Park View Building, 212 West Lafayette Street

Park View Building at 212 West Lafayette Street, two-story brick, Mission-style ornamentation on roof level, front and side facades. 1926. Burgert Brothers. Courtesy, Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library System

Southwest corner of Kennedy Blvd. and Parker Street 2021© Chip Weiner

Lafayette Street was the main artery between the city of Tampa to the west of the river and downtown. Now known as Kennedy Boulevard, it remains so. In the 1920s, the Parkview Building sat directly across Lafayette from the Tampa Bay Hotel, a long-established tourist destination that is now leased to the University of Tampa and owned by the City of Tampa. It offered a retail shopping experience for visitors from the hotel as well as residents traveling the busy thoroughfare. In 1921, when this photo was taken, retail outlets included the Melvin B Smith Pharmacy, the Parkview Fruit Market featuring Florida and Cuban fruits, The Electric Fixture Company, and women's clothing boutiques.

In the 1950s, the building had a large sign on top that read “Tropical Ale Beer” and could be seen from most of downtown. The lot at the corner of Parker Street and Kennedy Boulevard has been empty for decades and remains so today.

From Burgert Brothers: Look Again, Vol.2

[A Shopping Center On Lafayette Street]. Date Unknown. Robertson and Fresh. Courtesy of the University of South Florida