ST.PETERSBURG (Florida)
THE CITY WITH THE PIER
For more information on Saint Petersburg, visit: THE CITY OF SAINT PETERSBURG; SAINT PETERSBURG CHAMBER OF COMMERCE; > SAINT PETERSBURG HISTORICAL MUSEUM; SAINT PETERSBURG MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS; THE SALVADOR DALI MUSEUM: THE FLORIDA HOLOCAUST MUSEUM; and FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL MUSEUM
WHERE TO
START: START AT ST. PETERSBURG
PIER at the end of Second Avenue NE. This tour may be driven
by automobile with suggest stops (MAP) or walked in two hours.
(1) ST. PETERSBURG
PIER (1988), 800 Second Avenue, has been the landmark
of downtown since l899 when Peter Demens hooked up
his Orange Belt Railroad to a half mile wharf. D. F. Brantley started the first
pier pavilion in 1895, but it is the 1926 Million Dollar Pier torn down for
today's pyramid that old-timers remember.
The town father of the city was General John C. Williams, a former mayor
of Detroit (see
picture) and developer of the downtown district.
If you want to start at the Pier, PARK at the
pier lots and take the trolley to visit the shops and
restaurants. At the foot of the pier on the north side is the: (2) ST.
PETERSBURG HISTORICAL MUSEUM, 332 Second Avenue, a new temple filled
with a treasure of artifacts and documents. Right next door is the unusual (3)
COMFORT STATION # 1 (1927), a Romanesque Revival public restroom designed
by Henry Taylor to match is downtown St. Mary Catholic Church. The interior of
black and white tiled bathrooms are delightful.
CROSS BAYSHORE DRIVE past (4) WILLIAM L. STRAUB PARK,
honoring the St. Petersburg Times editor who saved these thirty blocks and
created a Riviera-style waterfront. Art lovers will wish to TURN RIGHT to the:
(5) MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS (1965), 255 Beach Drive, a Mediterranean
villa with a tea garden and the West Coast's best collection of Impressionist
paintings.
DRIVE SOUTH ON BEACH DRIVE past the site of the (6) SORENO HOTEL (1923),
110 Beach Drive, first of the city's big
Boom Time hotels. Danish hotelier Soren Lund's
edifice was ingloriously blown up for the final trailer in the film Lethal Weapon III.
One block down there is total
redesign at the (7) ST. PETERSBURG YACHT CLUB, started in 1909 to
bring in sailors by newsman A. T. Roberts. TURN RIGHT ON CENTRAL AVENUE, the city's main
commercial artery. On the right at 94 Central Avenue is the (8) PONCE DE
LEON HOTEL (1922), an arcaded Mediterranean
typical of the smaller Boom hotels
Downtown View From
St Pete Pier
Fountain in Mirror
Lake
Postcard of Old St Pete High Open-Air Post Office
TURN RIGHT ON FIRST STREET, then LEFT ON FIRST AVENUE, and finally LEFT ON
SECOND STREET. On your left at 25 Second Street, is the (9) FLORENTINE
HOTEL (1910), the oldest masonry hotel still standing. Look carefully for
the small (10) BRANTLEY BUILDING (1888), 17 Second Street, oldest downtown
commercial structure, built first to house Demens'
railroad workers. The last building on the left is the (11) HENRI HOTEL
(1909), 173 Central Avenue, still maintaining its
balconies.
TURN RIGHT ON busy CENTRAL AVENUE. On your right is the (14)
ST.CHARLES HOTEL (1903), a fine balconied edifice. Next door is the
(12) DETROIT HOTEL (1888), 215 Central Avenue, built by Peter Demens and John Williams. It has been greatly modified since
the days William J. Bryan, Clarence Darrow, and Babe
Ruth. It has personality compared to skyscrapers like the 26 story (13) BARNETT TOWER. Look
behind the Detroit
and spy the outdoor stages of JANNUS LANDING, a popular nightclub.
TURN LEFT ON THIRD STREET, GO TWO
BLOCKS TO SECOND AVENUE SOUTH, where to your left, you'll see
the: (15) NUMBER ONE FIRE STATION (1911), 220 3rd Street, the
city's first station.
TURN RIGHT ON SECOND AVENUE TO FOURTH STREET past the: (16) TREMOR
CAFETERIA (1924), 119 4th Street, with its colorful Spanish
tiles and stylish porches. World War II veterans remember the dances at the
canteen.
GO NORTH ON 4TH STREET TO CENTRAL AVENUE. You notice the south
side of Central is lined with modern structures like the FLORIDA
FEDERAL TOWER
(1989) and the FIRST
UNION BUILDING
(1983). On the north side of Central, you'll see the facades of the older
downtown: the (17) RUTLAND
BUILDING (1925), 405 Central Avenue, and the modernized
(18) McCRORY HOTEL (1904, 425 Central Avenue.
Easily
noticeable for its glazed terra cotta design is the (19) KRESS BUILDING
(1927) at 485 Central Avenue. TURN LEFT ON CENTRAL
AVENUE and continue west down the 500 block where the featured gem on the right
is the (20) ALEXANDER HOTEL (1919), 535 Central Avenue, a
National Registrar Beaux-Arts twin- towered hotel by Atlantan
Neel Reid.
