The González-Álvarez House, the 'Oldest House' — the oldest surviving Spanish colonial dwelling in Florida, its coquina ground floor built in the early 1700s.
Here at the corner stands the González-Álvarez House — known to everyone simply as the Oldest House — and it has earned the name. There's been a home on this spot since the early sixteen hundreds, and the coquina-walled house you see grew up in the early seventeen hundreds, making it the oldest surviving Spanish colonial dwelling in all of Florida.
Look at how it's built, because the house itself tells the city's whole story. The thick ground floor is coquina, that same shellstone as the fort, cool and solid against the Florida heat. The upper floor is wood, with a shaded balcony to catch the bay breeze. Walk through it if it's open, and you can trace four hundred years of families under one roof — Spanish soldiers, then a British officer's household when England held Florida for a spell, then Americans, each leaving their mark on the same old rooms. A single house, lived in continuously since before the United States existed.
From here, turn east toward the water — the bay is only a couple of blocks that way, and one more grand landmark is waiting.
Photo: LittleT889 · CC BY-SA 4.0
