Best Local Landmark

If you live here, you've heard this name many times, sometimes as the subject of political squabbles and usually as a place commanding the respect of history lovers. The politics seems typical: a developer wanted to put up a 38-story high-rise on the site of the market next door, and Stranahan House lovers fought the plan, taking it to the voters. They opted to buy the market themselves and turn it into a park in a March 2000 referendum, but we'll wait and see if this plays out well for the venerable house and its supporters. The history is unique: Frank and Ivy Stranahan's 1800-square-foot home, built in 1901, is the most famous Broward County landmark, the place where contemporary South Florida life began. You can see the solid, two-story Victorian structure with upper and lower porches and perfectly preserved interior rooms year-round. Seated on the New River, where Seminoles came to trade with the famously honest Stranahans, the house is open for tours Wednesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. till 3 p.m., and Sunday from 1 till 3 p.m.