Most houses date from the 1920s or earlier and feature Craftsman, Mediterranean Revival or Colonial styles.
By ANDREW MEACHAM
Published March 24, 2004
ST. PETERSBURG - The city's first historic district hosts a tour of homes Saturday, showcasing the renovations that have increased their value.
The event runs from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and features the interiors and exteriors of seven homes, plus one garden. The area between Fourth and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. streets S, between Seventh and 11th avenues stands out for its plunging brick streets and stately old houses, but it has also contended with crime.
Today, crime has gone down and some property values have doubled or even tripled, said Historic Roser Park Neighborhood Association president Kai Warren. A 1993 survey showed only 35 percent home ownership in Roser Park, compared with 65 percent of residents who rented.
Those proportions have flipped today, Warren said, with 65 percent ownership, a sign Realtors use to evaluate a neighborhood's stability.
The neighborhood drew 300 to its first tour last year, discovering what the Old Southeast and Historic Old Northeast associations already knew - that an attractive tour of homes generates interest and cash. Roser Park residents spent their $3,000 proceeds on plants and antique street lamps.
Most of the homes date from the 1920s or earlier and feature a mixture of Craftsman, Colonial or Mediterranean Revival style. Two of this year's entries are repeats, including the mansion at 609 11th Ave. S built in 1914 by Mayor James Bradshaw.
New owners have given the others extreme makeovers within the past two years. Highlights include a bungalow that took nine months and radical surgery to move from 17th Avenue NE; a low, flat Prairie style home that had been neglected and filled with debris; and a bungalow the city was about to demolish.
Saturday's starting point is 735 Eighth Ave. S. Participants will walk from house to house. Tickets cost $10.
