Centro Espanol (Spanish Club) - Tampa, FL
N 27° 57.621 W 082° 26.506
17R E 358181 N 3093646
Historic building now part of the Centro Ybor shopping and entertainment district.
Waymark Code: WM6ZVA
Location: Florida, United States
Date Posted: 08/11/2009
Views: 4
"(12) CENTRO ESPANOL (SPANISH CLUB) (private), 1536 E.Broad-
way, erected in 1912, is a block-long red brick building, with an ornate iron grillwork balcony over the entrance. Members are furnished amuse-ments, all club facilities, and hospitalization for a few cents a week. Its large auditorium and stage are used for public speaking, plays in English and Spanish, and motion pictures. There is a cantina in the basement, and a hospital is operated in connection with the club."
--Florida A Guide To The Southernmost State, 1939
-----
Chartered on September 7, 1891, El Centro Espanol was the first Latin club organized in Ybor City. As a mutual aid society, it provided early Spanish immigrants with a framework by which they maintained their identity and culture while supplying social privileges and death and injury benefits. Financed by stock pledges of $10 each by the original 186 Charter Members, the society opened the first club building in June 1892 on land purchased by Ignacio Haya at 16th Street and 7th Avenue. The membership soon outgrew the original building. By 1909 club officers embarked on a building campaign to build two new clubhouses ? one in Ybor City and one to accommodate members in West Tampa. Completed in 1912, El Centro Espanol de Tampa sits on the site of the original structure on 7th Avenue. The long, two-story rectangular building houses a cantina and ballroom at its south end separated by a foyer and stair hall from the theater at its north end. The parapet of the stage house steps above the roof line of the main building at the north end of the site. The red brick edifice reflects the French Renaissance Revival style with Moorish and Spanish influence. In 1988 the Department of the Interior designated El Centro Espanol de Tampa a National Historic Landmark.
THE YBOR CITY DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION AND THE FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF STATE
-----
El Centro Español de Tampa
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
--
The El Centro Español de Tampa building in Ybor City, Tampa, Florida was the home of the first mutual aid society in Florida.
After being abandoned for several years, it was restored and is now part of the Centro Ybor entertainment complex. On June 3, 1988, it was designated a U.S. National Historic Landmark. It is located at 1526-1536 E. Seventh Avenue.
(
visit link)