Masonry Company in Winter Garden, FL

Brick in Historic Downtown Winter Garden

Downtown Winter Garden was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1996. Most of Winter Garden's historic buildings date from 1915 to 1940, and downtown has brick-lined streets. The Winter Garden Heritage Museum sits in the brick railroad depot built in 1923.

In 2010 the city adopted a Historic Downtown Architectural Overlay. It covers about 116 acres and 270 homes and businesses. The city's Architectural Review and Historic Preservation Board advises on new construction and renovations there. New work in the overlay may need a Certificate of Approval from that board.

The district's design manual says brick must be laid in a true bond pattern, with no stack pattern. It also notes that the district's older wood-frame houses sit on masonry piers, most often brick. Our masons use real clay brick for custom brickwork such as arches and columns. If your home is in the overlay, check with the city before work starts.

New Homes in Horizon West

Many Winter Garden addresses sit outside the city. ZIP 34787 covers nearly all of the city and most of Horizon West. Horizon West is Orange County's planned area of five villages and a Town Center. Communities such as Hamlin and Summerlake sit there, in unincorporated Orange County.

Most homes there are new. Census estimates show about three in four Horizon West homes were built in 2010 or later. The county calls Horizon West its fastest growing unincorporated community. Inside the city, about half the homes were built from 1990 to 2009.

Orange County's Horizon West design guidebook limits plain block and garage doors to half of a front facade. It also asks for a finished edge where exterior veneer ends. Adding brick veneer or natural stone to your front elevation after closing? Plan that edge, and get your HOA's review first.

Which Office Handles Permits for Your Winter Garden Address?

Inside the city limits, permits go through the city's Building Department at City Hall on West Plant Street. The city's zoning permits cover concrete and pavers, among other projects, and are filed online. When a permit adds solid surface, such as a patio, the city asks for an impervious calculation worksheet.

Horizon West and other unincorporated addresses go to Orange County's Division of Building Safety. Its permit page lists structures and new concrete or pavers as permit work. Pavers need only a zoning permit there.

Neither office's permit pages name outdoor kitchens or outdoor fireplaces. The building department for your address decides, so check with it and your HOA before work starts. Under Florida law, an HOA can review an improvement only as far as its own documents allow. It cannot require a building permit before it reviews your plans.

Lake Apopka and the Ground Under Your Project

Lake Apopka, the state's fourth-largest lake, sits on Winter Garden's north side. Settlers came for the fertile muck land along its shore. Its bass fishing later drew tourists, and the Edgewater Hotel opened in 1927 to house them. The city's Newton Park is on the shore.

The ground changes across town. USDA soil maps show dry, sandy ridge soils in some places and wet flatwoods sand in others. We look at the ground before we pour the slab under an outdoor kitchen. That goes for mud-set brick too: clay brick set in a mortar bed on a concrete slab.