Welcome to 229 Lafayette Street, where you find the Merrill House, a Victorian home now operated by the Jacksonville Historical Society as a museum. Built in 1879 for James E. Merrill, it wears the Queen Anne style with Eastlake details like a badge of craftsmanship. Look for the square tower on the southwest corner and the elaborate bargeboard in the north gable — signatures of its design.
The porch posts, brackets, and turned spindles are pure Eastlake, the kind of carved, patterned woodwork you can study up close here. Merrill started an iron works in Jacksonville in 1875; that business grew into Merrill-Stevens Engineering Co., and by the late 1880s it was one of the largest shipbuilding companies in the Southern United States. This house was built just a short walk from Merrill’s iron works on East Bay Street and was expanded in 1886.
The Merrill family lived here from 1879 to 1920; the house changed hands to Alfred Leach in 1920, and his son George sold it to the city in 1999. By the 1990s it had fallen into poor condition, and in 2000 it was designated a local historic landmark. The square tower and the ornate gable rise directly above you.