Fruitland Park 'castle' faces possible demolition as neighbor fights to preserve history

Ivan “Honest John” Yeftich was known for wearing white three-piece suits, a saber rattling at his side. He told people he descended from a ruling class Serbian family.
The home that Yeftich, who gained his nickname through numerous businesses he owned, reflected his outlandish personality. What he called his “castle” stood out because of its unusual appearance, described by residents as a combination of “old Russia” and “art deco.”
But the quirky piece of Lake County history has deteriorated since Yeftich’s death at 90 in 1972. Fruitland Park deemed it unsafe last year and recently ordered the current owner to have it fixed by April 1 or torn down within the next six months.
“If we can, save the building and make [it a] historic thing,” said owner Dusan Jevtich, 81, a nephew of Yeftich who moved to the U.S. in the 1960s. “If we cannot, no way I can stop them.”
Because Jevtich lives in Lansing, Mich., he’s been unable to care for the Dixie Avenue home that shows the accumulation of decades of neglect since it was handed to him in 1973. But some residents of the city of 7,300 are lamenting the possible demise of the house, which property records show was built in 1930.
It’s a Picasso — Joe Greene, 61, neighbor of the castle. “It’s such a shame — here is heritage, and Fruitland Park is always saying ‘we really need history,’” said Fred Clark, 61, a resident for 42 years. “Let’s quit tearing down this [expletive] and get history.”
The single-story, 1,164-square-foot home with distinctive mini-turrets was constructed with yellow-painted concrete blocks interspersed with horizontal red-brick stripes. When building the castle, Yeftich had his wife, Emma, carry the blocks up a ladder so he could lay them. He dotted the entrances with embedded tiles and in the bathroom — above where the toilet or tub used to be — is a painting of hypnotizing concentric circles on the wall.
Signs of squatters, such as empty Miller Lite bottles and empty cracker packs, litter the property and sunlight pours into the house after a tree fell and collapsed the roof years ago. Many considered it an eyesore and lodged complaints to the city about its condition.
Joe Greene, 61, who moved into the house next door last April, has worked to tidy it up.
“I cleaned it up because it’s a Picasso,” Greene said. “There were literally decades of vines growing all over.”
In January 2017, a city inspector wrote in his report that “even the vibration of a large truck could cause these walls to collapse.”
“It’s had homeless people and vagrants there, and it’s not safe,” Mayor Chris Cheshire said.
Jevtich didn’t know what brought Yeftich to the U.S., first to St. Louis in 1911 and later to Fruitland Park, from Serbia, which is now Yugoslavia, other than a vague disagreement he said he had with his father.
Yeftich graduated from an agricultural college in Kraljevo, Serbia, and in 1898 received a veterinary diploma. In Fruitland Park, he ran a gas station, a library and an art gallery and once wrote a letter to the Orlando Sentinel advocating for a “Public Thought Club.”
“He had his hands in everything, he was an entrepreneur,” said Chrissie Jaje, 53, who grew up down the street from him.
She recalled “Honest John” as a friendly presence in the neighborhood.
“He literally wore a penny-nickel-dime-and-quarter [changer on his] waist band and he would dispense a nickel to each of us kids, and back then, that was a lot of money,” she said.
Fruitland Park is trying to keep their identity as The Villages is creeping in, I would think history and heritage would be the way. — Bob Grenier, curator at the Lake County Historical Museum in Tavares Fruitland Park officials said they’d love to let the house stand, but Jevtich hasn’t repaired it since it was declared unsafe 13 months ago. The city has extended the demolition deadline for the home once already.
“We don’t want to see it go,” Cheshire said.
He said he’s not in favor of the city purchasing the house because the “city shouldn’t get involved in stuff like this … I’m a libertarian.”
Bob Grenier, curator at the Lake County Historical Museum in Tavares, said that’s hogwash.
“I don’t understand how they wouldn’t want to take it over and utilize it in some way,” said Grenier, a Tavares City Council member who has written seven books on Lake County and Central Florida history. “Fruitland Park is trying to keep their identity as The Villages is creeping in. I would think history and heritage would be the way.”
The huge retirement community just north of the Lake County city is transforming the small city with a 2,055-home expansion.
As for the castle, Greene has offered to maintain and repair the home to save it, but the city has no way of holding Greene accountable because he isn’t the legal owner, Cheshire said.
Jevtich said he’s open to the idea of transferring ownership.
“If right prices, I may sell — I don’t know,” he said. The home is listed with a taxable value of zero on the Lake County property appraiser’s website, while the lot is valued at $7.350.
Even with the castle’s future in doubt, Greene power washed the outside walls in addition to clearing away the vines. He also hung up a hanging plant and installed a fountain on his property close to the castle.
“Hopefully that’ll slow down demolition,” he said. He hopes it will be put on the market and that someone with “deep pockets and cultural interest” will take over.
“The guy, he put love into and I think we ought to put some love back,” he said of Yeftich.
According to an old Orlando Sentinel clipping, the building once had a sign on the door that read, “Come in. We are here, so any time you would like to reminisce about the old days, just stop by and see them, you are always welcome.”
[email protected] or 352-742-5927; Follow him on Twitter at @JasonRuiter1.

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