Assignment: St. Petersburg » Neighborhoods

Blue Skies Over Snell Isle

Bob Horn — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 16:59:56 +0000

This photograph was taken from the sidewalk along Coffee Pot Bayou, shooting towards the southern corner of Snell Isle. The gorgeous home that you see was built by Perry Snell in the 1920′s, his fifth of six St. Petersburg homes. In 1939, the property was purchased by Wally Bishop, a famous cartoonist who produced the Muggs and Skeeter cartoon which ran in over 500 newspapers during its heyday.

The house is approximately 8,200 square feet and sits on almost one and a half acres of land. It’s a most beautiful home on an incredible piece of property, definitely worth a look sometime if you’re in the neighborhood. And, if you’re so inclined, this amazing home happens to be for sale right now – it’s been completely renovated and updated, but retains all of its original charm. If you think that this palatial property might make you happy, please give me a call right now! I’d love to drop whatever it is that I’m working on and arrange a showing for you!

If you like the look of Snell Isle, but would like to see something a bit more moderate, there are a number of other beautiful Mediterranean Revival homes on Snell Isle’s Tampa Bay waterfront that are available, too, if you’re in the market!

Snell Isle Home (click on photo for full-sized image)

Step Out Your Back Door and Go!

Bob Horn — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 14:49:26 +0000

Today is a gray, rainy day in St. Petersburg. Not the kind of day that we usually have here. And certainly not the kind of day that draws visitors and new residents. But it’s for a good cause – it’s part of a front that’s pushing through, and the front is going to bring us a cool, dry, sunny, beautiful Thanksgiving Day, followed by several gorgeous days.

But since it is gray and gloomy today, I thought I’d post something not gray and not gloomy. St. Petersburg has many, many areas where you can live right on the water. Some of them, like the Venetian Isles neighborhood located in Northeast St. Petersburg, have lots that are built on canals, and the canals lead directly to the open waters of Tampa Bay. So there are no bridges to navigate and no height restrictions. You could dock a fishing boat, a luxury powered yacht, or a tall mast sailboat, and you’d still have the same easy access to the open waters of the Bay. And, if you feel like going further, just set sail for the Sunshine Skyway Bridge and you’ll be out in the Gulf of Mexico, ready to head wherever your dreams might take you! If you like what you see in this photo and you’d like to know more about finding a home on the water, give me a call! I’ll be happy to show you what’s available in our beautiful city. My contact information is always available in the column on the right.

Venetial Isles Canal (click on picture for larger image)

A Home in Woodlawn

Bob Horn — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 00:17:43 +0000

St. Petersburg is a city of many neighborhoods, and some of those neighborhoods have areas of truly unique and beautiful homes. I posted a photograph of a Craftsman style bungalow in the Kenwood neighborhood last month, so that you might feel the flavor of that neighborhood. Today, I’m posting a photo of a gorgeous Colonial Revival home from a beautiful area of the Woodlawn neighborhood.

Woodlawn itself encompasses a large area of land and houses – it lies between Dr. ML King (9th) Street and 16th Street, between 22nd Avenue North and 30th Avenue North. The house pictured below is in an area of larger, older homes in the southwest area of Woodlawn. The neighborhood is just as filled with trees as this lot is, and there are big, beautiful houses everywhere you look. Take a drive through the area sometime when you just want to get out for a ride – it’s a nice, peaceful place to visit.

Home in Woodlawn (click on picture for larger image)

A Notch Above the Usual Street Sign

Bob Horn — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 02:02:18 +0000

Most incorporated cities have some sort of standard street sign that they use throughout the city to identify the names of the streets. St. Petersburg is certainly no exception. But in some areas of the city, the standard street signs are either replaced by or supplemented by something out of the ordinary.

