Back in the early-1920s, Beach Park was one of a handful Florida Land Boom communities to pop up around Tampa Bay, and now one of the original homes from that era is on the market.

Located at 828 S Bayside Dr., the home is referred to as “Villa Palmas Hermosas,” and was completed in April 1925 for local businessman and developer R.J. Ritter and his partner Rose Marie.

At the time, it was one of the earliest and more expensive homes to be built in Beach Park on the Bay, as the neighborhood was originally called. Completed for just over $50,000, the Ritter home was also one of the first homes in the area to have an “automatic lawn sprinkler,” and was used in a 1924 full-page ad in the Tampa Sunday Tribune to help attract investors to the burgeoning Interbay Peninsula community.

Before the Great Depression brought the Florida land boom to a screeching halt, the Beach Park Company finished about 70 homes, and a handful are still around today.

This particular one comes with six bedrooms, six bathrooms and 6,272-square-feet of loving space. The home also features a solarium, a towered spiral staircase, cedar beams, an outdoor kitchen, a saltwater pool and spa, a detached garage and guest house, a dock with multiple boat lifts, and 248-feet of water frontage.

The Ritter home is currently asking $8 million, and the listing agent is Lance and Amy Williams of Palermo Real Estate.

Every house has a story, and our mission is to tell Tampa Bay’s story through the lens of our community’s historic and colorful homes. Creative Loafing Tampa Bay’s real estate features are not ads, and are strictly operated through our editorial department. But we love public input. Do you know of a unique Florida home that we should highlight? Let us know, and email cwolf@cltampa.com.