Without a doubt, 2024 was another wild year for Tampa Bay real estate, with some incredibly unique properties hitting the market. Over the last 12 months, the area saw an eclectic variety of houses up for grabs, including local celebrity homes, century-old historic estates, pro athlete cribs and more. Here are some of the coolest Tampa Bay listings that popped up this year.
Historic Tampa home of Cuesta Cigar heiress
A historic South Tampa home once owned by cigar royalty hit the market last April in Beach Park. Located at 5020 S Shore Crest Cir., the Spanish Mediterranean mansion is referred to as “Vista Del Lago,” and was built in 1925. The home was famously owned by Carlotta Cuesta, heiress to Tampa’s Cuesta Cigars. In 1928, Carlotta married hotel magnate Arnold S. Kirkeby, and the two would host lavish parties at Vista Del Lago. However, the couple did not live there long. A few years later, the Kirkebys moved to Arnold’s hometown of Chicago, and ultimately ended up in Beverly Hills, where they purchased the famous Chartwell Mansion. Some readers of a certain age might remember the Chartwell Mansion as the home used as the exterior set for the CBS television show “The Beverly Hillbillies,” and it was also featured in Jerry Lewis’ 1960 film “Cinderfella.” After the Kirkebys, Vista Del Lago had a number of owners over the years, one of whom was Welburn Guernsey, who is credited with inventing the double-wide trailer and also created Guernsey City (now called Regency Cove). Today, the two-story, 7,545-square-foot Vista Del Lago comes with a total of six bedrooms and six bathrooms, as well as a Marie Theresa chandelier, decorative molded ceilings, a multiple fireplaces, three “Juliet” balconies, a two-car garage, a game room, a separate guest cottage, and a 65-foot lap pool with a three-story diving tower. “This iconic home and property is a treasure trove of history and luxury, offering a rare blend of historical charm and contemporary amenities,” said listing agent Jeannie Wolfe of Smith & Associates in a statement.
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Tampa Bay home designed by renown architect Carl Abbott
A waterfront home designed by Carl Abbott, who is considered to be the youngest and last member of the Sarasota School of Architecture movement, hit the market for the first time last January in Tierra Verde. Located at 1761 Oceanview Dr., the contemporary residence overlooks Shell Key Preserve and was completed in 1988 for St. Petersburg neurosurgeon Casey Gaines, according to property records. Featuring 3,935-square-feet, the home comes with a total of three bedrooms and three bathrooms, as well floor-to-ceiling windows, white oak hardwood flooring, high-end appliances, a separate guest suite, a gym, a dock, a lap pool, and a hot tub on the roof.Still practicing today, Abbott studied at Yale University under Sarasota School of Architecture co-founder Paul Rudolph, who helped cement the region’s legacy as a premier hotbed for architectural modernism. Abbott is arguably one of the most award-winning architects practicing in Florida and and the Caribbean and is known for his work on quite a few iconic Gulf Coast projects, including the St. Thomas More Catholic Church, The Putterman House, Pine View, the Summerhouse, and the Dolphin House.
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Former Tampa home of New York Yankees legend Jorge Posada
A massive Tampa mansion built for one of the best Yankees catchers of all time sold this year for $5,590,000. Located at 16814 Avila Blvd., inside the affluent Avila Golf and Country Club, the sprawling estate was constructed by Windstar Homes and completed in 2003 for former New York Yankee catcher Jorge Posada and his wife Laura. The 8,970-square-foot, two-story home comes with six bedrooms and nine bathrooms, as well as Italian porcelain countertops, a theater, smart home features, and a giant resort-style pool with a grotto, a jacuzzi and two water slides. The home sold on Dec. 29, and the listing agent was Jose Cardenas of Premier Sotheby’s International Realty’s South Tampa office. Posada is among a long list of Yankees that have called Tampa Bay home at one point or another. Over the years, Carlos Rodón, Derek Jeter, the Steinbrenners, Nick Swisher, Mark Melancon, and Gary Sheffield, have all had homes in the area.
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The Clemson House, a historic mansion built for a hacksaw magnate, in Tarpon Springs
Back in March, one of the most notable historic homes overlooking Spring Bayou in Tarpon Springs is now on the market. Located within the “Golden Crescent,” at 110 N Spring Blvd., the massive, shingle-style house was built in 1902 for businessman George Nathan Clemson, a Middletown, New York-native who made his fortune perfecting and selling hacksaw blades. By the late-1800s his company Clemson Bros., Inc and its hacksaw line, “Star Hacksaws,” was the largest manufacturer of hacksaws in the world. The three-story home was a true marvel for its time, and comes with a grand total of 11 bedrooms, seven bathrooms, two kitchens, and five fireplaces (some of which can hold four-foot logs). It also features multiple types of Florida hardwoods, a butler’s pantry, a library, a great hall, a music room, a sunroom, two reading nooks, a master suite balcony, a private dock, a two-car garage and a wrap-around front porch overlooking the famous Spring Bayou, which hosts the annual Epiphany celebration.
