,” Bailey said. “The whole house is wood. The turret part is original, so it’s 134 years old. In a house that size and that is that old with original windows, there can be a little leakage here and there. That’s what termites love. They need a little bit of water.”
One of the few remaining original homes in the city, the Mote-Morris House was built for eight-term Leesburg Mayor Edward H. Mote and his wife, Lucretia, in 1892. John and May James Morris bought the home in 1918, with a member of the family living there for 70 years after that.
In 1974, the home was added to the National Register of Historic Places.
Bailey said along with the age of the house, its history makes it an important preservation effort.
“The Mote Family was instrumental in building up Leesburg,” Bailey said. “There is a whole block down there that (Edward) built up. He was in multiple kinds of businesses in Leesburg. They had transportation between Leesburg and Wildwood. He was in the citrus industry and he had stores downtown. They were notable and so it really is a major part of Leesburg’s history. It was just him and his wife because they had no children.
“(Lucretia) was kind of a social butterfly, so she was notable around town,” he continued. “She had tea out on the lawn and under a large white tent. We have a picture we show guests during tours where the ladies are all dressed in white.”
As a member of the Leesburg Heritage Society with his wife, Laurie, Larry assists with the society’s mission to preserve the history of the city by volunteering as a curator for the Mote-Morris House.
“It’s probably the most expensive home in Leesburg,” Laurie said of the house, located at 1195 W. Magnolia St.
Free tours of the home are available from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. the second and fourth Saturdays of every month. The next tours will be April 11.
“Tours of the house are free because the city said so many people did so much to restore it, twice,” Larry said.
The community first came together after Morrison United Methodist Church purchased the home in 1988 and offered it to anyone who would move it. Residents raised $95,000 for the house to be moved.
In 1990, the historic house was moved one block south and two blocks west of its original location on 1021 W. Main St.
In 2018, the home — which has been restored over the years using city and state grant funds — was severely damaged in a fire. Repairs cost over $1 million.
“We can show how far it almost went because we have some original floorboards in the front of the house that are charred,” Larry said. “The fire got that close to going clear through the whole house. If it had, well, obviously, it would’ve been gone and it wouldn’t have been rebuilt. But the turret was spared, the front stairway was also spared, along with the front parlor and the front bedroom upstairs. There was also water damage and smoke damage. It was a mess.”
“(People came together) again after the fire,” he continued. “People gave an awful lot of time and money to help bring it back because they thought it was important. It is such an outstanding example of Victorian architecture.”
The Baileys, along with Trice Hirr, help care for the house in various capacities.
“Trice, my wife and I have worked together for about seven years — the last two here and at the Baker House in Wildwood before then,” Larry said. “We’re in charge of decorating and furnishing the house. We have restored a lot of the inside of the home. We also do small repairs and my wife cleans the silver. There’s a big tea set in there. Trice is a wonderful decorator. She can show you in the dining room where she put different figures on the wall and it looks like wallpaper, but it’s just paint. Much of the furniture is also close to the time period of the house.”
For more information about the Mote-Morris House, call 352-315-1800 or visit leesburgmuseum.org.
Staff writer Brea Jones can be reached at 352-753-1119, ext. 5414, or brea.jones@thevillagesmedia.com.
