Jacksonville has a large stock of prewar and midcentury houses, from Riverside bungalows to Mediterranean Revival homes in San Marco. Here is how to clean them without harming what makes them worth keeping.
Close to one in five Jacksonville homes was built before 1960, and the oldest of them sit in the historic neighborhoods along the St. Johns River. Those houses were built with materials and finishes that differ from a modern build, and they respond badly to the strong products and stiff tools that work fine on new tile.
This guide covers the older neighborhoods, the finishes typical of their houses, and the cleaning approach that keeps them in good shape.
Riverside was platted in 1868, and most of its growth came between the Great Fire of 1901 and the end of the 1920s Florida land boom. Its historic district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985, the first in Jacksonville, and the Avondale district next door followed in 1989. Avondale itself dates to 1920, when a group led by Telfair Stockton bought the land for an upscale subdivision.
Stockton had already built Avondale when he broke ground on San Marco across the river in 1925. San Marco Square, named for the Piazza San Marco in Venice, got its first commercial building in 1927, a Mediterranean Revival structure. Beyond these districts, about 41 percent of all Jacksonville homes were built before 1980.
Riverside Avondale Preservation describes a mix of Colonial Revival, bungalow, Mediterranean Revival, Tudor and vernacular farmhouse styles. Each brings its own cleaning challenges, and many houses combine original materials with decades of later repairs.
Any home built before 1978 may have lead-based paint under its newer coats, and in Jacksonville that covers a large share of the housing. Cleaning painted surfaces in these homes means a damp cloth and a mild cleaner, with no sanding, scraping, scrubbing pads or anything that could raise dust from the paint. Chipped or flaking paint is a repair for a qualified painter, not a cleaning task.
The same rule protects old windows. Original wood sashes often have layers of paint in the tracks. Vacuum and wipe the tracks gently rather than prying or scraping them clean.
The safest approach in an older house is the mildest product that does the job, always tested on a hidden spot first. That matters doubly in Jacksonville, where hard water tempts people toward strong acids. In San Marco's 32207, JEA lists about 18 grains per gallon, so bathrooms there build scale fast, but older tile and grout can be damaged by harsh descalers.
Older homes were built before central air, with high ceilings, porches and windows meant to catch a breeze. Today most run air conditioning through a long, hot season of about 80 days a year above 90 degrees. Porches and window sills gather the heavy spring tree pollen from the neighborhood's oaks, and the June to September rains bring damp to entries and crawl spaces.
Wipe porch ceilings and screens after the spring pollen season, keep entry mats washable, and watch for musty smells near older bathrooms and closets. A persistent smell or stain points to a moisture problem that needs a contractor, not more cleaning.
Riverside Avondale is a National Register historic district, and the City of Jacksonville publishes historic preservation guidelines that apply there. Cleaning does not usually involve those rules, but exterior work such as pressure washing old brick or stucco, or replacing windows, may fall under them. Check the city's guidelines before planning anything that changes the outside of the house.
The questions Jacksonville homeowners ask most often about this topic, answered plainly.
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