Historic Avondale mansion goes up for auction with area's largest price tag
A Jacksonville waterfront mansion built in the 1920s and renovated over the past decade has hit the market, with the property being auctioned over the coming two weeks.
The 10-bedroom home was listed for $25 million, with bidding opening on Thursday at $3 million — climbing to $4 million by the end of the day.
The auction is being conducted by Concierge Auctions, with the listing handled locally by Julie Little Brewer and Sperry Lee of RE/MAX Specialists Ponte Vedra. Bidding ends Oct. 24.
Over the past several weeks, more than 200 people toured the house, said Concierge Auctions representative Josh Holmes, with interest being expressed both by investors and buyers “who plan on being in the home for generations to come.”
The most interest, he said, has come from potential bidders from Florida, Texas, California, Georgia and New York, as well as Canada and the United Kingdom.
This is the first time the home has been sold since it was bought by John Hove, a businessman who was formerly a judge in Sweden.
Hove and his late wife, Yvonne, had spent more than a decade renovating the historic structure, bringing in thousands of bricks and sending the widows to the United Kingdom to be refurbished. Yvonne passed away in 2018, leading to the decision to sell the property.
Often, property owners turn to auctions after a high-end home has been on the market for a bit, but Hove decided a direct listing made the most sense.
“It’s hard to comp this property,” Holmes said. “There’s not many properties in the Jacksonville area that are comparable to this one.”
The Richmond Street home, which was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 1982, is the largest single-family home in the Avondale neighborhood.
It’s been a while since Concierge Auctions — which holds the world record for the most expensive home sold in the country through a $141 million auction for The One in LA — has had a listing in Northeast Florida, Holmes said.
For homes like these, he said, it can be the quickest way to a sale.
“It’s an as-is, where-is, no contingency sale,” he said. “It gives control to these high net-worth individuals to sell their property and be able to say, ‘OK, I know my property is going to sell on this date.'”
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