Patrick Canan Loses Demand to Demolish Historic 1910 Building at 41 Cincinnati Avenue

I feel sorry for St. Johns County School Board member Patrick Thomas Canan, a local plaintiff's personal injury and criminal defense lawyer and recently re-elected St. Johns County School Board member from District 5 (term expiring 2024) 

On January 21, 2021, Patrick Canan lost his demand to demolish an historic building at 41 Cincinnati Avenue, constructed in 1910-1917.  It is said that "a lawyer who represents himself has a fool for a client" -- clearly Canan was out of his league. He was damnably dense and almost inarticulate.  He wanted to destroy a 110+ year old building, one recorded in the Florida Master Site File and is a contributing structure to theNorth City Historic District.

Canan knows nothing of historic preservation law. It showed. He asked to do something not legally permitted by St. Augustine's Code of Ordinances. There was no hardship claimed, only his subjective desires. What a louche lugubrious goober -- misguided, uninformed and unprepared. 

You'd think a respected Democratic plaintiff's lawyer would not attempt to join St. Augustine's obscene Dull Republican Demolition Derby, in which greedy capitalists are ruining our Nation's Oldest City.  Canan applied for a permit to demolish fully a 110+ year old building he purchased for parking, making. maladroit remarks about the building not being "unique," failing to appreciate the legal standard. 

Affecting martyrdom, sounding narcissistic, brutish, selfish, solipsistic and smartass, smarmily attacking as an "eyesore" a legally protected structure, one that he said has "bugged me for 25 years," Patrick Canan sounded like a Charlie McCarthy to Donald John Trump and other greedy developers in America.  

Yes, Democratic lawyer Patrick Canan sounded like a typical Dull Republican misguided anti-historical greedhead of the sort who thinks they own and run our town.  His  decadent, indecent demand was supported by one of the Establishment's arachnid architects, one of a group who will testify for money.

Mr. Canan is only allowed to tear down a rear section and garage, but not the entire structure, which he has agreed to preserve and protect.   

Thanks to Ms. Jenny Wolfe and our City staff and HARB members for raising Canan's and other cunning but careless capitalists' consciousness, as revealed by the airy anti-historical comments of himself and architect Lester Thomas.

Thanks to resident B.J. Kalaidi for speaking out on this issue.

To HARB members: stop first-naming applicants, as Paul M. Weaver, III still does at times. It makes you sound like you and the applicants are buddies, giving an appearance of case-fixing. 

To Mr. Canan and other local Establishment business owners: the Demolition Derby is ending.  Leave our history alone., ladies and gentlemen. Mitts off!  

Let's enact the St. Augustine National Historical Park and National Seashore, and preserve and protect what we know and love in two counties, including 140,000 acres of government-owned land.  

Video here: 

Item 7D 

F2020-0139 Patrick Canan, Canan Enterprises LLC - Applicant
Canan Enterprises LLC - Owner
41 Cincinnati Avenue
To demolish a building constructed c. 1910-1917 that is recorded in
the Florida Master Site File and is a contributing structure to the
North City Historic District.

From St. Augustine Report, by former St. Augustine Mayor George R. Gardner:

Partial demolition of historic property approved

aa Litigation attorney Patrick Canan won a partial verdict last week in his bid to demolish the historic house at 41 Cincinnati Avenue. It’s adjacent to his law practice. aaAfter a half hour of discussion, the Historic Architectural Review Board approved demolition of rear sections and garage on the property while restoring the main building. aa“My business has been next to this eyesore for 25 years,” Canan told the board. “To me as a non-historian there’s nothing unique about the building. I bought it for parking.” aaArchitect Les Thomas concluded after inspecting the property, “My recommendation as a registered architect in the State of Florida is that repairing the damage to this structure is not financially practical.” aaBut City Historic Preservation Officer Jenny Wolfe told the board, “The building appears to have a high degree of integrity, even in its current state,” and that Thomas’s report gave “no indication if the building could be adapted or the cost to repair versus demolish.  aa“Because of this staff could not recommend demolition because demolition of contributing buildings reduces the historic integrity of the city.” Detail by Entity Name Florida Limited Liability Company CANAN ENTERPRISES LLC Filing Information Document NumberL12000099705FEI/EIN Number46-1207260Date Filed08/02/2012Effective Date08/01/2012StateFLStatusACTIVE Principal Address 1030 NORTH PONCE DE LEON BLVD. ST. AUGUSTINE, FL 32084 Changed: 03/13/2014  Mailing Address 1030 NORTH PONCE DE LEON BLVD. ST. AUGUSTINE, FL 32084 Changed: 03/13/2014  Registered Agent Name & AddressCANAN, PATRICK T 1030 NORTH PONCE DE LEON BLVD. ST. AUGUSTINE, FL 32084 Address Changed: 04/22/2015  Authorized Person(s) DetailName & Address  Title MGR  CANAN, PATRICK T  1030 NORTH PONCE DE LEON BLVD. ST. AUGUSTINE, FL 32084 Annual Reports Report Year Filed Date 2018 04/09/2018 2019 02/27/2019 2020 02/25/2020 Document Images 02/25/2020 -- ANNUAL REPORT View image in PDF format 02/27/2019 -- ANNUAL REPORT View image in PDF format 04/09/2018 -- ANNUAL REPORT View image in PDF format 03/14/2017 -- ANNUAL REPORT View image in PDF format 02/26/2016 -- ANNUAL REPORT View image in PDF format 04/22/2015 -- ANNUAL REPORT View image in PDF format 03/13/2014 -- ANNUAL REPORT View image in PDF format 01/31/2013 -- ANNUAL REPORT View image in PDF format 08/02/2012 -- Florida Limited Liability View image in PDF format