The next block includes another Neel Reid structure, the still active with shows (21) STATE
THEATER (1924), a Doric temple at 685 Central Avenue, and the (22) GREEN
ARCADE (1924), 689 Central Avenue.
TURN RIGHT ON 7TH AVENUE and RIGHT ON ARLINGTON to
reach: MIRROR LAKE,
once Weir Lake, the city's first reservoir. At 719 Arlington Avenue is the (23) UNITARIAN-UNIVERSALIST
CHURCH (1926), a
good Spanish Colonial mission with an interior of dark wood beams.
Mirror Lake is a good place to stroll CLOCKWISE (WHICH IS THE
ORDER I WILL LIST BUILDINGS). DRIVERS MUST TRAVEL AROUND THE LAKE
COUNTERCLOCKWISE so study our maps.
Walkers going
clockwise will see the: (24) OLD ST. PETERSBURG JUNIOR HIGH (1924),
294 Mirror Lake Drive, and the (25) OLD ST. PETERSBURG HIGH SCHOOL (1919),
709 Mirror Lake. Florida's
oldest community college, St.
Petersburg Junior College
has its roots here.
Surrounded by courts is the famous (26) ST.
PETERSBURG LAWN BOWLING CLUB (1926), 536 4th Avenue, the world's
largest shuffleboard center and home to the National Shuffleboard Hall of Fame.
NOTICE TO THE NORTH the facade of the (27) COLISEUM (1924), 535 4th Street, home to generations of
ballroom dancers and host to the greatest big bands of all time. You may recall
the building as where Don Ameche displayed his
Academy Award winning dance form in the movie CACOON.
At the east end
of the Lake is the Neoclassical Revival (28)
CARNEGIE LIBRARY (1915), 300 3rd Street, the city's first library,
with popular gardens by the Sunshine Senior Citizens Center.
FROM 5TH STREET, TURN EAST (LEFT IF YOU WENT
CLOCKWISE) ON SECOND AVENUE.
You soon note the (29) ST. PETERSBURG CITY HALL (1939), 175 5th
Street, a three story Mediterranean Revival design by Lawther
Forrest for the W.P.A.
Behind City Hall
is the (30) MANUAL TRAINING SCHOOL (1902), used as a City Hall
Annex, but set up by Edwin Tomlinson, a silver mining tycoon who was the savior
of vocational education in the community. Next door is the (31) ST. PETERSBURG
CATHEDRAL (1889), 140 4th Street, a Greek Revival church housing the city's second oldest Episcopal
congregation.
YOU HAVE REACHED 4TH STREET on the spot where a local realtor placed the
first sidewalk bench in St. Petersburg.
Across the way is: (32) WILLIAMS PARK, the city's transportation
core and Colonel John C. Williams' plaza of 1888.
I TURN RIGHT ON 4TH STREET past the: (33) FIRST
BAPTIST CHURCH (1924), 136 4th Street, a good Neo- Classical
Revival. YOU WILL TURN LEFT ON FIRST AVENUE, but you'd like to
stop to batter notice on your right the (34) PRINCESS MARTHA HOTEL (1923),
401 First Avenue, (see photo) designed by
Boston's Ed Jonsberg at the start of the Land Boom.
Across the street on the right is a city
landmark, the: (35) OPEN-AIR POST OFFICE (1917), 400 lst Avenue, a granite Spanish Colonial structure with
arcades where once all postboxes faced the sunshine. Behind the post office and
best seen by foot is the wonderful: (36) SNELL ARCADE BUILDING
(1926), main entrance on 405 Central Avenue, designed by Richard Kiehnel for developer Peter Snell. The elaborate floor
arcade with its extravagant art work merits an interior visit and National
Registrar salute.
TURN
LEFT ON FIRST AVENUE between the Park and the (37) DENNIS (McCARTHY) HOTEL (1925), 326 First Avenue, Henry Cunnningham's Neoclassical residence hotel.
TURN LEFT ON THIRD STREET. On the left
past the Park is the huge brick facade of the (38) FIRST UNITED METHODIST
CHURCH (1924), 212 Third Street. Across the
street are some of downtown's mansions: the (39) JAMES ENDICOTT HOUSE
(l916), 233 Third Street. a
shingle house of a judge.
PASS THIRD AVENUE on the right is the (40) MARTHA WASHINGTON HOTEL
(1928), 234 Third Avenue, part of which is a
Victorian cottage. TURN RIGHT ON FOURTH AVENUE to see at 262 4th Avenue, the (41) RALPH
VEILLARD HOUSE (1910), a Queen Anne bungalow designed by Henry DuPont
for a pioneer automobile dealer. Across the street at 259 4th Avenue, is the (42) FRANK
DAVENPORT HOUSE (1906). A third house is the (43) HENRY BUSSEY
HOUSE (1904).
As you head toward the water you can’t help notice the growth of condo highrise units and the successful BAYWALK SHOPPING & ENTERTAINMENT CENTER.
TURN LEFT ON SECOND AVENUE going toward the Pier. On your way notice the
endangered (44) PERRY SNELL HOUSE (l904), 105 Second Avenue, the frame house of the
developer of the city's finest Land Boom suburb Snell Isles.