HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena, as catalogued
Florida's only four-county National Historic Landmark — and its founder won't stop checking in
231 W Packwood Ave, Maitland, FL 32751
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$
General admission applies; haunted tours $15–$20 general, $10–$15 members.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Paved courtyard paths with some uneven surfaces between Mayan Revival structures
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1937 · National Historic Landmark 2014 · Mayan Revival Architecture · Artist Colony History · National Register of Historic Places 1982
Jules André Smith arrived in Maitland in the 1930s with a patron, a plot of land, and a vision that had no obvious model. Born in Hong Kong in 1880 and trained as an architect at Cornell, Smith had spent years as a printmaker and war artist before turning to the Florida interior. What he built at 231 West Packwood Avenue between 1937 and the end of his life was a compound of roughly a dozen structures in a style that drew on Mayan Revival motifs and his own interpretive fantasy — heavy masonry, corbeled arches, carved grotesques, and dense tropical plantings that felt closer to the Yucatán than to Orange County.
The Research Studio, as Smith named it, functioned as an active artist colony through the 1940s and 1950s. Funding from Mary Louise Curtis Bok, founder of the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, allowed Smith to offer residencies to artists who might otherwise not have had the resources for sustained work. Ralston Crawford, Milton Avery, and Consuelo Kanaga were among those who spent time on the grounds.
Smith died in 1959. The property eventually passed to the city of Maitland and was reoriented as a museum and arts center. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in November 1982. In August 2014, the U.S. Department of the Interior designated it a National Historic Landmark — citing both its architectural distinctiveness as one of the few examples of Mayan Revival design in the Southeast and its history as a significant American artists' retreat. It remains the only National Historic Landmark in a four-county radius centered on Orlando.
Sources
J. André Smith died at the Research Studio in 1959, but museum staff say the evidence of his continued investment in the place is olfactory. Director Danielle Thomas described smelling and seeing cigar smoke in one of the locked studios — a detail that holds weight because Smith was well documented as a cigar smoker throughout his life. Thomas declined to call the grounds haunted outright, but noted she would not rule it out either.
The broader staff lore at the Art & History Museums holds that Smith's presence tends to announce itself specifically when something on the property fails to meet the standard he set while alive. Objects moved, a particular chill in the chapel, an inexplicable sense of being watched in the courtyard — the accounts are consistent with a founder who designed every corner of the complex and spent over two decades refining it. Orlando Weekly named the center one of the most haunted spots in Central Florida.
The museum runs official haunted tours, typically in the fall, led by staff who recount both the history of the colony and the specific incidents reported over the decades since Smith's death. The tours represent the institution's own framing of these accounts rather than a third-party overlay.
Notable Entities
Staff-led evening tour covering the history and ghost lore of the Research Studio complex, including accounts of J. André Smith's cigar smoke appearing in locked studios and the spirit's apparent interest in how the grounds are maintained. Tours depart every 30 minutes; advance tickets recommended.
Daytime access to the Mayan Revival compound, including chapel, studios, and courtyard gardens J. André Smith designed between 1937 and his death in 1959. The only National Historic Landmark in greater Orlando.
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