Historic Hyde Park Prairie-Style Home To Be Featured On Home Tour

TAMPA, FL — Take a tour of Hyde Park's elegant vintage architecture while enjoying music from Gasparilla Music Festival performers and snacks provided by local restaurants.

Hyde Park Preservation Inc. announced that its annual historical home tour is back. The Old Hyde Park Home Tour will take place on Saturday, Dec. 2, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., featuring several distinctive homes in the iconic Hyde Park neighborhood to explore, with sips, snacks and music from Gasparilla Music Festival performers.

Proceeds will benefit the preservation and beautification efforts of Hyde Park Preservation Inc. Tickets are available for $30 in advance and $35 at the event. To purchase tickets in advance, click here.

Dating to the 1880s, Hyde Park's development began when railroad magnate Henry Plant built a bridge over the Hillsborough River providing a link to downtown. Plant built his Tampa Bay Hotel north of what was to become Hyde Park and citrus growers James Watrous and William Morrison built the first houses.

Hyde Park's Morrison Grove subdivision is where many of the area's finest homes can be found. Its infrastructure serves as a frame for one of the best collections of fine old residences in the state. Georgian and classical mansions stand alongside half-timber houses and Craftsman bungalows.

“We’re thrilled to announce that the home tour is back," said Carren Rieger Friess, president of Hyde Park Preservation. "This year’s event will feature some of Hyde Park's most exclusive historic properties that are opening their doors to the public for the very first time.''

The tour is being sponsored by Tampa General Hospital and ZooTampa at Lowry Park. Friess said their support of the neighborhood association is instrumental in its ability to preserve and beautify this special historic district.

For the first time, St. John’s Episcopal Church, 906 S Orleans, Tampa, will host the check-in and ticket-purchasing location. The church recently celebrated its 100-year history. It will be open to the public, offering tours that will showcase the 1912 Gothic Revival style building and stunning stained glass windows. Free parking will be available in the Hyde Park Village garages.

Another addition to the tour and open to the public for the first time since its extensive restoration is the “Leiman House.” A rare Florida example of Frank Lloyd Wright's Prairie style and built in 1914, the home is listed with the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.

Though the style undeniably reflects Wright's, the house was actually designed by M. Leo Elliott, a Tampa architect who also designed Tampa City Hall, Grand Central Place and El Circulo Cubano (the Cuban Club) in Ybor City. Elliott, considered one of the finest architects in Tampa history, designed the home for Henry Leiman who, at the time, was president of the Tampa Box Co., the largest maker of wooden cigar boxes in the world.

The Old Hyde Park Home Tour continues a long series of successful home tours that have invited the community into one of Tampa’s most charming, historic neighborhoods. The planning committee, led by co-chairs Sarah Jaycocks and Sarah Tombaugh, are hard at work attending to all the details, including partnering with local restaurants for refreshments and live entertainment at the homes and along the tour route.

Hyde Park Preservation Inc. is a nonprofit neighborhood association founded by community leaders in 1974. It is dedicated to the historic preservation, rehabilitation and beautification of Hyde Park, which bounds Rome Avenue, Swann Avenue and Bayshore Boulevard.