Casa De Josefina
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Casa De Josefina | |
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| Location | Lake Wales, Florida |
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| Coordinates | 27°51′53″N 81°34′18″W / 27.86472°N 81.57167°W |
| Built | 1923[1] |
| Architect | L.S. Acuff, Edward B. Stratton[1][2] |
| Architectural style | Eclectic with Italian, Spanish, Gothic, and other elements[1] |
| NRHP reference No. | 75000567[2] |
| Added to NRHP | 10 June 1975[3] |
The Casa De Josefina (also known as the Irwin Arthur Yarnell House) is a historic home near Lake Wales, Florida.[2] It is located two miles southeast of Lake Wales off U.S. 27.[1][2] On June 10, 1975, it was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.
The house is built of stucco-covered coquina in an eclectic Florida Boom style, a blend of Spanish, Italian, and Gothic, and is E-shaped with a corner tower. A porch at the rear connects the rooms in the three wings.[4] The grounds comprise 18 acres.[5][6] Irwin Arthur Yarnell, a banker from Minneapolis who helped develop Florida communities including Highland Park, built it for $1.5 million in 1923 and named it for his wife, Josephine;[5][6] above the front door is a stained-glass window with her name in the grillwork, and there is a sculpture of her profile on a parapet.[4] There were originally gardens including 2,000 species of palms. The house was built by European craftsmen and furnished with antiques bought abroad, and the couple hosted lavish parties there until the Florida bust of 1926 and the stock market crash of 1929 ruined them.[4][6]
