Pronounced “por-shay”
Edward Porcher came to this area as a young man in the late 1800s from his home in South Carolina. Edward became very successful with Deerfield Groves and is credited with being the first grower to grade fruit for shipping. He also invented a machine to wash the fruit, and was a founder of the Indian River Orange Growers Association.
Construction started on this home in 1914 following Mrs. Porcher’s design. Her love of the game of Bridge prompted her to have stones cut to represent the suits of cards and placed in the front of the house (try to find them!). The home was completed and the Porcher family moved in on October 31, 1916.
The Porcher House is an excellent example of 20th century classical revival architecture, adapted to the Florida climate. The house was originally built with ten bedrooms and four and one-half bath and made from native coquina rock. The staircase is made of teak, the floor is oak, and the wainscoting and trim are cedar. The house even includes a basement area with walls made of porous coquina rock that would allow water to seep in (back before the Riverfront Park was constructed, when the river came up closer to the house) and act as a natural type of “air conditioning”.
The Porcher family lived in the home until after World War II. The City of Cocoa obtained the home from the family in the early 1950s and it became City Hall. It has also been a hotel and home for boys. From 1980 to 1988 the house was vacant. The Porcher House was restored with money from two state grants as well as funding from the City of Cocoa.
Today the Porcher House is open to the public to view and available for rent for special occasions. The upstairs rooms are rented as office space. The Porcher House is included on the National Register of Historic Places.
The orange packing house which stood to the North of the home.
Covered area for parking on the North side of the house when it was briefly a hotel.
When the Porcher House was City Hall.