A visit to the Audubon House and Tropical Gardens is a step back in time to the world of a maritime pilot and master wrecker in mid-19th century Key West. The grand home that is now known as the Audubon House was built by Captain John Huling Geiger in the 1840s as a residence for his family, who lived there for more than a century. Slated for destruction in 1958, the Geiger mansion was saved by the Mitchell Wolfson Family Foundation, a nonprofit educational organization. The home’s large scale restoration was the first of its kind in Key West and sparked Key West’s restoration movement.