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Historic Tampa mansion ‘La Torretta,’ one of the first homes built on Davis Islands
Only a handful are left, but one of the original Davis Islands home hit the market last April. Located at 36 Columbia Dr., the home was built in 1926 for prominent realtor Herbert Draper, and for the last 100 years has been referred to as “La Torretta,” or “Little Tower.” The Mediterranean Revival home was designed by Miami-based architect Martin L. Hampton, who was brought to Tampa in 1925 by millionaire developer D.P. Davis to help accelerate his ambitious Davis Islands project. At the time, the home was considered the peak of luxury and was heralded for its impressive arches and column, and for sporting the “most elaborate decorations and appointments,” wrote the Tampa Morning Tribune in a 1926 article. In 1989, the home was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. Besides “La Torretta,” Hampton would also help design the nearby Mirasol Apartments, the Bay Isle Commercial building, and quite a few other palatial homes around Davis Islands. The 3,392-square-foot L-shaped hacienda comes with five bedrooms and five bathrooms, as well as two rooftop patios, a 20,000 gallon saltwater pool, a 600 bottle wine attic, a Generac full house generator, and more, says the listing. La Torretta has been on and off the market for the past few years, and last sold in 2019 for $1.2 million.
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Historic Tampa Bay boathouse built by citrus magnate Henry Ulmer
Ulmerton Road (SR 688) runs nearly 13 miles across the middle of Pinellas County, and last spring a century-old boathouse built by the busy highway’s namesake hit the market in Indian Rocks Beach. The boathouse, which is located at 81 Gulf Blvd., was built between 1911 and 1912 by successful Largo citrus grower Harry Ulmer on property owned by Pinellas pioneer Horace H. Hamlin. At the time, the interior of the boathouse featured a wooden catwalk and three boat wells, and was home to Ulmer’s personal yacht “Miss Largo.” On the second level, there was one bedroom and an open porch. The structure was also rumored to be used by rum runners during prohibition, though there’s no records to actually prove it. “That’s what we heard, but we know nothing about that,” said previous owner Billy Bie to the Tampa Bay Times in 2017. Bie’s father, local businessman and realtor Norman Bie, purchased the property for $300 in 1938, and turned the boathouse into a functional home for his wife and six kids, according to the publication. Within the first few years, Bie closed off the boat wells, and put flooring down on the first floor, which added space for a realtor’s office and a bedroom. He also partitioned off the second story for a dining room and a living room, and later added a third story sleeping area and bathroom. The boathouse stayed in the Bie family until it was sold in 2023 for $1.5 million, according to property records.
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Historic Dunedin home built by Kellogg mansion developer Ephraim Frischkorn
A rare, near century-old home built by Detroit businessman Ephraim “Ed” Frischkorn, the developer behind Dunedin Isles and Dunedin Golf and Country Club, hit the market last spring. Located at 236 San Salvador Dr., the fully restored Spanish Revival estate is a local rarity, since it’s just one of 11 built by Frischkorn in the early-1920s. The 3,258-square-foot home comes with four bedrooms and three bedrooms, and features original refinished hardwood floors, vaulted ceilings, Cuban tile, a wood-burning fireplace, a courtyard, and a private patio overlooking St. Joseph Sound, says the listing. Dunedin Isles, where the home is located, was developed between 1925-1929 by Frischkorn, who is arguably best known for the home he built for himself, the “Kellogg Mansion.” Frischkorn built the now demolished home on Buena Vista Drive in 1925 as his personal estate, and later sold it later to its most famous owner, cereal tycoon W.K. Kellogg.
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A St. Pete midcentury modern gem, originally owned by Pappy’s owner Philip S. Gee
Last summer, a completely renovated and restored midcentury modern home in St. Petersburg’s Jungle Terrace neighborhood went up for grabs. Located at 8220 24th Ave. N, the home was built in March of 1957 for WWII P-51 pilot Philip S. Gee, his wife Bettie, and their daughter Cindy. Gee passed away in 2002 at the age of 80, but for 35 years he was the owner and operator of Pappy’s Packaging Store in St. Pete Beach, which now goes by Pappy’s Liquors, and is still operating at 6406 Gulf Blvd. The home is a bit of a landmark in Jungle Terrace. A year after its completion, it was on the cover of the St. Petersburg Times’ Sunday Magazine, featured in the “At Home In The Sun” section. “After six months of planning and five months of building, they finally had what they wanted, ‘something different, and just the way we wanted it,'” wrote the paper, which went on to highlight the home’s exposed Ocala block walls, floor-to-ceiling windows, a suspended staircase, clear terrazzo floors, and more. Today, quite a bit of the home’s original charm remains, but with a few upgrades. The two-story homes comes with 2,897-square-feet of living space, as well as three bedrooms and and three bathrooms. It also features a travertine fireplace, and a refurbished orchid house, says the listing.
