Tampa’s Old Seminole Heights Baptist Church steeple has found a new home at Ella’s

Last summer, Tampa residents fought to save the Old Seminole Heights Baptist Church from demolition, and while they didn’t get their way, a piece of the historic building—the iconic steeple—has officially found a new home just down the street near Ella’s Americana Folk Art Cafe.

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On Friday morning, Ella’s owner Melissa Deming, flanked by a handful of onlookers, absorbed the humidity and watched as the steeple was laid down flat and loaded onto a flatbed before being hauled less than half-a-mile to a parking lot she owns.

“I’m more excited than nervous,” Deming told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay as a drone hovered overhead taking pictures.

For the last three months, she’s been in talks with the company handling the demolition—and HCA Healthcare which is building a medical facility on site—to save the steeple. For a while, prospects for saving a relic from the 72-year-old building looked grim, but over the last two weeks, saving the steeple became more and more of a real possibility.

When the steeple—which is 43-feet tall and 55,000 lbs.—gets to Demings’ parking lot, it’ll sit there for at least six months. Demings told CL she’ll start looking for artists to recreate a new version of the steeple’s base, which could not be saved. Until then, it's unknown exactly where the steeple will end up, but wouldn't it be cool if it ended up at Ella's itself someday?

This is a developing post, but in the meantime, Tampa Bay Times writer Paul Guzzo has some great background on the church that’s been a staple in the community for nearly a century.

See photos of the move below.

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Seminole Heights’ Ella’s Americana Folk Art Cafe is for sale—but not closing anytime soon [PHOTOS]

This article appears in Aug 12-18, 2021.