COVER STORY

The museum offers guided tours of the his toric Polasek res i dence and chapel, an out door sculp ture gar den, a gallery with rotating exhibits and a gift shop. The museum is listed on the National Reg ister of His toric Places and is one of only 34 mem bers of the National Trust’ s His toric Artists’ Homes and Studios.

Born in the province of Moravia( now Czech Repub lic), Albin Polasek immigrated to this coun try as a young woodcarver in 1901. He later attended the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia and the American Academy of Art in Rome. Dur ing his influ en tial artis tic and edu ca tional career, Polasek won many awards for his works and was commissioned to create numerous public sculp tures now found through out Europe and Amer ica. Polasek ded i cated his life to encouraging the study, appreciation and furtherance of representational art.

Albin Polasek retired to Win ter Park, Florida in 1950 after nearly thirty years as the head of the Depart ment of Sculpture at the Art Insti tute of Chicago. Albin Polasek designed his home with a functioning studio at its heart, surrounded by picturesque gardens. In 1961, The Albin Polasek Foun da tion was formed at the sculptor’ s request, and his gallery was opened to the pub lic as a museum.

Begin ning in 1998, the museum’ s trustees renewed their com mit ment to actively pro mote Albin Polasek’ s legacy based on a coor di nated, long-range improvement plan. In 2008 the museum was re-roofed and repainted with privately generated funds. This ongoing plan focuses on renovating and expanding the museum, increasing public aware ness of the museum and developing cultural and edu cational programs. As a result of these efforts the museum was added to the National Regis ter of His toric Places. Albin Polasek was awarded the honor of Great Florid ian 2000 and was inducted into the Florida Artists Hall of Fame in 2004. In 2008 the Albin Polasek Museum and Sculp ture Gardens was added to the National Trust’ s‘ His toric Artists’ Homes and Stu dios’– an exclu sive group with only 30 mem ber organizations throughout the country, includ ing the homes and stu dios of sculptors Daniel Chester French and Augus tus Saint-Gaudens. n

Albin Polasek with Man Carving His Own Destiny, 1961

THE HISTORY

• The house is 130-years-old this year and was owned by seven different families in the 1800s and 1900s. It was built by hand with pine wood for the frame, siding, and floor.

• James Seymour Capen was the first resident. He lived here with his wife Laura and daughter Louise. He was one of the early civic leaders in Winter Park and worked for the Winter Park Land Company, owned grapefruit groves and developed property. Capen Avenue near downtown Winter Park is named after him and his family. He moved here with 10 members of his family.

• The original house had three bedrooms and was smaller than it is today.

• Why is it named the Capen-Showalter House? o The house was built by the Capen family in 1885 and substantially renovated in the 1920s by the Showalter family, hence the hyphenated name to represent these two major eras in the history of the building.

• The Showalter’ s added a stucco exterior to the wood house and installed the distinct double doors at the front and sides of the first and second floors.

• Portions of the original home are exposed in the southwest restroom, with original horsehair plaster, wood siding found during construction, and oldgrowth longleaf pine beams and posts, some of which are 25-feet long.

• The trees used in the original frame of the house were probably more than 100 years old.

• The Jennings Family lived in the house the longest, for 46 years.

COURTESY OF ALBIN POLASEK MUSEUM

14 IBA Success Magazine n VOL 4, Issue 5