HISTORIC ST. AUGUSTINE PRESERVATION BOARD


MEMORY A ND U M


DATE: April 11, 1990

TO: Earle Newton

FROM: Susan Parker

RE: Building between Watson and Heritage houses

The small building indicated on the 1788 Rocque map (part of
Rocque #162) abutting present-day Charlotte Street and north of
the Watson House appears to have been a "large wooden back store
30 feet long (north-south along Charlotte Street] and 18 feet
wide & 10 feet high one story [short] shingled." The Rocque map
shows two-celled structure.*

The priest, Pedro Camps, held this property in trust for the
minor Mateo Hernandez. But, terms of the peace treaty between
Great Britain and Spain regarding land titles arising from
British titles, made Hernandez' ownership null and void.
Unfortunately, the lengthy documentation regarding ownership of
this property focuses on the legalities and little mention is
made of the buildings. However, in related, former owner,
William Watson wrote from London in 1789 that he "knows very well
in a very little time they will be rotten land] that it will cost
more to repair them than they are worth." The contemporary on-
site inventory conducted by Spanish officials gives only cursory
information: "houses of masonry, and of wood, fenced with a
stome wall... "B

A reconstruction of the above-described would have to not
fit entirely within the 24' X 23'space marked "parking" to be
included with Watson House, as per survey. Puente in 1764 gave
the north-south dimension of this block as 55 varas, which
converts to 150.3 feet. Because the Heritage House parcel was
not part of the block in 1764 or 1788, we must use the corner of
Charlotte Street and Artillery Lane as a point of beginning. The
north-south measurement of the block up to the southern line of
the vacated alley, based on Loren Jones 1988 survey, is 160.6


*Wilbur H. Siebert, Loyalists In East Florida, 1774 to 1785
(Deland, 1929), 2:158.

aLetter of William Watson, August 24, 1789; "No. 202 and 203
(page 27),Inventario, Tasaciones, y venta en public remate de
las cases y solared del Rey, Department of Natural Resources,
Field Note Division, Bundle 364 #52, page 54 (typescript at
Historic St. Augustine Preservation Board titled "Quesada
Inventory").




















































feet. Rocque shows the subject building as forming the northeast
corner of the colonial block. Thus the documentary evidence
suggests that the northern wall of the building would be located
approximately 10 feet south of the southern line of the alley.





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