Historic Seville Square, Florida. A Dedication

Over the weekend idGroup had an open house party with a building dedication as the main event. The team has recently moved to a new building, well new to them. It is an old car garage built in 1890s and purchased by Horace Shumpert who converted into an office building in 1974. Being in severe disrepair it was quite a restoration project he under took. He became one of the pioneers for getting the Seville Historic restored back to its glory. Being an engineer Horace has many direct connections to many restored buildings in the area. Schumpert passed away recently in October 2007. And to honor his memory Mona, idgroup’s owner, wanted to dedicate the building to him. It now bears his name to permanently connect his name to his beloved building. The building truly is a work of art. It looked truly majestic that night of the dedication. Mona had it decorated in a Mardi Gras theme. The turnout was awesome. Horace’s son and daughter gave great speeches. It was a very emotional event. Sharon and I felt very honored to be a part of this special moment. I believe it was a night many people will always remember. It was planned, but noone expected it to become such a beautiful moment in time. I was very honored also to be associated with Mona for doing such a good thing.

An artcle clipped from the Pensacola News Journal
Published – January, 31, 2008 

Historic downtown building honors man’s legacy

Carlton Proctor
cproctor@pnj.com
One of the early visionaries to invest in the revitalization of Pensacola’s downtown Historic District, the late Horace E. Shumpert, will be honored Friday during dedication of a 100-year-old building he restored.

The building, located at 300 E. Intendencia St., will be named for Shumpert, who maintained his professional office in the building for more than three decades.

“He was one of the first to take an old building in the Historic District and save it,” said J. Earle Bowden, former editor of the Pensacola News Journal and chairman of West Florida Historic Preservation Inc.

“Back then there were not many people willing to do that, but he took that building when it was endangered and put it back together,” he said.

A long-time Pensacola resident and consulting structural engineer, Shumpert died in last October.

“Daddy loved this building and downtown Pensacola,” said Shumpert’s daughter, Kelly Bethea. “This is very special for my mom, our family and everyone who loved my dad.”

The building is now occupied by consulting and creative firm idgroup, which recently relocated from Gulf Breeze.

Gail Spruill-Shaw, idgroup’s vice president and senior creative director, said the firm first moved into the building last September and has been renovating the interior for the past several months.

“I had always admired this building,” said Mona Amodeo, idgroup’s president and founder. “Mr. Shumpert did many good things for our community. This building is truly part of his legacy. We just thought the building dedication was the best way to pay tribute to him while recognizing his contribution to saving a part of Pensacola’s rich history.”

Shumpert began the restoration project in 1974 when the building had reached a severe state of disrepair, having previously been occupied by a grocery store, auto garage and warehouse.

His restoration efforts helped pave the way for other business owners and professionals to restore a number of historic houses and buildings in what then was the newly created Seville Square Historic District.

“The downtown you see today is not the downtown of the 1970s,” Amodeo said. “Mr. Shumpert was an important part of the resurgence. He invested a lot of time, energy and his expertise to help bring the area back to life.”