González-Álvarez House

The González-Álvarez House, also called The Oldest House, stands at 14 St. Francis Street in St. Augustine, Florida, and is believed to be the oldest surviving house in the city. Its construction history reaches back to about 1723, when the first floor was built of coquina limestone for Tomás González y Hernández, an artilleryman at the Castillo de San Marcos, and his family. The two-story house is a good example of the Spanish colonial manner of building in St. Augustine, with thick east-west walls, a covered loggia on the east side to catch the prevailing southeasterly winds, and tabby concrete floors. After the British took over Florida in 1763 the González family left for Cuba, and in 1774 the Englishman Joseph Peavett bought the house and added a wood-frame upper story with glass windows. A later owner, Gerónimo Álvarez, added a two-story coquina wing. The St. Augustine Historical Society took the house over in 1918 and restored it to a late nineteenth century appearance in 1959 and 1960. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1970 and now operates as a house museum, where traces of the Spanish, British and American occupations can still be seen.