The Florida House — A Look Back in Time

Was there actually a time when you could buy a ranch-style home in sunny Florida starting at $18,650? Indeed, there was. Learn all about it at the Marco Island Historical Society exhibit, The Florida House, and take atrip back in time. The exhibit marks and celebrates the 60th anniversary of modern Marco Island and the construction of the island’s first model homes. Island Country Club Charitable Foundation is the presenting sponsor of the exhibit. 

The exhibit, now open, runs through June 7, 2025. A free, open-to-public exhibit reception will be held on March 13, 2025, from 4:00 to 5:30 PM. The Florida House delves into the fascinating history behind Marco Island’s development that resulted from the vision of three brothers to create a showcase island paradise where people could live, work and play. The brothers were Elliott, Robert, and Frank, Jr. Mackle who, with their company, the Deltona Corporation, created modern Marco Island.  

Through an interactive app developed for The Florida House exhibit, visitors can imagine themselves in the 1960s buying a Mackle-built home and can even put their own finishing touches on the interior. The exhibit also will include images, documents, publications, and objects from the Marco Island Historical Society’s collections to share with visitors the nostalgia and color of this optimistic and adventurous period in Florida history.  

Marco Island’s Mackle-built homes can be traced back to the post-World War II “Florida House” that was crafted to entice Northerners to the Sunshine State. A period of relative prosperity and optimism followed the Second World War, and Florida transformed into a vibrant haven for the burgeoning middle class and retirees seeking sunshine and serenity. With this influx of new residents came an unprecedented demand for housing and by the end of the 1950s, homebuilding had become Florida’s biggest industry.  

Among the most influential of the homebuilders and developers were the visionary Miami-based Mackle brothers. The Mackle brothers had constructed more than 25,000 homes across the Sunshine State by the time they opened their Marco Island community in 1965.  

Between 1965 and 1975, Deltona architect Herbert Savage designed 72 distinct model homes in the Florida House style exclusively for Marco Island. Promoted by Deltona as the “high point of over 60 years of southern building experience,” these diverse models were tailored, inside and out, to embody the elegant tropical resort and leisure living the Mackle Brothers envisioned for what they called the “crown jewel” of their planned communities. Over 770 of these homes were built on the island, and a significant number remain today, coloring the community landscape.  

The allure of the Florida House and its promise of affordable tropical leisure living drew home buyers from throughout the country. The new Florida House type modified the affordable middle-class suburban ranch home with designs and features that suited the region’s climate and emphasized tropical indoor-outdoor living. Within a generation, both coasts of Florida were transformed into a sprawling landscape of communities of Florida Houses populated by middle-class sun and surf fans from across the United States. 

The Marco Island Historical Museum is located at 180 S. Heathwood Drive. The Museum is open Tuesday through Saturday, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is free and the site is fully ADA compliant and accessible to all visitors.