Florida Matters; 9; Historic Preservation

Oh. A major funding for Florida matters comes from the mosaic company a leading producer of fertilizer made from phosphate and natural resource found in Florida. America's farmers depend on Florida phosphate for their crop nutrition needs. Mosaic helping America grow. If we tear everything down we to make it our city in our state look like every other place and there's nothing special about us anymore. So much of what's important about our place is the place itself the built environment. And the more we lose that the more we become like me. Anywhere USA. Today we're talking about historic preservation through architecture the buildings that create the landscape of our region's identity. Now more than ever there's an awareness of preserving the past and an urgency to protect the last remnants of a bygone era. Welcome to Florida matters I'm Irene Mayer preserving the past gives us a

taste of nostalgia and provides a great tool for future generations to learn about the ways of life in earlier times. Many cities around the country are known for their historical significance and take great pride in their buildings that fill our history books. Today we're taking a look at buildings that have been preserved and are fully functional with daily activities. The Ringling Museum in Sarasota has one of the largest collections of Italian baroque art in the country. John and Mable Ringling were passionate about the arts and even set aside a large endowment to preserve different forms of art. That's how the ostler theater found its home on the Ringling estate. It's a story of monarchs was a lady and music. It's the birthplace of Sarasota is aren't the asile Repertory Theatre began here 50 years ago eventually outgrew the space. The Sarasota opera company began in this tiny little theater Love Music International Chamber

Music Festival had its beginnings here. The ballet had its beginnings here. This theater is so important because it created a demand for the Performing Arts and in this in this region so many of the great cultural venues in Sarasota started in the Oslo theater and then through their great success grew out of the limited space and found the need to build their own performing arts halls. And so it's one of the reasons are so many theatres around here. The Also theatre's design is as much of a draw as the performances held on it stage but it was once said that this is one of two theatres in North America that's worth the price of admission merely to buy a ticket and be seated. How the Italian theater became a Sarasota Landmark is part of the intrigue of. The Oslo theater is it dates from the 18th century it was built in a castle in Italy honor Queen Catarina whose portrait is here at that time in Europe. There were a number particularly in Italy small Palace Theatre

such as this. But in the 1930s Mussolini's government determined that this particular theater was sort of an artifact from a bygone era. And it was removed to make way for a film theatre. It was then that it came into the possession of act Aquarian dealer who then sold it to the first director of the Wrigley Museum of Art primarily because it has its speaks very directly to our collection of Italian Brocard. The all slow theater settled into its second home during the 1950s. But after 40 years of performances here in Florida the theater began to show its age and was closed to the public for extensive renovations in the late 1990s. But what you see here now everything that's gold now was pretty much black. Everything that was green if you can imagine there was a time people were allowed to smoke in theaters. So the place was covered with tobacco smoke. Much of the ornamentation had been lost things were damaged there were great cracks in all the portraits down

Catarina face there was a crack about a half inch wide. It was in a building that leaked the piece above here the Presidium is only paper thin because of termites while restoring the theater to its former glory museum curators also uncovered new parts of the theater's design. The architect was Francesca de Marquis and the Esdaile brothers. We found the faces of two of these gentlemen in pencil behind one of the decorative elements so in lieu of a signature there are faces we think may have been their explanation that they were the ones that did this beautiful work. It took nearly a decade for the entire process to be completed but everything you see here was taken apart catalog stored feel negated debugged and then for another full year it was brought in piece by piece by piece into our conservation labs where it was restored repaired. I think it was a sense of humility passion

and a learning process. None of them were the same. There were. Different structural breakage situations. There were needs for back building to keep them integral but the end result continues to be a source of pride for everyone involved in the restoration. And we looked at it and we said it really looks nice doesn't it. But then it was when other people started to come into the theater and we would bring them on the stage like where we are now and we would close the curtain let them see it and then open the curtain and you'd hear them go oh my god. And we've never gotten tired of hearing people say that the joy of the last 10 years is to be able to bring back to life facilities that had really lay dormant because of neglect. And when we clean the panels of the theater it to uncover the glories of the painting beneath them the and the gilding and the treasure is really like bringing something back to life.

