City guide
6 buildings worth a detour, each with what to look for. Open them on the map, or walk them with the iPhone app, which collects each one you photograph.
Worth a stop when you're nearby.
The First Methodist Church of St. Petersburg, also known as the First United Methodist Church, is a Gothic Revival church at 212 3rd Street North in downtown St. Petersburg, designed by architect James J. Baldwin. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on September 13, 1990, recognizing it as an individually significant local landmark.
Photo: Ebyabe , CC BY-SA 3.0
The Mirror Lake Community Library is a Carnegie library built in 1915 in the Beaux-Arts style, funded by steel magnate and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie as one of ten Florida Carnegie libraries awarded grants between 1901 and 1917. It was the first permanent home of St. Petersburg's public library system, marking the city's shift from pioneer village to a place with lasting cultural institutions.
Photo: Ebyabe , CC BY-SA 3.0
The S. H. Kress and Co. Building stands at 475 Central Avenue at 5th Street South in downtown St. Petersburg, built in 1927 as a Kress "five-and-dime" store. It operated as a Kress retail outlet from 1927 until the chain closed it around 1981, part of the national five-and-dime chain's build-out across American downtowns.
Photo: Ebyabe , CC BY-SA 3.0
Mediterranean Revival architecture
The Vinoy Park Hotel, now the Vinoy Resort & Golf Club, is a Mediterranean Revival hotel at 501 Fifth Avenue Northeast overlooking the Vinoy Yacht Basin in downtown St. Petersburg. Oil tycoon Aymer Vinoy Laughner built it in 1925, starting construction on February 5 and opening it on New Year's Eve after ten months of work, as a seasonal winter resort running roughly December to March.
Photo: Ebyabe , CC BY-SA 3.0
Fine buildings that fewer people seek out.
The Dennis Hotel, also known as the McCarthy Hotel, is a Beaux-Arts hotel at 326 1st Avenue North in downtown St. Petersburg. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on April 17, 1986.
Photo: Ebyabe , CC BY-SA 3.0
The United States Post Office, also known as the Open Air Post Office, stands at 400 First Avenue North in St. Petersburg, built in 1916 in the Neoclassicism style. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on April 4, 1975.
Photo: Ebyabe , CC BY-SA 3.0
