Hensley-Stovall Arcade- Oxford Exchange
Hensley-Stovall Arcade, 420 West Lafayette Street (two-story brick with tile), including open-ended walkway and Plant Park Soda Fountain. 1932. Burgert Brothers. Courtesy, Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library System
The east facade of The Oxford Exchange, 420 W Kennedy Blvd, Tampa, FL. 2021. © Chip Weiner
The Hensley-Stovall Arcade, more popularly known as the Hensley Arcade, housed the Plant Park Soda Fountain, the Women’s Exchange Clothes Store, and the Florida Lime Rock Sales Corporation in 1925 when this photo was taken. Later that year, r. Maude S. Smith, Chiropractor, moved in. Arcades are buildings with covered passages providing access to interior shops. The Hensley Arcade was situated right next to the Lafayette Arcade, designed to copy the architecture of the flatiron building in New York City. Wallace Fisher Stovall started the first area newspaper, the Tampa Morning Tribune, and in 1893, invested heavily in real estate after he sold the paper. He owned this and several large buildings downtown. Later in the 20th century, the building sat vacant. In 2010, Blake Casper and Allison Adams, a brother and sister team and the largest McDonald’s restaurant franchisee in Florida, purchased the building and completed a thorough restoration. It opened in 2012 as the Oxford Exchange featuring a restaurant, bookstore, coffee and tea shop, and a private co-working space called the Commerce Club.
From Burgert Brothers: Look Again Vol. 2
Hensley - Stovall Arcade. 1925 Burgert Brothers. Courtesy, Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library System
Oxford Exchange during the holidays in 2022. © Chip Weiner
West Lafayette Street (400 block), with United Markets store number 21, and Hensley-Stovall Arcade. Burgert Brothers. Courtesy, Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library System