Pelican House

Located on New Smyrna Beach, the Pelican House was a two-story, white frame building with high wooden beam ceilings, long tables and huge windows to gaze out upon the Atlantic Ocean. With a gift of $6,000 from Mrs. Caleb I. Johnson of Jacksonville, the Pelican House was constructed as a conference and recreation center by the Presbyterian Church USA in the 1920s, and later sold to Dr. Fred Lewis Pattee and his wife, who turned the building into a casino on the beach near New Smyrna. After the gaming business went bankrupt in 1927, the Pattees decided to give the property to Rollins College. So in 1931, the Pelican became the only Rollins building that was on the beach.

The Pelican House was first used as part of the Rollins Conference Plan classes until World War II, when President Hamilton Holt (’49H) decided in October 1942 to turned the house as a shelter station on the Atlantic shore to the United States Coast Guards, which rented the property on a dollar-a-week lease. After returned to Rollins in April 1944, Pelican was solely used for recreational purpose; students, faculty and alumni could go there and stay over weekends for a small fee of a dollar, though visitors had to bring their own supplies including bed linens and pillows. For years, the Pelican Beach House had remained a popular place for relaxations within the Rollins community. Chaperoned by a housemother, the second floor was for women, the first floor was for men. However in 1968, when the last housemother broke her contract and moved out, Rollins couldn’t find anyone else willing to move in and take over the building. So for the next two years, the structure stood vacant while decaying into a state of disrepair. In 1970, the Rollins Board of Trustees voted to sell the building for $75,000. Though President Jack Critchfield (’78H) voiced objections, the deal quickly went through when the sale price was raised to $150,000. The Pelican was finally torn down and 148 beach condominiums were built in its place.

Rollins students at Pelican House