* THE FLORIDA TIMES-UNION, JACKSONVILLE, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 1974


OLD CITY'S O'REILLY HOUSE


NOW ON HISTORIC REGISTER


The Times-Union Bureau
TALLAHASSEE St. Augustine's O'Reilly House,
which may have been built as early as 1690, has been
added to the National Register of Historic Places, the Di-
vision of Archives and History of the Department of State
has announced.
A frame house built in 1883 by Anson P. K. Safford,
pioneer developer of Tarpon Springs, also has been in-
cluded on the list, although it is in danger of destruction.
The house has been moved a block from its original site,
has been stripped of its original Victorian ornamentation
and has undergone many ownership changes since 1900.
Safford served as governor of the Arizona Territory
before becoming involved in the development of Tarpon


Springs as a resort.
The O'Reilly House in St. Augustine is a two-story co-
quina block structure which stands on its original site, 131
Aviles Street. While it is known to date to 1763, a "tabby"
interior -partition which was once an exterior wall gives
support to the 17th Century construction dates. The house
has been expanded and altered several times through the
years.
The property was willed by Don Miguel O'Reilly to
the Roman Catholic Church in trust for a future religious
community., The house has served as a rectory, a free
school for Negro children following the Civil War, a Cath-
olic school and is now a museum in the "old city" operat-
ed by the.Sisters of St. Joseph.


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