Since the Oslo theater reopened in 2006 it has enjoyed a full calendar of events. The theater is very active there are close to two to three hundred performances a year. We do a full schedule of theater music dance film lectures and museum curators recognise the restoration process is an ongoing endeavor. It's an old piece so the cracks are starting to reappear. And. And gilding needs to be touched up every year and just very careful cleaning. But it doesn't get nearly. The same I don't see abuse but I used to get where we're in a climate controlled building how people are not smoking in here so it should last longer this time than it did last visitors and performers alike can rest assured the curtains will not be closing any time soon. And at this point we are doing our most diligent best to make sure that that theater is well maintained year after year in a portion of our tickets as we redirect

to care for the facility and to keep it and to keep it in a manner that people can be proud of not only now but in decades to come. When it comes to star power the Polk theatre drew in many celebrities during its heyday Elvis Presley Gene Krupa Eddie Arnold and Gene Autry were just some of the famous faces that graced the stage. The theater has been preserved throughout the years and its story will give you some idea about what it takes to save a building. Theater in Lakeland opened its doors on December 22nd one thousand twenty eight. More than 2000 people attended and were amazed at what they discovered as they walked inside they were magically transported to a Mediterranean village inspired by an Italian Renaissance design special effects allowed the audience to view a sunset over the Italian Piazzetta and then to look up and see a star filled night sky a cloud even rolled in overhead.

This was something grand and wonderful for Lakeland. A vaudeville stage and movie palace. From that moment forward the Polk theatre has been creating fond memories. I can just remember what they used to call the serials back then. You know the Western Sahara. I can always remember the Movietone would always come on. Prior to the main. Picture. You could get into the theatre for nine cents. And where you could buy. A nickle candy bar nickel Coke. That was a that was a full Saturday among the great acts that came to the pole. Sally. Tommy Dorsey Harry James and Judy Garland. And when rock and roll came to town Elvis Presley the one he stole many of making us hard. That night on stage and left his signature on the dressing room on. The theater survived the rigors of the Great Depression and World War 2. It provided an

escape from the hardships of the times and the heat of the day. They used to come here in the 20s and 30s to get cool because their condition was unheard of unlike in Florida at that time and most places matter. And this was the coolest place in town and when fact they would say that when they turn the air conditioner on here that the whole city lighting the street lights would dim but with the power draw all the theaters heyday was in the 30s and the 40s. But something new came along in the 50s. Threatened its existence by television a theater company decided that because of television and its effect on the movie going that they needed to do some drastic things that would increase their revenues. And what they did was to build a wall at the back of the theater so that they could have a lobby that was devoted to concessions in a big way.

And they had no respect at all for the fabric of the theater itself. But what they did was probably responsible for saving the theater from an even worse fate because they kept the theater profitable for another 20 years. As time went on new theaters were built in the suburbs with multiple screens. No one came downtown anymore. And the beauty of the pole began to fade and crumble the plate theater company was the owner at that time. And they had decided that it just was not profitable enough to keep going. And when some local people caught wind of this they realized that this theater this building might be in jeopardy and it was too important to the community to take a chance of losing it and they formed a group called Polk County

landmarks incorporated. The group secured a loan and bought the theater with one goal to bring it back to its original glory after applying for the theater to be added to the National Registry of Historic Places. It was time to find funding for the restoration. We had to convince the community everybody that we were going to approach to believe in our vision. Polk County landmarks received a wide range of support and restoration began with special care given to every detail that included new carpeting and of course painting. We had scaffolding behind the. Wreath all the way to the ceiling which I suspect is probably 40 or 50 feet high. The old seats were taken out and replaced with newer more comfortable chairs. The old Marquis was replicated and put into place. Today the theater is back to its original beauty for all to enjoy. It's been given a new life and future.

The Polk theater happens to be one of only three other atmospheric theatres in the state of Florida. The Tampa Theater is also one. Joining us in the studio today is Dr. Elizabeth Strom director of the urban and regional planning program at USF as well as Dr. V cosmetics from the School of Architecture and community design at USA. Thank you both for joining us today. We're going to begin by talking about something we heard about earlier in the show. Rodney Powell with the Tampa History Center was mentioning the idea historic preservation adding to a city's identity helping to define a city. How does that happen. How does that work. Well I think when you think about cities that you might want to visit or cities that are remarkable in some way it's usually for some either iconic kind of building like the Sydney Opera House or for some very distinctive sort of neighborhood. New York City's village for instance. And I think that the identity of the city is in some ways embodied in these buildings in the feel of the neighborhood that that people associate with that

