Herschel Shepard’s Legacy of Historic Preservation
A founder of the Florida Trust for Historic Preservation, an architect who expanded historic preservation in the state, an educator, historic researcher and published author, Herschel Shepard has received many accolades and awards for his body of work.
“Herschel Shepard, a Floridian by birth, is highly respected and his mark on Florida is profound and permanent,” Florida Trust Past President and Trustee Emerita Leslee Keys said. “He knows more about the creative and integral merger of architecture and engineering than most. His preservation efforts have stretched across Florida to benefits us all.”
Shepard looks back fondly at his Florida Trust role as a founder and an original Board of Directors member. In 1978, he and his mentor Blair Reeve, along with friends in Tampa, were like-minded and wanted to establish a local chapter of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
The National Trust decided against a structure with local chapters. In their concern for historic places the group determined establishing a statewide preservation organization was their best option. The first order of business was to save the Historic Florida Capital, which was threatened with demolition by the late 1970s. Those in the architecture profession were divided – at each spectrum end were proposals to demolish or preserve. Squarely in the middle position was a hope to restore the 1902 capital.
The newly formed Florida Trust took the fight to lawmakers advocating for preservation. Secretary of State Bruce Smathers and then-Florida House Representative Bill Nelson were allies in the cause. Shepard sat on a State of Florida commission formed to determine the best course of action. The commission was charged with providing options for public discussion. After many meetings open to public comment, the middle option prevailed. The Historic Florida Capital was an important symbol worth preserving and its survival was truly democracy in action.
Today, working on the restoration remains a great adventure and honor for Shepard. Architecturally, the old capital was large enough to make an impact front and center on the site yet small enough not to detract from the new building behind it. The two buildings played off one another. The project was not without issues – a fixed budget, public bids rejected, having to recruit local contractors. Both wings of the building had to be removed and some architectural features were sold to fund the project. Even the marble partitions in the restrooms were broken up and sold as souvenirs.
As the project neared completion in 1982, the building was finished with the distinctive red and white awnings. The people were up and arms, they likened the restored capital to an ice cream parlor. Subsequently a storm ripped off several awnings, and the newspaper was flooded with letters asking when they would be replaced. The awnings are historically correct dating back to the late 1800s representing the red and white stripes of the American flag.
Topping the list of Shepard’s favorite projects must be the Historic Capital Building and working on the Fort Clinch partial restoration 1963-1971 marked his initiation in historic preservation architecture. But a minor project that ranks high is Bulow Plantation in Flagler Beach, Florida which was acquired by the State of Florida in 1945 and dedicated as a State Historic Park in 1957.
Not much was left but the exposed coquina walls and part of the sugar mill. There was very little money afforded to stabilize what was left – $12,000 which was peanuts even at that time. He devised methods to keep out the motorcycles that ran havoc on the plantation. With just enough budget left, Shepard designed a tiny building for the museum which allowed people to visit and understand the archaeological finds on the property. Bulow Plantation was added to the National Register of Historic Places 1970.
Changes occurring in the architecture profession in the 1980s did not allow time for the historic research Shepard loved. He had a choice to either grow his Jacksonville firm Fisher & Shepard, Architects & Planners Inc. or step back, he chose the latter. In 1984, Shepard was asked to consult at the University of Florida, which evolved to a professorship in the Department of Architecture and leading the Preservation Institute in Nantucket as Director before he retired in 1997. Those twelve years afforded him unfettered access to additional resources for historic research.
Receiving a state grant for the reconstruction of the Mission San Luis Council House and the other structures initiated a 20-year research project Shepard expects to complete in a year’s time. At Mission San Luis, one of early Florida’s largest colonial outposts, he admired the geometric structures the Indians built with such precision. All the roof slopes were consistently set at an uncommon angle. His historic research found this construction throughout the Caribbean, and it exists throughout much of the United States. Preserved Indian records proved to be an instructional building manual for these structures. This technology has been around for a long, long time and he’s working to figure it out.
Mulling over an illustrious career studded with awards and honors, Shepard reflects on being inspired to become an architect while attending Princeton. He was accepted to study physics, he said he was interested in the way things work. Encouraged to take as many electives as possible, Shepard was drawn to the archaeology classes, but it was the architecture classes that had a deeper effect on him. This knowledge had one foot in the sciences and one foot in the arts. His work in historic preservation taught him unique lessons. Learning to preserve an old ceiling using a new product teaches one about architecture as a field of knowledge. Shepard said studying the humanities gives students the foundation to pursue their interests. A degree in philosophy can lead to learning computer languages and then a career in AI as it did for his son.
“You may not end up as you thought. Universities are not teaching history now. The value of learning history is knowledge, that history is relevant today.”
Herschel, we thank you.