City council closed out 2024 by voting 5-2 in favor of an application to create a Local Historic District around Mirror Lake. The designation is the city’s first since 2021, the tenth overall and the second in downtown along with the small 12 parcel district, Lang’s Bungalow Court.
Neighbors and city council members began discussing the outlines of a historic district in 2019 following the approval of yet-to-be built 21-story high rise across the street from the Mirror Lake library. Council revisited the issue in April 2021 but shelved the idea a few months later. In 2022, a group of Mirror Lake residents approached Preserve the ‘Burg asking for help.
“This is a win for the residents," said Manny Leto, executive director of Preserve the 'Burg and a co-applicant for the district. "It’s also a win for St. Petersburg. Vibrant cities reflect their history and offer a unique sense of place and identity. Neighborhoods like Mirror Lake are what make St. Petersburg special.”
Local district designation gives Mirror Lake a new and significant tool to help guide future development. Besides putting design guidelines in place, designation discourages demolition of historic buildings, requires public hearings for new development applications, and offers an array of incentives for reusing historic buildings.
Bill Herrmann, Preserve the ‘Burg’s Advocacy Committee Co-chair, presented the district application to Council on behalf of residents. “100 years ago, John Nolen identified Mirror Lake as a respite from the hectic pace of 1920s downtown St. Petersburg. I am honored to stand with these dedicated residents to present this application, and council’s vote ensures that Mirror Lake will remain a respite from an increasingly hectic downtown St. Petersburg.”
In addition to receiving the support of a majority of district property owners via a balloting process, council received more than 300 letters in support of the district and heard from more than a dozen speakers at Thursday’s quasi-judicial hearing. Only two speakers spoke against the application.
The neighborhood still retains much of the city's early feel. In 1899 Mirror Lake became the public water supply for a small but growing downtown. By the 1920s real estate boom, winter residents and visitors were flocking to Mirror Lake to play shuffleboard, go to the library, dance at the Coliseum, as well as taking up residence in one of the neighborhood's many rooming houses or hotels.
Today, the area around Mirror Lake is a dense, walkable, urban neighborhood, with one of the most intact collections of historic homes and small apartment buildings tucked away on small parcels along narrow courts or alleys.
Mirror Lake is home to city parkland that includes the Shuffleboard Club, lawn bowling courts and chess club, each with its own historic clubhouse. Across from these facilities, the 1914 Carnegie (Mirror Lake) Library is still being used for its original purpose as a free public library. Throughout the neighborhood, several buildings have been designated as local landmarks but, until Thursday’s vote, the greater neighborhood, including most of the property overlooking the lake, lacked protections or design standards.
The newly created district extends roughly 200 feet from the lakefront, creating a cohesive boundary and adding a mechanism to ensure the compatibility of future development with the historic structures that front the lake.
Drexey Smith, who has lived at the Lake Palm Apartments just off of Mirror Lake since 2018, helped organize her neighbors and was a co-applicant for the designation. “I’m exhausted but very happy,” she said following the vote in favor of the district. “This was about preserving part of St. Petersburg that needed preserving. You can see it disappearing so fast.”