city. These are not generic sorts of buildings or neighborhoods this is not the the big box store that you can find anywhere. These are things that are part of the emotional and life of the city and the civic spirit of the city. How does the city then for example say This is Tampa or this is same pizza and sort of cultural life. The history of a city in terms of the narrative we talk about the history of a place or an object through books stories all of that. The the environment with historic sort of preserved buildings brings this to life so that not Urdu was very well then displayed in the landscape. And that's really important from a cultural perspective. You're now preserving a building or a Landmark can be a complicated process. It can be time consuming and it can be expensive. So why even bother. Well I think first of all although there can be expenses involved I know that there are federal and state programs that help people maintain historic buildings but I also want to point

out that there's all kinds of research showing the historic designations actually increase property values. And so when a neighborhood is designated historic There are studies from Texas New York virtually every city that suggests that there's actually some kind of an upside for owners if they make that initial investment. They see benefits down the road. Of course there are other advantages of historic buildings in terms of if you were to look at their sustainability aspects in terms of their design these buildings were predominantly constructed before we had air conditioning. So we are looking at buildings that have been made even the most ordinary buildings even warehouses or buildings where people were you know industrial buildings. They really depended on natural light and the natural ventilation just in the way that they were designed. So that's a very important aspect of thinking about sustainability in terms of building design. And if I could just ask Dr. Mita is talking about individual buildings but we can think about neighborhoods as well many older neighborhoods were built before we had automobiles and we look

now to our new mobility solutions that don't require us to be in our cars and we need to look at the historic fabric even the places like downtown Tampa downtown St. Pete you have human scale blocks. You have you know walkable communities. And so I think preserving some of those helps us in many ways not just building by building but also as we construct a city. Great. Well listen we're out of time. I'm so sorry but thank you both very much for being with us today Dr. Elizabeth strum and Dr. V cosmetics. Nice to have you thank you very much. Well the discussion continues on our Web site log on to WSF dot o r g slash Florida matters to express any comments you may have or concerns about the historic preservation effort. Our next story takes us right to the heart of downtown Tampa where many buildings have come and gone. There are few gems left remaining and one in particular that hopes to come back to its former glory. Carson Cooper has the story. In 1926 the Francis J cantered company started construction in downtown

Tampa on the sward in hotel as a boy Gus Aaron CBO watched the building go up. We. Were asking our girls up to see it well enough. I want something different here when the hotel was finished it was the tallest building in all of Florida. Mary Jim Scott knows her father managed the hotel and she grew up at the floor that they lived on the top floor I found it. When I was a child not pay after birth. Boys let me go. And do silly things like that. No Florida man was a destination itself. It was beautiful for you know with all the other person to share it with. When you walk if you knew you were in someplace. Special It was build with 316 rooms a mezzanine overlooking an ornate lobby majestic dining rooms marble staircases complete with a

nightclub called the sapphire Caesar guns part of the Columbia started playing. And the set for free. And we really. Oh everybody came to hear see. During world war two servicemen flocked to the sapphire room for entertainment's nicknamed the surf because you're sure to have a good time. Gus Aron CBA knows all about those days he was the bartender. Mike and go take the work behind the bar. You're large from what people used to call or want. To see a parka get up there was 400 rooms and the whole. And all during those years you couldn't get a word like that right for young. Guys whose bartender at the Florida and for almost 20 years and he loved it. He can still remember some of his favorite customers. You had your study got some paper came before Dana before

was that great. That's a guy you have to go for right. And he ordered a double. And then he ordered an hour forgot it's a homicide with all right. And I bought a lot of violence. In the 60s as modern motels were built along the new interstate system before Dan's business began to decline in the early 80s the glory days of a Florida man were gone and in 1989 it was boarded up. The hotel stood vacant and neglected for more than 15 years. The building had several ownership groups that tried but failed to reopen the hotel. But in 2005 the property was purchased for six million dollars by real estate investor Antonius Markopoulos with an eye to re-establish the hotel. He fell in love with the building because not only did he see its potential but he loves all buildings and he couldn't understand why something this valuable and this this rich in history would be sitting at and there's one old bartender who looks forward

to that day. I want to know that I want to rebuild. I want to go. Through the. Warmest year warning. For Florida matters. I'm person. And now switching gears from downtown Tampa to St. Petersburg. Larry Ellison is here with our next Florida story. So you went to downtown St. Pete to find out how historic preservation is going there. Yes I did. You know when a community has certain memorable characteristics it has something called a sense of place. Maybe it's the lay of the land or rich civic heritage or distinctive architecture or maybe you can just walk everywhere. Sense of Place of something you may not even notice until it's not there anymore. St. Petersburg the sunshine city.