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A historic Temple Terrace home designed by Ringling architect Dwight Baum
Although they’re literally everywhere now, Temple Terrace was one of Florida’s very first planned golf course communities. In the early 1920s, after completing John Ringling’s Ca’ d’Zan palace in Sarasota, New York-based architect Dwight Baum was recruited to help build a handful of Spanish Mediterranean-style homes around what is now the Temple Terrace golf course. Today, only a few are left, and one hit the market last summer. Located at 215 Willowick Ave., the home was completed by Baum in 1926, and is considered to be just one of 19 still standing. It’s unclear exactly how many original Temple Terrace homes were initially built, though it’s believed around 30-40 were completed at the time. While Baum was involved with the majority of the original homes, the first 10 were actually designed by architect M. Leo Elliott, who also built Tampa’s Centro Asturiano in Ybor City and the old city hall. Baum died of a heart attack in 1939, and is probably best known for the Cà d’Zan, as well as the Sarasota Times Building and the Sarasota County Courthouse. But his Temple Terrace homes are considered to be the largest collection of his work in the Southwest. Over the years the house has had a few notable owners, including James R. Cope, the former 2nd president of Florida Christian College (now referred to as Florida College), and it was also the childhood home of John L. Perry, owner and publisher of the now-shuttered Temple Terrace Sentinel. Perry’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. J. Lawerence Perry, moved from Tampa into the home in 1936. In a letter provided to Creative Loafing Tampa Bay, John Perry explains how the two-story house was rare at the time because, well, it had “a full dining room.” “When Temple Terrace was first developed, many of the those homes had no dining room. The idea was that everyone would take the evening meal at the club house, which later became the Florida Bible Institute [Florida College],” wrote Perry. “The Temple Terrace population was something short of 200,” he continued. “Our telephone service was provided through a ‘central office’ in a small building near the gold club. A live operator would plug in your call for you on a switchboard. If my mother wanted to know my whereabouts, she would phone ‘central’ and the operator would call around Temple Terrace to locate would had seen me on my bicycle lately.” Today, the 2,797 square-foot home comes with three bedrooms and three bathrooms, original hardwood floors and tiling, a fireplace, a “full dining room,” a pool and more.
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HSN star Tony Little’s former Tampa Bay house
The former home of Tampa Bay’s most famous ponytailed, late night pitchman hit the market in Odessa last summer. Located at 11623 Innfields Dr., the home was built in 1984 and up until 2022 was owned by “America’s Personal Trainer” Tony Little. According to property records, Little bought the home in 2002 for $1.2 million, and sold it in 2022 for $2.2 million. The 6,797-square-foot home sits on over 6.5 acres and comes with four bedrooms and four bathrooms. It also features three fireplaces, a game room, two urinals, a whole-home generator, a spring-fed pond stocked with fish, an air-conditioned warehouse, a pool and more. Known for his catchphrase “You can do it!,” and his trademark hair and baseball cap, Little is still a regular fixture on HSN, and over the years has filmed quite a few infomercials in this house, like this one for the “Tony Little Inversion Recliner.”
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Historic home designed by St. Pete’s first architect, Edgar Ferdon
A historic estate built by one of St. Petersburg’s pioneering architects was up for grabs last spring. Located at 6230 3rd St S, the home was built in 1926 by developer Burnette F. Stevenson, and was one of the first homes in the Alta Marina neighborhood, which is now called Bahama Shores. The home has changed hands a few times over the years, but its most notable resident was arguably New York attorney Robert W. Lyons, who purchased the Alta Marina development in the 1940s and was eventually responsible for changing the name to Bahama Shores. The Mediterranean Revival home was designed by notable local architect Edgar Ferdon, who is considered to be St. Petersburg’s “first professional architect.” Ferdon, who passed away in 1932, was behind quite a few local homes and buildings in the area, including the Crislip Arcade, the First Congregational Church, and the American Bank and Trust building, which was unfortunately torn down (but the columns can still be seen at the Veterans Memorial at Williams Park).
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A rare midcentury ‘Bird Cage’ in St. Pete
The late architect Glenn Q. Johnson designed his Vision-Aire homes, also known as “Bird Cage” houses, specifically for Florida’s hot, humid climate and went up for grabs last spring in South Pinellas Point. Located at 711 Pinellas Point Dr. S, the home was completed in 1954 and is only one of about 13 Vision-Aire homes left in the area. Johnson’s Vision-Aire design was inspired by dwellings he came across while on tour in the Philippines during WWII. Though they’re all a little different, Johnson’s homes typically have the some common characteristics. To better catch the breeze, Vision-Aires are almost always positioned to face southeast and feature large screened in patios and overhangs, heavy concrete floors, and interior walls built as jalousies for better airflow. This particular “Bird Cage” comes with 1,424-square-feet of living space, as well as three bedrooms and three bathrooms. It also features breeze block privacy walls, 600-square-feet of upper and lower screened porches, vaulted ceilings and more, says the listing. Besides the “Bird Cages,” Johnson was responsible for quite a few notable buildings in Pinellas County, including the St. Pete Beach Library, the North Shore Aquatic Center, and the Pinellas County Judicial Building.
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