MOUNT DORA — An attorney argued Friday before a magistrate in a code-enforcement case that a home painted in the style of Vincent van Gogh’s “Starry Night” masterpiece is an expression of the owners’ First Amendment rights.
“This was done for beautification of the city,” attorney Laura Hargrove said of the home along Old Highway 441 that draws gawkers. “Mount Dora is labeled as an artistic city.”
But Magistrate David Tegeler said he wasn’t there to consider the merits of the case. He already did that, ruling Sept. 29 that Nancy Nemhauser and her husband, Lubomir Jastrzebski, were in violation of city codes and giving the owners 30 days to comply.
Not only did they not comply, they “are snubbing their noses” at the city, said Sherry Sutphen, an attorney representing Mount Dora, noting that the van Gogh theme has been expanded from a wall in front of the home to the home itself.
She asked for the maximum fine for the violation, $250 a day, but Tegeler reduced it to $100 a day. He found Nemhauser and Jastrzebski not in compliance for 31 days, fining them a total $3,100. His earlier ruling required them to paint the house “a solid color, no graphics, no design, nothing that is going to end up attracting attention of the public.”
The owners had no comment, leaving City Hall quickly to confer with Hargrove about a pending appeal in circuit court.
But artist Richard Barrenechea, who first touched off controversy in July with his depiction of van Gogh’s famous 1889 painting along a 40-foot-wall, said he wasn’t surprised by the fine.
“It’s a beautiful mural in a home where there’s no homeowners association,” said Barrenechea, 48, who painted the house in the same style after the Sept. 29 hearing. “We don’t understand why they’re wasting money and resources from the people.”
Michael Hurley, 71, who said he is a handyman for Nemhauser, noted that Mount Dora calls itself “Someplace Special.”
“What’s more special than van Gogh?” he asked.
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