Still tranquil and historic but undergoing a change. So when will Michael's looks through his album of vintage St. Petersburg post cos he's wistful about the city that once we see history we see art we see the spirit of our community a spirit will Michael's believes is embodied in the city's building remarkable old buildings from another Florida. Another St. Petersburg that continue to disappear. This is the Colonial hotel. It's great 1920s hotel it was right in the downtown area it has recently been demolished and the Ovation is being built on it's on its side. As seen across the skyline new is replacing old as former head of the St. Petersburg Museum of History and now president of St. Petersburg preservation

will Michaels knows a city embracing the future should also covet the past. We need to keep the historic We need to keep the personality of the city we need to keep the charm of the city. That's what gives the city its its zip. We're not trying to hold on to that we're slowly losing it. We need we need to do everything that we can we need to redouble our efforts to see that that's not lost as we have a new development in our community. The great success story of historic preservation in St. Petersburg is the magnificent Benoit Park who Kim built during the 1920s the glory with its signature Mediterranean revival architecture is a timeless Florida Classic. The Yankees Babe Ruth celebrities you name it they've been at this at this hotel. But in the 19 early 1980s late 1970s this hotel was a derelict. It was it

was rundown It was unoccupied as the result of a number of people who were interested in historic preservation. We were able to find a buyer. We were able to find a developer who came took an interest in the building restored it and turned it into one of the great five star hotels in the world today. Without preservationist fighting to save the Benoit it might have fallen to the wrecking ball. Ironically it is this hotel's restoration that paved the way for the large scale redevelopment. That is following. The main street of modern city and grind with Green Bay and St. Petersburg. What's marketed as a relaxing haven for retirees could pass the time. Sunshine. St. Petersburg in more recent decades has gone after a new image and a new look.

As entire city blocks give rise to the new St. Petersburg. What troubles preservationist like Will Michaels is the thought of losing even more vintage buildings. At the top of the list. The Detroit hotel built in 18 88. One vote shy of being protected as a local landmark the historic Sorento hotel on Beach Drive met its fate in 1992. All that's left of St. Petersburg first million dollar hotel is a decorative plaque. You can find it on the side of the building that the place. Other than the von noir of course. There's probably no building in St. Petersburg that represents the city's character better than the Snell arcade it forth and simply. Built in 1928 by developer Perry Snell. The building is a work of art. He really put his heart and soul into this

building this was not just business. Him he was someone who enjoyed architecture he was someone who enjoyed beauty and art and it brings a sense of personality it brings a sense of identity it brings a sense of place to to our community here in St. Pete as testimony to the building's unique character. The snow arcade was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. St. Petersburg once said in arcades only three survived. They were built in such a way that you could you know you walk through them and I go from like one side of the block to the other. They were cool. They were covered. You were out of the sun out of the rain if it was raining. It was not only a place to shop but it was a place to meet your friends and chat and get to know each other better. It's the quality of life that lives and buildings of a more human scale buildings

like the snow arcade or the open air post office that will Michael's hopes will carry you into the future with its beautiful parks and architectural style. St. Petersburg has a feeling that is unique in all of Florida in blending in the new with the old. The challenge is to keep it that way. Larry he certainly has a passion for preservation. I mean someone mentioned to me that will Michael's the heart and soul preservation. And I think you're right too. Thanks a lot Larry. Thanks for joining us this week. The discussion continues on our Web site where you can post comments ask questions or contribute story ideas for upcoming episodes. Well be sure to get back to you. That's it for this week. I'm Irene mayor. Join us again next time for Florida matters. Major funding for Florida matters comes from the mosaic company a leading producer

of fertilizer made from phosphate and natural resource found in Florida. America's farmers depend on Florida phosphate for their crop nutrition needs. Mosaic helping America grow.