The Hallstrom Hall Of Fame

To mark this year’s Architecture Week (April 8-14), which celebrated the 150th anniversary of the founding of the American Institute of Architects, St. Edward’s School participated in a “Find the Building” contest. All the participants were given a list of clues to help them identify twelve of the county’s historic buildings. The kids were then required to draw a sketch of, or write an essay about, the building they liked the most. The winner was Max Lupin, whose sketch is seen here. Gabby Ordonez also won an award for her essay on the Florida Theater on 14th Avenue.

Lupin’s favorite turned out to be the Hallstrom House, a home on Old Dixie Highway built by Swedish-born Axel Hallstrom, who arrived in the U.S. in 1898 when he was 27. After working as chief gardener for a railroad tycoon in Minnesota, Hallstrom moved to Florida to benefit his wife, Emely’s, fragile health. He began by purchasing land in Viking–now called Indrio–where he grew pineapples and citrus, and became a wealthy man. Though Emely died in 1908, Hallstrom stayed on in Florida with his daughter, Ruth, and in 1923 completed work on the elegant, Victorian-style mansion where he would remain until his death in 1966; Ruth, who never married, lived at the house until she died in 1999 at age 95.

Read the entire article in the Summer 2007 issue