If the Gladstone—the 1897 Victorian home on North Monroe—is demolished in the next couple of weeks, there are a lot of us who will be complicit. That includes individuals who have driven by it every day while it sat vacant, commented on how much they would like to see it used for something, but then didn’t suggest anything. I’m certainly one of the guilty ones. I always thought it would make a great headquarters for the Tallahassee Historical Society, but I never asked the next questions. Now it is probably too late. Cassius was right in Julius Caesar: “The fault, Dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves.”

When the news about the pending destruction of The Gladstone went public on Twitter (X) and in this newspaper, some members of our board asked me to inquire about alternatives to destruction. One of those alternatives might be to move the house, though the few experts that I have talked to have stressed the expense, the fact that it would probably have to be cut into several sections, not to mention the mayhem involved in removing electric utility lines. But there is a legacy of moving buildings in this community as evidenced by structures like The Columns and the Union Bank. The home is owned by the Department of Management Services, and they are working with the Division of Historical Resources. I don’t know for certain, but I get the feeling that neither department/division is happy about tearing down a Victorian-era building that those of us who have been allowed inside would testify has a good bit of structural soundness. It is messy inside, but structurally pretty formidable.

There are questions to be asked. How much will it cost to demolish the Gladstone versus how much would it cost to move ? Would the state consider moving it instead or partnering with the local private sector to move it? Is there a piece of property where it could go? Might the city be interested in helping save The Gladstone?

Who would own it, renovate it, pay the taxes on it, and the insurance—all questions that would have to be answered. Are they worth exploring in a very short time?

I am told by those who know more than I (almost everybody) that it is the last Queen Anne style home in the city and that 95 percent of Tallahassee’s period residences are gone. It does, I think, represent a part of Tallahassee’s identity that is disappearing, and it does raise deeper questions about the nature of progress, and what a culture should emphasize.

The Tallahassee Historical Society is pleased to ask some of these needed questions. Our intention has not been to antagonize any governmental entity or other organization. But as the primary local historical organization in Leon County, we consider it our duty to ask. But saving the Gladstone, or any building like it, will take more than questions and will take a plan including multiple organizations of both the public and private sector.