By Julia Roberts
The house, known as the Pippi Longstocking house, is located in the Old Town of Fernandina Beach, across the street from Fernandina Plaza Historic State Park, site of a historic Spanish fort. The house was the location used to film exterior scenes in the 1988 film “The New Adventures of Pippi Longstocking,” which was based on the series of books by Astrid Lindgren. In the books, the house was named Villa Villekulla, and was the location of Pippi’s adventures.
Cheryl and Bill Hall are now the owners of the home. The couple bought it five years ago, at the beginning of the COVID shutdown. Few people would take on a hundred-year-old house with a public history, but the Halls did.
“Our real estate lady said, ‘Good, you’re quirky. You like quirky houses,’” Cheryl told NewsLine during a quick tour of the home. “It was on the market for nine months. I think they were either intimidated by the old house, or intimidated by the number of visitors we get,” which she said is “more or less constant.”
The Halls haven’t changed much of the exterior of the house, which was white when it “played” the role of Villa Villekulla, but is now a lovely olive green shade, which is accented by its signature copper-colored roof. Photographs, paintings and sketches of the house can be found around Fernandina, but perhaps the most memorable art inspired by it has been created by Cheryl herself, an artist whose pieces fill the home.
The house did not need a lot of work when the Halls bought it, “mainly cosmetic,” Cheryl said. Some of the bedrooms were given other roles. One bedroom was transformed into an office and then a “man cave” for Bill, a retired neuroanatomy and neurobiology professor at Duke, one room is an artist studio and another is a sewing room for Cheryl, who said her professional life was interspersed periods of employment with her work as an artist.
The fresh paint job is being performed by Judy’s Island Painting, a company praised by Cheryl. In fact, when she saw the excellent work being done outside, she hired the company to paint some of the interiors of the home, as well. “When I saw what great work she was doing, I knew I had better scoop her up,” Cheryl said of Judy Fitzwater. The company hopes to have the job finished in three months.
The olive green will stay, as well as the copper roof. Parts of the exterior accents that were gray will be painted blue, and a sun burst trim will change from all yellow to a yellow sun with rays that will fade into an orange color, mimicking the sunsets on the Plaza, which are an attraction to visitors and locals.
Old Town has its own zone in Fernandina Beach to protect historic integrity in the oldest section of the city, so the Halls had to receive approval from the city’s Historic District Council (HDC) before they made changes to the exterior. However, the HDC quickly approved those changes, Cheryl said, as they were no major differences.
New paint is part of the caretaking of an old, historic home, and the Halls are on board for the upkeep, history, caretaking and sharing of the house.
“We have visitors several times a day,” Cheryl said. “The previous owners didn’t like the publicity and they didn’t like the people stopping by. I’m a hermit, but the people are so happy and so sweet and so cute. I could watch little 6-year-olds do this (holds her hair out to emulate Pippi’s pigtails) all day long.”
jroberts@nassaunewsline.net
Long before Pippi Longstocking came along this was called the Downes house because it belonged to Capt Downes who was one of the harbor pilots.