We like to touch.
As sensual human beings, we gravitate toward objects that are rich in detail. Warm woods. Cool stone. Even if such architectural features are beyond our fingertips, we can visually caress their contours and take pleasure in the intricacy of their design.
Can you identify the buildings whose details we’ve highlighted in the slideshow on this page? Try to identify them; the answers start on the next page.
And next time you’re out and about, take note of your own favorite architectural details, and post them on CL’s facebook page!
A. The Vinoy. 501 Fifth Ave. NE, St. Petersburg. The entryway to the Renaissance Vinoy Resort, built in 1925 and totally restored in 1992. This 375-room hotel has all the hallmarks of Florida’s Mediterranean revival architecture: stucco walls, a red tile roof, decorative carvings, wrought iron grilles and an observation tower.
B. YMCA. 116 Fifth St. S, St. Petersburg. This Mediterranean Revival structure, which dates from 1925, has a marvelously imaginative crowned peacock sign and a generously tiled atrium. We must save this delightful place.
C. St James House of Prayer Episcopal Church. 2708 Central Ave., Tampa. The so-called “Rock Church” was constructed in 1922 from non-native rocks that were discarded as ballast by ships, dropped to the Hillsborough River bottom and later hauled to Tampa Heights and stacked with mortar to create the church’s exterior walls. This church was racially integrated in the 1960s, blending the congregations from the 1895 Anglican Episcopal Church (for blacks) with the 1907 House of Prayer (for whites). It provides a variety of after-school programs.
D. Comfort Station. NE corner of Bayshore Drive and 2nd Avenue NE, St. Petersburg. Has there ever been such an architecturally elaborate “comfort station”? This Romanesque Revival structure, designed by Henry Taylor in 1927, displays all the hallmarks of the style.
E. Tampa Theatre. 711 Franklin St., Tampa. John Eberson created this “atmospheric movie palace” in 1927 and it has been charming moviegoers with its elaborate statues, velvet draperies, arches, grand staircases and tapestries ever since. The lobby’s two-story foyer resembles the courtyard of a villa, while the auditorium’s ceiling evokes the night sky, complete with stars and clouds.
F. Open Air Post Office. 76 Fourth St. N, St. Petersburg. Built in 1917, this historic post office introduced the concept of 24-hour walk-up access for customers. The loggia is distinguished by terra cotta decorative capitals, arches and medallions, deeply elaborate cornices, carved wooden soffits, a beamed ceilng, wrought iron lanterns and grilles.
G. Bern’s Accessory Building. 2121 W. Watrous Ave., Tampa. Amazingly, this crisp brick building hides Bern’s dumpster. Carefully detailed, with an eye toward thoughtfully blending into its neighborhood, this structure’s modern doors, windows and awnings don’t mimic the traditional style, but complement it.
H. Scottish Rite Temple. 500 Kennedy Blvd., Tampa. This former Masonic temple, now a law firm, is a prime example of the Egyptian Revival style of architecture popularized after King Tut’s tomb was discovered in 1922. The double-headed eagle is the traditional icon for this sect of freemasonry. The Egyptian imagery is revealed in the lotus flower motifs on the wide cornice and the phoenix and sun disk symbols above the doorway.
I. Public Art Medallions. I-275 and Howard Avenue, I-4 and 22nd Street, Tampa. When the Florida Department of Transportation needed to widen the interstate highway through two of Tampa’s most historic neighborhoods, West Tampa and Ybor City, the staff knew that the residents expected them to soften the intrusion with some sensitive public art. Bill Culbertson’s scenes of neighborhood life — dancing, listening to the lector at a cigar factory, standing in front of a casita — are all mounted on a red brick interstate overpass with traditional lighting and detailing.
This article appears in Mar 21-27, 2013.