Historic St. Augustine building to be auctioned off in February

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ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. — A historic St. Augustine building on St. George Street will be auctioned off next month.

The “Rodriguez – Avero – Sanchez house” was built by a Spanish sergeant during the first Spanish occupation of St. Augustine.

Action News Jax got an inside look at the building Wednesday afternoon.

“By 1803 the remainder of the first floor had been constructed by Juan Sanchez who owned the property after 1791,” said the website. “The wood frame second story portion was added c. 1830 by persons now unknown. In 1876 the house was deeded to Isaac Watkins and in 1883 was purchased by Mildred C. Watkins who occupied it until her death in 1926.”

According to a Library of Congress website, the northeast room of the house was built around 1761 and occupied by Spanish Sgt. Fernando Rodriguez at the time.

Portions of the original structure now make up part of the first floor of the building.

The downstairs is currently being run as a jewelry store, but the owner is retiring.

The second and third stories are essentially a living space.

Jena Baker-Dennis, who will be auctioning off the St. George Street building, explained what may come of it in the future.

“It does allow for short-term rentals, so we see a lot of folks who are looking at the property to do short-term rentals upstairs, and then keep the downstairs retail,” she said.

She admits it’s too early to tell what may be in store for the building.

“I would love to see someone buy it and use it as their residence,” Baker-Dennis said.