Ferns Depot (Website), the restaurant inside the Old Orlando Railroad Depot (built in 1889) at 78 W. Church St is requesting a Major Certificate of Appropriateness to demolish non-contributing breezeway additions to expose the original floor plan and walls.
The restaurant wants to remove the 1987 glass and wood additions to the breezeway between the north building and the center building to expose the original walls and windows. The concrete floor is proposed to be stained to match the existing tile floor adjacent.
The removal of the wood and glass areas will result in a floor area that is not at the same level because the existing breezeway area has a slight slope.
The property was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976, designated an Orlando Landmark in 1978, and is a contributing structure in the Downtown Historic District created in 1980.
The station is one of Orlando’s most significant buildings and was built between 1887 and 1889 by the South Florida Rail Company owned by Henry Plant. Dedicated on January 14, 1890, the station replaced a wooden station and freight house from the 1870s. The station is a Queen Anne style popularized by H.H. Richardson and other architects from the northeast of the day. It is a fine example of late Victorian Architecture. The files contain very descriptive accounts of the color, materials and design of the building that were published in the newspaper for the dedication.
The structure originally had a gray slate roof with accents in red and silver, unpainted red brick walls, limestone trim, glossy dark green columns and flagstone platforms. The structure was a passenger station until the larger Mission Revival station opened in 1927 on Sligh Boulevard and at that time this station was converted to a freight depot and rail offices. During this conversion, the roof was modified and the slate surface and eyebrow dormers were replaced with corrugated iron and simple box dormers. At some point the brick building was painted.
The building served as the Bicentennial Museum in 1976 and then became part of Bob Snow’s Church Street Station entertainment complex. In 1984, the Historic Preservation Board approved the replacement of the roof with slate to match the original and the rebuilding of the eyebrow dor- mers. Also approved were the decorative iron railings, brick planter facing Church Street, free- standing clock and the tile on the platform surfaces surrounding the building. In 1987, the HPB approved the two glass and wood additions in the breezeway between the northern portion of the station and the central portion. In 2013, the HPB approved an addition that mimics rail box cars on the east side of the station and the station was converted to restaurant/bar use.