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Curious to learn more about preservation or ways to get involved in your community, but don’t know where to start? We’re here to help. In our blog, our preservation experts break down current advocacy issues, ways to get involved, and local St. Pete happenings.
If a building could talk, one would certainly want to sit down with the Snell building, anticipating a fascinating and unique conversation. The hard part would be how to choose the topics to fit into a single conversation! Should the conversation include how the Snell managed to rise in 1928 as the bust was taking over St. Petersburg, and include stories about the building’s original owner/developer, C. Perry Snell, whose second career as a developer raised the value of more property on the Pinellas Peninsula than any other individual or group over a nearly forty year time span? Or, one could easily spend a day discussing the Snell’s architect, Richard Kiehnel, and the architectural style and detailing he chose, including the arcade that banker Hubert Rutland closed off after he purchased the building in 1943! Finally, the Snell could explain to you how today’s owners have used existing preservation incentives to again make the building one of the downtown stars and a building fit for modern times.
Preserve the ‘Burg often gets questions about what can the City offer for help with preservation concerns and where to go within the City to get answers to preservation questions. The City has a small historic preservation staff, a historic preservation commission and a myriad of online resources for those seeking help and answers to their questions. We know it’s not always easy to understand what to look for or who to ask - even the historic preservation info on the city’s website is a bit counter-intuitive to find (historic preservation is not listed under city departments). Read on and hopefully you will have your answer for the what’s what and the who’s who and learn about how to find the fun stuff!
St. Petersburg, a city surrounded by water and known for its resort lifestyle, had no pools where African Americans could swim until 1954. That changed when Jennie Hall, an 85 year old white woman from Montana, stepped forward to help the African American community build a pool. With a rather startling and unannounced moment in front of St. Petersburg’s city council in June 1953, Jennie Hall proclaimed she would be donating $25,000 for a swimming pool to serve the African American community. To prove her seriousness, she wrote a check for $10,000 on the spot and promised an additional $15,000. The City Council, somewhat cowed and taken aback, agreed to match the gift with $35,000 of city funds.
Known as “The King of the Beats,” Jack Kerouac was one of history’s most influential American writers. His spontaneous, free-form writings, such as On the Road, spawned the hippie movement and continue to influence American culture—including music, art, and literature—to this day.