Snell Isle, a beautiful area on Tampa Bay in Northeast St. Petersburg, is home to many absolutely gorgeous homes, some that are truly stunning. So it might not be unexpected that, in such an extraordinary neighborhood, one might find extraordinary street markers. This flower box/street marker is on the corner of Alora Street and Brightwaters Blvd NE. There are many more of these flower box/street markers in the area – a very nice touch of class that just adds some beauty, color, and flavor to the neighborhood. If you’re not familiar with the area, just take 22nd Avenue North from anywhere in the city. Go east just as far as you can go, and you’ll eventually end up at Coffee Pot Boulevard. Turn right one block to the Snell Isle bridge. Turn left, cross the bridge, then turn right on Brightwaters, and you can take a leisurely drive through an area of homes that make you feel as though you’ve slipped back into a bygone era… It makes a nice drive, if you just feel like getting out to see some pretty homes…

Alora Street (click on picture for larger image)

Downtown Skyline Has Changed

Bob Horn — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 00:48:03 +0000

For many years, the only condo building close to the waterfront in downtown St. Petersburg was the Bayfront Tower building. But look what’s happened! This photograph was taken from the top of the Bayfront Tower, looking north along Beach Drive. Closest to the camera is the Florencia, next back is Ovation, then the Cloisters, then Parkshore Plaza, and in the rear, 400 Beach Drive. Signature Place (not visible), another brand new condo downtown with beautiful water views, is just south of the point where this picture was taken…

Lots of options for downtown luxury living now! If the mood strikes and you’d like more information, feel free to contact me – my information is in the right hand column…

Downtown Condos (click on picture for larger image)

Driftwood

Bob Horn — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 01:55:36 +0000

Neighborhood pride is always a good thing. When there’s a lot of it, the force of it seems to be self-sustaining, and the neighborhood continues to be healthy and to thrive. Identity can play a big role in neighborhood pride. Most St. Petersburg neighborhoods have some sort of identity logo, whether it’s on a street sign, a plaque, a sculpture, a banner, or some other identifying item. For the unique Driftwood neighborhood in Southeast St. Petersburg, nothing is more closely associated with the neighborhood pride than this ‘Driftwood’ sign that spans the entry road to the small development…

Driftwood Entry (click on picture for larger image)

The Pink Streets of St. Petersburg

Bob Horn — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 22:39:45 +0000

Pink Streets Looking Towards the Skyway

Seems like all great cities have their special, quirky neighborhoods. And the quirks exist for different reasons. Some are quirky out of necessity, like Lombard Street in San Francisco — because the natural terrain there is so steep, the only way to make a road that was safe to travel was to introduce constant sharp curves so that cars don’t go out of control. But some neighborhoods are quirky because that’s the way the developer wanted it! Such is the case with the Pink Streets neighborhood in St. Petersburg. Back in the 1920′s, the Pinellas Point Pink Streets development was dreamed up by a guy named George Cook. Cook’s Murok Development Company had grand visions for an upscale neighborhood that would outdo any other development in the area. According to W. L. Straub’s History of Pinellas County, Cook “ordered the pink streets because no one else had them. They were thought very chic and caused a sensation.” Actually, Cook’s plans for the Pinellas Point neighborhood were much grander than what actually was built. An old plat map of his development shows the existing streets and neighborhood, but also shows proposed additions, made up of fill that was to have extended out a third of a mile past the current waterfront, out into Tampa Bay. There would have been canals and a lot more houses, probably looking something like areas of Venetian Isles do today. But in 1926, the St. Petersburg boom period was over, and not only was the additional fill never completed, but much of the Pink Streets development area sat empty for years.

Pink Streets and Grand Houses

Over time, lots were purchased and homes were built. If you drive through the area, you’ll see a wide range of houses – all sizes, all architectural styles. But regardless of the type of house, the area residents have always loved the Pink Streets, the lush trees in the neighborhood, the curvy roads, the essence of being different from the rest of the city. And so, in the 1980′s, when the old concrete streets were so badly cracked and patched that you risked your car’s health to even drive on them, it’s not surprising that residents pushed the city to ensure that, when it came time to repave their streets, they’d be paved in pink concrete again.

If you’d like to see for yourself, the Pink Streets neighborhood runs between about 10th Street and 21st Street, just south of Pinellas Point Drive South. Some of the roads dead-end with a view overlooking the bay and the Sunshine Skyway Bridge. There are some gorgeous old houses, along with some fine newer ones! It’s a nice drive if you’re just in the mood to get out and see something different.