I’ve done my share of traveling over the years and I’ve seen some amazing things in my adventures across this great nation. As I go from state to state, city to city, I always stop and look; not a quick glance over the terrain, but a long, environmentally soaking look which burns the images forever in my brain. As I sit I and look, I let my eyes listen to the tales of what I see, letting each and every building, tree and fixture tell me a story. I recently found the art in that.
If you go into downtown Tampa for instance, the stories told are amazing. Travel down Franklin Street which is paved with uneven dark brown bricks, and you will quickly see you are jaunting down one of the oldest parts of the city. On the corner lies the Kress Building, the once standing MAAS Brothers Building, and the famed Tampa Theatre. Look down east on Franklin Street and you will see the modernization of Tampa with huge skyscrapers and the NHL hockey arena, The St. Pete Times Forum. Each era of this city is nestled safely in unison, living together in harmony – but for how long?
These buildings are the roots of a generation. Franklin Street may not be pretty because the buildings are in ruins, but with a little love those buildings could be restored back to their glory days. With a little artistic flare you could have the historic buildings transform the modern Tampa, creating a perfect blend of the past and future. These buildings tell a story and are in danger of being lost forever.
Last month I went to the Tampa Theatre, just to admire the history. Across the street once stood old buildings that made the entire street a time capsule. What happened brought a tear to my eye; instead of people seeing the beauty and art in these ruin clad buildings and attempt to restore them to accommodate modern Tampa’s vision, they leveled them out. In the place of the beautiful buildings stood a massive modern condo, which now makes the beautiful Tampa Theatre look out of place; despite the fact it’s been there 80 years before this building ever was a dream. The rest of the buildings such as the Kress Building and abandoned old storefronts now look like an urban nightmare. The clashing of new structures with historic ones pretty much guarantees a wrecking ball date with their name on it so the new building doesn’t lose its value.
So to preserve and educate you on some of the remaining buildings and the ones that once stood proud in Tampa, I thought I would give you a brief history lesson into what we’re knocking down in hopes that next time you see these buildings you will say to yourself, that’s not ugly, that’s incredible.
MAAS Brothers Building: It once stood on the corner of Franklin and Zack St. This white building, square with absolutely no architectural flare was not one of the most appealing buildings downtown Tampa had to offer its patrons, but it was historic. Up until three years ago you could walk by this building and through the decayed wood boarding the windows, you could smell the mustiness wafting from the cracks in the windows. If you dare look into the windows that were not boarded up, you would see tiles from the mid 1920s set across the floor, covered in dust. You could see the hanging ceiling tiles broken and falling, exposing the duct work. Sure it was an eyesore, but this building once was the home of Tampa’s first ever department store, Maas Brothers.
Today we take for granted the department store as they are plentiful, but back in those days only elite cities had department stores. Maas Brothers was the equivalence of Sears or Woolworth’s. This helped define Tampa as a premier place in the United States and in Florida. What you may not know is that this building contained the first ever public radio station in the state.
This building was set to be demolished, but nature took its course instead and ended the misery of the building, giving it some dignity. Lightning struck Maas Brothers, catching it on fire which took only a short period of time to bring the historic building to ashes. The fire department only ensured it didn’t harm the other buildings around it. The site’s new tenant was supposed to be the Trump Towers, but now it is going to be another super condo.
The Floridan Hotel: The Floridan Hotel is not the Floridian Hotel; I did spell it correctly. This hotel is on Cass and lies just behind Tampa Theatre. It closed in 1988, but was one of the first high rise hotels in the state and the first for Tampa. Built in the mid 1920s, this hotel made Tampa one of the top cities in the nation. The rich came from all over just to stay at this hotel.
The Floridan Hotel is a very historic place because it’s where the Articles Of Incorporation for Walgreens, Publix and Eckerd Drug were signed. In addition, guests like Joe Dimaggio, Gary Cooper and a few other well named celebrities stayed here.
Today, the hotel is in great shape from the outside. As far as the inside, I have no idea how structurally sound it is. A few major firms have purchased the property to restore it but nobody has actually started work on it. You can’t miss this hotel either, even from I-275; it’s the old building that looms over the horizon, and sticks out against all those luxurious new high rises. However, walk by the place and you will see the architectural beauty the hotel has, and it makes you wonder what these walls saw for almost 70 years.
The Floridian: This one is spelled right too; it’s one of the most elaborate hotels ever to exist in Tampa. Located off Kennedy, this luxurious hotel belonged to H.B. Plant, a railroad tycoon who made Tampa his home. To drive money for his railroad and his businesses in Tampa, H.B. Plant would often pay to have people carted in, so they would then take his railroad cars to his hotel where they were pampered in luxury.
The hotel has onion domes typical of the Middle Eastern/ Russian design, that is accented by the location that looks out over Tampa Bay and has a complete walk around porch. The dark brick facade is simply breathtaking against the setting Florida sun.
H.B. Plant could easily be considered one of the biggest influences on why Tampa became as large and popular as it did in the early years, and this hotel is the symbol of his legacy. The best news today is that this building isn’t at risk for demolition; instead it’s the location of The University Of Tampa. You can go through its great halls and see the elaborate and famous grand staircase. The architecture is spectacular and the warm historic feeling will make you feel nostalgic; in fact, you’d swear at any minute H.B. Plant himself will walk past you in the grand hall.
Today, this hotel is located on the Hillsborough County official seal and has become the icon of Tampa Bay.
Kress Building: I wasn’t able to find out too much about this building, but the metallic awning that looms over each end of the building, replicating the Tampa Theater Marquee, is simply amazing. You can look closely and see all the intricate details someone went through when constructing this beautiful accent to the building.
Across the top of the building, you can see an old faded ad that was painted on that reads the Kress logo. Tiles on the building also are unique; they are multicolored and multi-patterned giving the right amount of color and design without being gaudy or tacky in anyway.
This building looks like some kind of general store back in the day, a place you would go to get textiles or goods. Maybe even a corner store where children could run in and buy a piece of candy, or maybe it was a soda jerk’s heaven. Either way, the building still stands and looks like it could easily be restored to its former glory.
So that’s just a few of these great pieces of art; endangered, because there is a wrecking ball waiting nearby and the City of Tampa has no objection to their demise. If the lack of preservation angers you, then let’s do something about it. These buildings are a work of art that tell a story, and there is no reason they couldn’t continue that legacy while sporting a modern purpose.
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