Florida Buildings I Love, No. 4: The Leiman House, 1914, Tampa
Tampa’s prestigious, historic Hyde Park neighborhood is the frame for one of the best collections of fine old residences in the state.
Georgian and classical mansions stand alongside half-timber houses and Craftsman bungalows. Most of them have been meticulously restored after Hyde Park’s midcentury decline was halted by its designation as a historic district in 1985. Well before that, residents moved out to the new postwar subdivisions and the tired neighborhood’s big homes were made into apartments and rooming houses. In the late 1970s, people started seeing the value in restoration. The construction of the Hyde Park Village shopping and dining area provided a boost.
“Hyde Park was not a safe neighborhood and not a place where you wanted to live back in the 1960s and ’70s, but it has really come back,” said resident Stephen Gay, a Realtor with Smith & Associates, who has rented his kitchen and backyard to Publix for the filming of a TV commercial.
“Our neighbor said that when they moved in, most of the homes had bars on their windows. But it is definitely one of the nicest neighborhoods in the city now.” Historic designation and ad valorem tax credits have inspired residents to restore the houses. Many are decorated with banners from a local nonprofit that indicate they have been preserved.
“The thing about Hyde Park is they have kept it the way it was,” said Tampa architect John Howey. “You have to go before the (historical) board if you want to make any changes.” One of the most noteworthy houses is a 1914 prairie-style home on South Newport Avenue that looks like it might have been designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. Instead, its architect was the versatile M. Leo Elliott, who designed the Collegiate Gothic Sarasota High School in the mid-1920s. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974 as the Leiman House.
“This is a great neighborhood and a great house,” said Camille Collier, whose husband bought the house in 2005 and restored it. “Historic home tours come by all the time. But it is a lot of work; constant upkeep. You are a caretaker, passing it on to the next owner.”
“Florida Buildings I Love” is Harold Bubil’s homage to the Sunshine State’s built environment. This article originally ran on Jan. 7, 2017.
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Buildings I Love, Harold Bubil: No. 4: The Leiman House, 1914, Tampa
