St. Johns County commissioners discuss possible move of historic house MLK visited

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — UPDATE: Action News Jax spoke with the owners of the Canright House. David Manaute and his wife, Patti, told us they’ve spent a year and thousands of dollars to try and preserve the home.

They suggested building around it and opening it to visitors on Martin Luther King Day. But they say all their ideas were shot down by neighbors or the county’s zoning committee.

When all other avenues were exhausted, they applied for the demolition permit.

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It may not look like much from the street, but the Canright House, a tiny beach cottage on Atlantic View in south St. Johns County, is rich with history.

There’s even an iconic photo showing Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. pointing to a bullet hole in the window after the house was vandalized during the Civil Rights Era of the 1950s and 60s.

Now, the current owner has plans for the property, but they don’t include the preservation of the historic structure.

“The current owner of the residence applied for a demolition permit a couple of months ago, and as a result of that, staff reviewed it and required a mitigation plan,” Growth Management’s Ryan Mauch said in Tuesday’s county commission meeting.

He argued that the Cultural Resource Review Board determined the house to be culturally significant.

Mauch shared alternative options from the CRRB:

“One of those is a relocation of the structure potentially to a county park that is adjacent within half a mile of the existing structure. And that would be Windswept Acres Park,” he said.

Mauch said the CRRB suggests moving the house, adding that special interest groups are already working to raise funds for the relocation.

Longtime area resident Jesse Asner is on board with preserving history.

“Preserving the house is amazing,” he said. “If we can do that, that’d be awesome.”

Commissioner Paul Waldron raised a few concerns during Tuesday’s meeting, though.

“I do have questions and reservations about what it’s gonna cost. I guess the movement may be paid for but we would have to be the ones that would maintain it, fix it, keep it up,” he said.

But ultimately, he suggested commissioners draft a letter of support to the CRRB.

“Time is of the essence,” Waldron added.

On Wednesday, Commissioner Christian Whitehurst told Action News Jax, “as a board, we haven’t taken any final action as of yet.”

Whitehurst added that the proposed idea is to make the Canright House into a museum at its new location.

As for Asner, he’s still not sure how he feels about the house being moved.

“I think the history of the Civil Rights Movement is important and I’d like people to say, ‘that’s where he stayed, and he walked this street, too,’” he said.

Action News Jax asked the county late Wednesday about how much relocation would cost. The county is working on getting those numbers for us.

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